This Sunday is Mother's Day in China, India, the USA and many other countries around the world. On this occasion, the It's a Girl team would like to take the time to honor all mothers but especially those, who have chosen to birth, love and protect daughters in incredibly adverse societies. Producing documentary film It's a Girl on the subject of gendercide has opened our team's eyes to the sacrificial love of many mothers of baby girls, who often face severe persecution by their own family and in-laws as a result of their choice to protect their daughters.

The It's a Girl team has been avidly following the Chen Guangcheng story. Reggie Littlejohn, Founder and President of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, who is featured in our film, has been long advocating for the activist's release and is closely involved in the story. We were initially thrilled to hear of Chen's escape to the US embassy in Beijing and were concerned for the safety of Chen and his family. Today, like many of you, we are heartbroken and angry to hear that he is back in the hands of the Chinese government and potentially in even greater danger than prior to his escape. Chen's story dominates world news and it is clear that his dissidence poses a threat to Sino-American relations. However, given the political controversy surrounding his release, it is easy to forget the reason Chen was put under house arrest to begin with; and to forget the plight of those he was speaking out to defend when he lost his good standing with the Chinese officials against whom he protested.

In China, millions of female conceptions are aborted by prospective parents, creating a problem of ‘missing girls.’ In spite of China’s rapid development, the sex ratio at birth is as high today as it has ever been, with roughly 118 boys born for every 100 girls. A basic question that needs to be answered before real progress can be made is why parents choose to abort daughters.  A glib answer like “because the Chinese prefer sons” is both misleading and insufficient. One factor is that Chinese parents actually do prefer to have at least one son. Among parents with two sons, the third child in the family is more likely to be female than male – 61% of third children after sons are female, suggesting there are “missing boys”. So to some extent, Chinese parents do value girls and in fact prefer them to sons under certain circumstances – specifically, when their need for having one son has been met.