--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The technological efficiency of…" description: "\"“The technological efficiency of daughter-proofing a pregnancy may make it seem as if the girl shortage is a problem of modernity, but female infantici..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f1/steven-pinker-526_parenting_the-technological-efficiency-of-daughter_873391.jpg" --- # The technological efficiency of daughter-proofing a… ![“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…” quote by Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f1/steven-pinker-526_parenting_the-technological-efficiency-of-daughter_873391.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f1/steven-pinker-526_parenting_the-technological-efficiency-of-daughter_873391.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f1/steven-pinker-526_parenting_the-technological-efficiency-of-daughter_873391.jpg) > ““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.”” [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. 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. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Infanticide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infanticide/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Productivity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/productivity/) [Technology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technology/) [Thousand years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thousand-years/) ## Related quotes > [We have to join hands and fight against female infanticide, when life is snuffed out the minute people find out it is a girl.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nita-ambani/we-have-to-join-hands-and-fight-against-female-infanticide-when-life/) [Nita Ambani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nita-ambani/) > [Preventing female infanticide is equally important in protection of women's rights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nita-ambani/preventing-female-infanticide-is-equally-important-in-protection-of/) [Nita Ambani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nita-ambani/) > [China was probably the worst place in the world to grow up female 100 years ago. 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And this offers priorities for educational policy: to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-obvious-cure-for-the-tragic-shortcomings-of-human-intuition-in-a/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [If you look in general at people who live in anarchy, they have quite high rates of death from either homicide or warfare or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/if-you-look-in-general-at-people-who-live-in-anarchy-they-have-quite/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“In some eras, self-control defines the paragon of a decent person: a grown-up, a person of dignity, a lady or a gentleman, a mensch.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/in-some-eras-self-control-defines-the-paragon-of-a-decent-person-a/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [Knowledge is a continuous fabric, in which ideas are connected to other ideas. Reason-free zones, in which people can assert arbitrary beliefs safe from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/knowledge-is-a-continuous-fabric-in-which-ideas-are-connected-to/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) [Explore all 495 Steven Pinker quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) ## More Infanticide quotes > [Life once conceived, must be protected with the utmost care; abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/life-once-conceived-must-be-protected-with-the-utmost-care-abortion/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [Abraham Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/abraham-lincoln-recognized-that-we-could-not-survive-as-a-free-land/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [We have to join hands and fight against female infanticide, when life is snuffed out the minute people find out it is a girl.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nita-ambani/we-have-to-join-hands-and-fight-against-female-infanticide-when-life/) [Nita Ambani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nita-ambani/) > [Of course, infanticide needs to be strictly legally controlled and rare - but it should not be ruled out, any more than abortion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-singer/of-course-infanticide-needs-to-be-strictly-legally-controlled-and/) [Peter Singer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-singer/) > [As Indian citizens, we subsist on a regular diet of caste massacres and nuclear tests, mosque breakings and fashion shows, church burnings and expanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/as-indian-citizens-we-subsist-on-a-regular-diet-of-caste-massacres/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [ \[To the mother of two unruly children in a restaurant after the woman said she really didn't know what to do with her children:\]… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-crawford/to-the-mother-of-two-unruly-children-in-a-restaurant-after-the-woman/) [Joan Crawford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-crawford/) > [One of the worst elements of Obama's career, which no one talks about, is that he voted twice for a bill that said, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nat-hentoff/one-of-the-worst-elements-of-obama-s-career-which-no-one-talks-about/) [Nat Hentoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nat-hentoff/) > [I know girls who pine for it. 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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. 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