Infanticide Quote by Steven Pinker
““The technological efficiency of daughter-proofing a pregnancy may make it seem as if the girl shortage is a problem of modernity, but female infanticide has been documented in China and India for more than two thousand years.119 In China, midwives kept a bucket of water at the bedside to drown the baby if it was a girl. In India there were many methods: “giving a pill of tobacco and bhang to swallow, drowning in milk, smearing the mother’s breast with opium or the juice of the poisonous Datura, or covering the child’s mouth with a plaster of cow-dung before it drew breath.” Then and now, even when daughters are suffered to live, they may not last long. Parents allocate most of the available food to their sons, and as a Chinese doctor explains, “if a boy gets sick, the parents may send him to the hospital at once, but if a girl gets sick, the parents may say to themselves, ‘Well, we’ll see how she is tomorrow.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Better Angels of Our Nature, 2011
Historical female infanticide shows deep-rooted gender bias, despite modern technological advances.
In simple terms: Gender bias persists across centuries.
Key Takeaway
Address systemic gender inequality.
Themes
gender
bias
history
technology
Mood
urgent
somber
Type
sociological
ethical
When to use this quote
- policy reform
- education campaigns
- legal protection
Key Concepts
cultural practices
human rights
social evolution
Questions to Reflect On
- How can societies change entrenched gender norms?
- What policies effectively protect girls?
A Different Perspective
Modern tech alone cannot erase cultural prejudice.
![“[To the mother of two unruly children in a restaurant after the woman said she really didn't know what to do with her children:] Have you tried infanticide?” quote by Joan Crawford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b63/joan-crawford-9168_children_to-the-mother-of-two-unruly-children-in_392373.jpg)
