South Korea welcomes its daughters: in a nation where boys were kings, an economic revolution is helping to change long-held values and traditions.

• Author: Sang-hun, Choe
• Position: INTERNATIONAL

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When Park He-ran was a young mother, other women would approach her to ask what her secret was. She had given birth to three boys in a row at a time when South Korean women considered it their paramount duty to bear a son.

Park, a 61-year-old newspaper executive, gets a different reaction today.

"When I tell people I have three sons and no daughter, they say they are sorry for my misfortune," she says. "Within a generation, I have turned from the luckiest woman possible to a pitiful mother."

In South Korea, once one of Asia's most rigidly patriarchal societies, a centuries-old preference for baby boys is fast receding. And that has led to what appears to be a decrease in the number of abortions performed after ultrasound testing reveals that a fetus is female.

According to a recent study by the World Bank, South Korea is the first of several Asian countries with large sex imbalances at birth to reverse the trend and move toward greater parity between the sexes. Currently, the ratio is about 108 boys born for every 100 girls, still above what is considered normal, but down from a peak of more than 116 boys born for every 100 girls in 1990.

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OPENING DOORS

The most important factor in changing attitudes toward girls was the radical shift in South Korea's economy that opened the doors to women in the workforce as never before. This has dismantled long-held traditions, which so devalued daughters that mothers would often apologize for giving birth to a girl.

The government also played a small role starting in the 1970s. Alarmed by the rise in sex-preference abortions, officials launched campaigns to change people's attitudes. One featured the popular Korean slogan, "One daughter raised well is worth 10 sons!"

In 1987, the government banned doctors from revealing the sex of a fetus bet:ore birth. But experts say enforcement has been lax.

Demographers hope that sex imbalances will begin to shrink in other rapidly developing Asian countries, notably China and India, where the same combination of a traditional preference for boys and ultrasound technology has led to a shortage of girls.

In China, the ratio is currently 111 boys born for every 100 girls, according to Central Intelligence Agency data. The current ratio for India is 112 boys for every 100 girls.

The United Nations Population Fund warns that rampant tinkering with nature's probabilities could lead to increased sexual violence and trafticking of...