Endangered Daughters: Discrimination and Development in Asia [Paperback]

Elizabeth Croll (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0415247659 | ISBN-13: 978-0415247658 | Edition: 1

This unique and groundbreaking book seeks to re-focus gender debate onto the issue of daughter discrimination - a phenomenon still hidden and unacknowledged across the world.

It asks the controversial question of why millions of girls do not appear to be surviving to adulthood in contemporary Asia. In the first major study available of this emotive and sensitive issue, Elisabeth Croll investigates the extent of discrimination against female children in Asia and shifts the focus of attention firmly from son-preference to daughter-discrimination.

This book brings together demographic data and anthropological field studies to reveal the multiple ways in which girls are disadvantaged, from excessive child mortality to the withholding of health care and education on the basis of gender. Focusing especially on China and India, the book reveals the surprising coincidence of increasing daughter discrimination with rising economic development, declining fertility and the generally improved status of women in East and South Asia. Essential reading for all those interested in gender in contemporary society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...A helpful corrective, reminding us that the real sufferers are the girls who survive the discrimination that has marked them since before their birth-and the many who never reach adulthood at all..
–The Economist

Endangered Daughters is a wonderfully engaging exploration of an extremely important - and profoundly disturbing - problem. I hope Elisabeth Croll's quite excellent book gets the wide readership it richly deserves..
–Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1998

About the Author

Elizabeth Croll is Professor Chinese Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. For more than twenty-five years she as conducted field studies in China and is a world authority on social development and gender issues in historical and contemporary China. She is the author of From Heaven to Earth (Routledge, 1994).

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (January 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415247659
• ISBN-13: 978-0415247658
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,100,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.