WHO GETS EXCLUDED AND WHY?
•
81
continue to do so. Yet the inexorable depth to which they have seeped into institutions and processes has rendered their dismantling more intractable. Divisions between groups, and between ethnic groups, often reflect colonial legacies, because colonial governance was often organized along ethnic lines, giving ethno-linguistic differences a fixity and social significance they had previously lacked (Mamdani 1996). At other times, ethnic or regional representation among key political power-holders often leads to some being considered “insiders” and others “outsiders.” Laws, policies, and programs can propel change, but they may also have unintended consequences. Thus, differential retirement ages for men and women in China are meant as a concession to women workers, as are laws meant to protect young female migrants from abuse overseas by enforcing a minimum age for their departure. But both can have potentially negative consequences—excluding older women from the labor market and creating conditions for poor young women to migrate without documentation (Das 2008, 2012). Another study (Ebenstein 2010) links China’s high ratios of males to females to the enforcement of its One Child Policy. It uses census data to show that fertility is lower and sex ratios higher among couples who are put under stricter fertility control. By exploiting regional and temporal variation in fines levied for “unauthorized births,” it finds that higher-fine regimes discourage fertility but are associated with higher ratios of males to females. Take also the case of child molesting in the United States. In a bid to be tough on child molesters, several states and local governments passed zoning laws prohibiting sex offenders from living within close proximity to schools, parks, playgrounds, day care centers, and other places where children congregate. Levenson and Hern (2007) show that these residence restrictions had adverse consequences for long-term integration of the offenders into family and society, ranging from housing instability to limited accessibility to employment opportunities, social services, and social support. Young adult offenders were especially affected, because residence restrictions limited affordable housing options and often prevented them from living with family members. Some unintended consequences of policies and programs are the result of service providers’ prejudices and preferences. For instance, service providers can reinforce and even exacerbate negative gender norms in the way they deal with patients or school children. The American Psychological Association (APA 2012) reports that teachers in the United States tend to perpetuate gender stereotypes in academic achievement, with lower