Critically assess the socio-economic consequences of China's 'one-child per couple' population policy.
"It is a very good thing that China has a big population” (Mao, 1949). This was the viewpoint on population before 1979; it was encouraged by Mao to raise as many children as possible. Abortion and birth control were illegal until 1954; when birth control was legalized and abortions were permissible in some cases. In 1979 throughout the second session of the Fifth National People’s Congress, the “one- child per one couple” policy was employed. This had the aim of significantly slowing down China’s population growth, keeping China’s population under 1.2 billion by 2000 (O'Brien, 2017). An attempt at increasing national wealth and global status by easing the strain of the countries resources (Greenhalgh, 2003).
The policy was implemented by rewards and punishments. For instance, if a woman was pregnant with her second child, even if the first child was born before the one child policy, her whole work unit would undergo the consequences for it. The punishment was often disregarding bonuses. Furthermore, the hospital service for pregnancy check-ups and child care were made unavailable to women carrying her second child. The government made it illegal to discriminate against girls (O'Brien, 2017). Despite this, illegal and forced abortions happened frequently and orphanages were full of abandoned new born girls. The policy prevented over 300 million births (Greenhalgh, 2003) as well as significantly reducing the birth rate from 4.77 in the early 1970’s (Metro.co.uk, 2013) to 1.57 in 2015 (Data.worldbank.org, 2017). A stable birth rate is said to be 2.1 (O’Brien, 2017).
In this essay, I will focus on the socio-economic consequences the one child policy has had on female prospects. Throughout Chinese history giving birth to a boy was favoured within society as they held more importance due to Confucian influence and their governance in the agricultural society. They were also expected to carry on the family name and provide for their parents when they are no longer able to provide for themselves (Sudbeck, 2012). Not giving birth to a son was even seen as a “curse of life” by Chinese society (Hesketh, Lu, and Xing, 2005) showing that male preference is deeply rooted within Chinese culture. The implementation of the one child policy forced the government to focus and promote gender equality otherwise they risk an unbalanced the sex ratio. The Government started producing gender equality propaganda such as posters saying, “It is all the same whether you give birth to a boy or give birth to a girl” and “Daughters also carry on the family line” (What's on Weibo, 2017). To attempt to prevent women having abortions of female fetuses and thus a surplus of men in the population; which is now a prevalent issue. In 1995 China hosted a United Nations conference on women’s rights. The government in Beijing made progress on core feminist issues such as access to jobs and higher education as well as stricter laws regarding divorce (Newsweek, 2017). It also placed importance on current unemployed women looking to join the labour force by designing educational and training programmes for women providing new knowledge and skills that will enhance and broaden their employment opportunities, including self-employment (Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995, 2017). This was an attempt to change the traditional views of women’s’ roles in society. Furthermore, as the one child policy would result in a smaller workforce the government wanted as much of the population to be a part of it as possible.
Since employing the one child policy girls born into being a single child have received a higher investment in their lives, especially education. This is due to lack of competition against other siblings, particularly brothers (Fong, 2002). As parents only have one child to raise and to ultimately care for them in their senior years, they put all their investments into that one child, providing the best education and opportunities possible for their child. More pressure was put onto girls to be academically ambitious and strive for good careers. (Lee, 2012) Chinese parents have some of the highest percentages of income focused into education (Ren, 2017). Research conducted by China National Statistic Bureau concluded that over 60% of Chinese families spend one-third of their household income on their children’s education (china.org.cn, 2017). As a result of this girls’ aspirations are higher as being more likely to continue into further education. (Tsui and Rich, 2002). This can be shown by the proportion of female students enrolled in University increasing from 40.3 in 1999 to 44.3 in 2002 (world Bank, 2017).
Due to more girls staying longer in education, literacy rates in young girls (aged 15-24 years) has continued to increase since the start of the one child policy. In 1982, the literacy rate was 82.1% and although the rate was already increasing (in 1990 the literacy rate was 91.5%; girls born under the one child policy would not yet reach the age in the age bracket); the rate of increase grew and by 2015 99.7% of young girls were literate (Data.worldbank.org, 2017). This is now the same level as male literacy (aged 15-24 years) (Datatopics.worldbank.org, 2017) which has been higher than females until 2015. This could be a result of many factors such as the modernization of China leading to higher living standards, however, as parents increase their investment of education for their daughters the retention rate of girls enrolled in primary school has rapidly increased from 91.07% in 1998 to 98.05% in 2002. As seen in the graph below (China.org.cn, 2017.) This would directly affect the number of girls that learnt to read and write.
More girls being more highly educated increases job prospects, meaning that more women joined the labour force. 45% OF China’s labourers are female (digital community). In 2014 64% of women were part of the workforce (catalyst, 2106). A more educated workforce attracts investment from other employers it also increases productivity within the workforce. This in turn leads to increased economic opportunities and a stronger state economy. (Economic Policy Institute, 2017). Although a smaller and smaller percentage of women are employed as you go up the pyramid, China is still ahead of countries such as South Korea, japan, India and Taiwan in their ratio of men to women in managerial positions. (catalyst). The increase in the number of women can also be accounted by women waiting longer to get married and have children, with 50% of highly educated women unmarried. 72% of mothers between the ages of 25 and 34 with kids under the age of 6 are employed. (Catalyst, 2017) this may be a consequence of parents only having to raise one child so less time is spent being pregnant and raising a new-born, therefore the mother can start or return to work quicker. Women are also waiting longer to get married due to the sex ratio; women have a larger supply of men and can afford to wait longer to get married without being labelled a ‘leftover women’. This has been encouraged by the government with propaganda promoting later marriage and childbirth and a larger focus on career. One piece of propaganda stated that “later marriage and childbirth are worthy” (What’s on Weibo, 2017). For women to be able to focus on their careers.
With a larger proportion of women being in full time work, more women can financially raise a child without the aid of a male counterpart. This in turn may cause society to view women differently and parents to invest in their daughters knowing they could support their family monetarily, without using more resources on the son. More women occupying full time jobs also results in women having increased purchasing power. More disposable income leads to increased consumption as well as increased savings for a house, a child’s education or caring for their parents. Increased purchasing power allows women to be more independent, thus increasing their autonomy and in turn, their standard of living. One piece of research suggests that the increase of mother’s education, relative to father’s, enhances mother’s bargaining power within the household and thus leads to a weakened preference for boys (Behrman and Rosenzweig 2002; Thomas 1994 and Li, Yi, Zhang 2002).
However, even though an increasing number of women are going into higher education and working full time, it does not mean that there is still not gender inequality in the workplace. Women, on average, are being paid 35% less than men for doing similar jobs. (Catalyst, 2017). Women are also said to have a ‘glass ceiling’ (Chi and Li, 2008) on their career. Meaning that they can only get to a certain level until men are favoured for the job as they are still believed to be better at managerial jobs. In an interview one women explained how she was the only women in a department and all the other people got given an office except her, even though they were all on the same level. Even when an office was left vacant, it was reserved for a male for two months who was also on the same level as her. (Suzanne Edwards, 2014). Although the one child policy may have helped gender equality in education and low to middle level jobs, the instilled Chinese culture is still rife in top level jobs.
As gender equality has improved in china over the last forty years, a lot has changed in china other than the implementation of the one child policy. For example, globalization may have influenced the views of women in China as well as modernization. Parents may be less disappointed in having a girl as China’s pensions systems and senior care (Lee, 2012) have improved greatly, leaving less financial pressure on offspring to provide and care for their parents as they get older.
The United Nations produced an overview of China’s policies on gender equality in 2015, twenty years later than their original conference in 1995. In that time, the government has improved laws and regulations to promote fair employment as well as women being able to retire at the same age as men, thus adding the country’s GDP levels as more of the workforce can work for an additional five years. The government has also set up loans for women who want to start businesses. (gender equality).
Research shows however inequality is still apparent in two child households, with parents favoring a son over a daughter (Lee, 2012). With the one child policy now being a two-child policy it will be interesting to see if the path to gender equality is stalled, and how much the one child policy helped changed views towards the roles of men and women.
It appears that the implementation of the one-child policy has increased females social and economic prospects as parents only have one child to invest their resources into leading to higher standards of education for the child and staying in the education system for longer; increasing job opportunities which lead to monetary autonomy. Along with this it forced the government to step back and revise some the existing structures to aid females achieving their aspired careers. Changing retirement ages and employment laws has helped China’s society take a step towards gender equality despite the views of women in Chinese history. Although there are still clear improvements to be made, the radical policy kick started the changes in society; achieving goals of equality that would not otherwise have been met.
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