section_path: Examples/Gendercide and forced sterilization
section_name: Gendercide and forced sterilization
paragraph_text: Gendercide and forced sterilization
  
  Female infanticide is the killing of newborn female children, while female selective abortion is the terminating of a pregnancy based upon the female sex of the fetus. Gendercide is the systematic killing of members of a specific gender and it is an extreme form of gender-based violence. Female infanticide is more common than male infanticide, and is especially prevalent in South Asia, in countries such as China, India and Pakistan. Recent studies suggest that over 90 million women and girls are missing in China and India as a result of infanticide.
  
  Sex-selective abortion involves terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the baby. The abortion of female fetuses is most common in areas where a culture values male children over females, such as parts of East Asia and South Asia (China, India, Korea), the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia), and Western Balkans (Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo). One reason for this preference is that males are seen as generating more income than females. The trend has grown steadily over the previous decade, and may result in a future shortage of women.
  
  Forced sterilization and forced abortion are also forms of gender-based violence. Forced sterilization was practiced during the first half of the 20th century by many Western countries and there are reports of this practice being currently employed in some countries, such as Uzbekistan and China.
  
  In China, the one child policy interacting with the low status of women has been deemed responsible for many abuses, such as female infanticide, sex-selective abortion, abandonment of baby girls, forced abortion, and forced sterilization.
  
  In India, the custom of dowry is strongly related to female infanticide, sex-selective abortion, abandonment and mistreatment of girls. Such practices are especially present in the northwestern part of the country: Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Delhi. (See Female foeticide in India and Female infanticide in India).