Since 1980, China has made its people the subject of an intrusive and unfair, One Child Policy. This policy was the result of Chinese officials becoming worried of the countries jump in population from 1960 to 1980 causing a widespread lack of resources, so they decided to induct a law that would make force Chinese citizens to be limited to one child. Because of this controversial policy the question has been raised, did the one child policy positively or negatively effect China? The one child policy did negatively effect China and its people, because it resulted in gender discrimination, unjust punishments and was unnecessary due to the already declining fertility rate.
China's one child policy was incredibly negative towards its people. In China, boys are culturally favored over girls, because of this the practice of infanticide has become more common due to the policy, this is stated in Imbalance and Discrimination where it is stated, "With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide...was resumed in some areas shortly after the one-child policy went into effect" (Document E). This quote demonstrates the negative effects to come out of the one child policy, because parents can only have one child, parents in China will want a boy over a girl as it is more culturally
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One example of China's unjust law is the sheer amount of births prevented. In Mao Zedong's One Child Policy, it reads, "The one-child limitation only applies to Han Chinese, an ethnicity that makes up about 90 percent of the population" (Background Essay). This is another example of China's unjust policy because the Chinese government specifically designed the policy to negatively alter the lives of the Han Chinese. However, this is not the only example of China's unfair law, also in the article, Mao Zedong's One Child Policy,
After China suffered population overcrowding, China passed the one-child policy to fix these problems in 1979. The policy tried to lower fertility rates, the rate of child births and pregnancies, but was the one child policy a good idea? Despite this, the one child policy was not a good idea for China because the population was already lowering, lack of young workers, and social issues.
First, China’s One-Child Policy was upsetting to many females. In document D it
But the question is, is China's one child policy really needed? China's one child policy was unnecessary because their population was already in decline, it led to fewer people getting married and it affected the mental health of the newer generations. First, the one child policy was implemented when China's population was already declining. "At the time of the policy's announcement [in 1980], China had already achieved a remarkable fertility reduction, halving the number of children per woman from 5.8 in 1970 to 2.7 in 1979"(Document B). If the fertility rates were already declining and the one child policy was put in place, it would "forcefully alter kin relations for Chinese families, and result in accelerated aging" (Document B).
"The one-child policy had unquestionably caused fertility to decline more rapidly than it otherwise would have...and has therefore played a significant role in China's demographic transition...explaining up to a quarter of its per capita GDP growth in the last 3 decades (Document E). " The policy succeeded in curbing population growth and is shown to have improved job opportunities for many young women in China. " Indeed, some of the hottest and best paying jobs in today's globalizing social service economy...are open exclusively to young women... For these young women, the one-child policy seems to be a real blessing (Document
CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE 1. China's One-Child Policy wasn't a good idea and instead of benefiting the population, it effected China negatively and harmed the population. The One-Child Policy started in 1980 and ended in 2015 with many negative effects. There are many reasons and evidence that leads to this conclusion, such as families having financial and emotional struggles, populations dropping drastically, and children having too much pressure and attention from parents.
If you were an only child, do you think you would be suffering or having the best time of your life? Well, Chinas one-child policy that was implemented in 1980 has been the main cause of many children living in Chinas suffering. Based on this, is it a good idea for the Chinese government to control how many children Chinese people can have? Well, I believe that the one-child policy was a bad idea for China. This is because of its effect on society, mental health, and fertility rates.
This causes the older population to be neglected and there to be fewer workers. Another problem in the population caused by the one child policy is the gender disproportion. China faced sex discrimination because boys were considered more culturally preferable than girls. In Document E, it also says that people practiced “...female infanticide...” Now, there are “...still 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20...”
While china One child Policy was aimed for improvement, the policy has caused some serious social consequences. The New England Journal of Medicine 's article "The Effect of China 's One-Child Family Policy after 25 Years" discuss the social consequences of Chinas One child policy. The One child policy in china begin when Chinese governments viewed population containment as a benefit for living and economic improvement. They created a one child policy that limits the size of families, the policy also includes regulations regarding marriage, spacing and childbearing. The strict policy is controlled with rewards and penalties, it applies to minorities of china which are Urban residents and government employees with the exception of one-child families, first children with disabilities and workers in high-risk work settings. The policy three social consequences concerning population growth, the ratio between men and women, and the ratio between adult children and dependent elderly parents. Each social consequences causes disastrous results. The policy is a sex imbalance that creates social consequences. The sex imbalance is what causes the different social consequence with undesirable effects. The first social consequence is decrease in population growth. Population growth in china has declined in the past 25 years. The policy has prevented many births as stated in the article " Chinese authorities claim that the policy has prevented 250 to 300 million births. The total
China’s one-child policy caused female babies to be killed and the elderly neglected. When Mao Zedong had control of China he thought that more people meant more workers however by 1960 China’s population exploded and the one child was established. Was the one child policy a good idea? China’s one child policy was a bad idea because, not enough workers, too many elderly, infanticide of female babies, and because it was not needed.
The freedom that Americans have to raise their children according to their beliefs starkly contradicts the one-child policy implemented in China. The one-child policy was a program designed to restrict Chinese families to only one child, with severe consequences lined up for those who disobeyed. It was met with harsh opposition, from Chinese citizens as well as from other countries. The policy succeeded in creating smaller families, but it unleashed a slew of unintended consequences, including a higher crime rate and an increase in the elderly population, who only have one child to support them. Most significantly, the policy caused a national “gendercide” and an influx of Chinese bachelors, indirectly causing an increase in sex trafficking in and around the country. Did the one-child policy achieve its intended effect, or did it cause many more inadvertent effects that it could not control?
China’s One Child Policy is not effective due to the gender imbalance and social issues that it has caused. Document D reveals that the gender imbalance widened after China’s One Child Policy,”There are 32 million
One reason I have this belief is, China is very male dominated and through the One-Child Policy, women have become more empowered and treasured. For example, “Perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of the one-child policy have been urban singleton daughters. Their parents’ only treasure, since the 1980s single daughters in China’s cities have enjoyed privileged childhoods little different from their male counterparts… With no brothers to compete for their parents’ attention and resources,... these teens have been socialized to value educational and career success and provided the resources with which to achieve it.” (Susan Greenhalgh, Document D). Opposing the gender norms, women are getting better education, more job opportunities, and markets are gearing towards women. The One-Child Policy was effective in shining light on women and advancing their
Most females are not respected and are heavily pressured by their parents. Many Chinese women are expected to be in arranged marriages and are not respected in their family or the work-place. Woman that aren’t even born yet suffer from infanticide. If the parents came to find that they were having a girl from ultrasound- they would abort that child and try for a boy causing pre-birth ultrasounds to be banned. “Negative social consequences, particularly sex discrimination. With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide was resumed in some areas shortly after the one-child policy took effect.” (Document E) “I hate to say it but the one-child policy should party be blamed for some social issues in youth today.” “She wished she has a brother or sister to share all the attention.” (Document F) This evidence supports the claim that the one-child policy was a bad policy because women have always been culturally no preferable, causing unborn females to be aborted.
There has been a long history of China’s one child policy, since it was first introduces in 1979 by a Chinese Leader Deng Xiaoping (Rosenberg n.p). The law was meant to be temporary and used to control the population; however it is still in use today (Rosenberg n.p). When the policy was first enforced, it only
There have been significance changes in these practices and they remain significantly distinct in Urban and rural areas. For instance, free marriage is promoted now. Rural women, unlike before have more freedom, they have their own choice in migrating to the new cities to work where they are often seen as the “cheap” labor. Unlike traditionally, women are economical independent of their husbands. There is huge gap between urban and rural China, especially when it comes to the gender equality. This fact, adds further complexity in explaining the marital and family situations. Rural china still reflects on following their ancestral customs whereas the urban China is following the footsteps of the developed nations. There is increasing preference for nuclear family. Furthermore, urbanizations have changed beliefs of people when it comes to children. Having children was considered first priority before, but now most of these