On air at 1700 GMT: Are boys more valuable than girls?
| 15:16 UK time, Wednesday, 25 May 2011
An article in the Independent
that has been retweeted a lot begins: 'Some call it India's "gendercide". In the past three decades up to 12 million unborn girls have been deliberately aborted by Indian parents determined to ensure they have a male heir.' The reason the paper ran the story is that the results from India's latest census were released this week and revealed a serious decline in the number of girls under seven.
Of course the issue is not new. in the Economist on the number of girls disappearing in Asia and the Far East.
The charity Plan International is that country's will see fantastic returns on investment in girls, partly because of previous neglect.
And before we think that preferring girls is something that only exists in the developing world, about whether it's wrong to want a boy or a girl, and answers discussing people who want a boy more than a girl.
All of which leads me to the two questions you'll know I want to ask you.
If you've had children, did you mind if they were boys or girls? And is there anything wrong in wanting one over the other?
Also, in your society, whether it's right or wrong, is a boy worth more than a girl to your family in your society?
