Female infanticide

Female infanticide, the prevalent form of sex-selective infanticide is the systematic killing of girls at or soon after birth. It normally occurs when a society values male children to the point that producing a female is considered dishonorable or shameful. Female infanticide was most common in urban China during the Qing Dynasty, due to overpopulation, and the second half of the twentieth century, due to the One Child Policy that made it illegal for parents to have multiple children. However, sex selective abortion or abandonment were (and still are) more common methods of disposing of unwanted girls.