Sex ratio may cause marriage squeeze (2)

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It reached a record high of 121.2 boys for every 100 girls in 2004.

"But that still stands among the highest across the world given that the country has a deep-rooted tradition to prefer sons over daughters," Chen said.

To eliminate that, "more social and economic policies favoring girls will be introduced to gradually change the social norm where males are more preferred as they carry the family name and later support the parents," he said.

A comprehensive approach is needed to redress the skewed ratio, Chen urged.

In China, sex-selective abortions are deemed the direct cause of the imbalance, according to Lu Jiehua, a sociology professor at Peking University.

In response, a nationwide campaign to crack down on non-medical fetus sex determinations and sex-selective abortions has been launched by the commission, which has passed relevant regulations, previous reports said.

Doctors who are found to violate such regulations will face revocation of their licenses and the hospitals involved will also be penalized harshly.

"Such measures have to be institutionalized to sustain long-term efforts," Chen said.

Wang Pei'an, deputy director of the commission, agreed and called for participation and support from the general public to strive for gender equality.

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