Women and girls are just not important

This article was published in The Age 22 March 2010

It is inconceivable to me that any human can watch a mother give birth, pick up the baby, see that it’s a girl and, in disgust, throw it into a ''slops pail'' to die. And to do so while uttering ''useless thing''.

Chinese writer Xinran Xue describes her 'absolute horror'' at seeing a newborn's tiny foot sticking out of the bucket in a peasant home in Shandong province. It's clear she's just witnessed the murder of a baby girl. Xinran’s story is detailed in last week’s Economist magazine, in a feature on ''Gendercide'' and the world's missing 100 million baby girls.

We've long known about the Chinese preference for sons over daughters and the cruel determination born of a one-child policy.