Monica Das Gupta comments on South Korea's decline in sex ratio
Cites industrialization and urbanization as reasons for decline
Out of countries with sex-selective abortion dominant in the 1990's, South Korea is the only Asian country to have reversed its trends for disproportionately aborting girls prior to birth and now has a sex ratio at birth that is comparable to Western countries. Faculty associate Monica Das Gupta comments on why this is the case by purporting that South Korea underwent "blistering" industrialization and urbanization, which loosened the economic value of sons and raised the value of daughters through better employment access for women. While South Korea has accomplished a reversal in sex ratios, India and China still grapple with a sex ratio imbalance.