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
…show more content…
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,
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.
Finally, The One Child Policy was a good idea because it pushed academic success, lessens the load on the environment, and lowers fertility rates which then lowers the population density of already crowded China. Although China’s One Child Policy was a great idea and has helped China significantly, it has created a gender imbalance of over 32 million males than there are
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.
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
As Mingliang states, “the Chinese preference for at least one son is well documented” (3). Having two sons in a family is very unusual in China. Due to the preferences of having sons, the abortion rates have increased. Abortion is well known in China, as is the “missing girls” phenomenon. Shaou, Dodge, and Suter argue that, “of the seven million abortions annually in China, the International Planned Parenthood Federation indicates that more than 70 percent are female unborn children”(4). This is a big percentage, and the number of girls in this country is decreasing every year. People are using different ways to limit the number of girls. Moreover, if a woman does not want to abort, she is forced to do so. Bluett argues that, “abortions are performed throughout the entire nine-month period, even up to the point of childbirth” (3), simply saying the increase in sex ration is caused mainly by son preference, which is as a tradition in China. It is significant to mention that because of the gender imbalance, younger generations are facing other problems. According to Bluett, “many males are left without a wife, which leads to an increase in human trafficking” (5). The one child policy is causing a lot of troubles and China has to make sure to reduce the negative effects of this policy.
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
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?
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
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
Due to the one-child policy there are many serious human rights infractions. Since the policy has been in effect, there have been more than 400 million prevented births ("China:
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.
What is important to understand the One Child Policy is the reasoning behind it and what spurred the Chinese government to do something so drastic. When Mao Zedong’s communist rule was in full
China’s one-child policy made it illegal for most Chinese couples to have more than one child. It was the culmination of the government’s long struggle to control population growth. The policy was enforced mainly through financial incentives and punishments, but in rural areas brutal enforcement techniques like non-consensual sterilization and abortion were sometimes used. While the policy did reduce the population, it also caused problems such as an unbalanced male-female sex ratio and “4:2:1 families.” The one-child policy shows that women in Communist China remained in a position of social and political inferiority.
China’s one-child policy has interesting origins. Although,” China’s fertility rate began to fall in the 1960’s, there was no national policy aiming for a population of smaller families until 1971. In 1979, “Wan Xi Shao”, a program that encouraged later marriage, longer birth intervals between births and fewer children is what evolved to the well-known “one-child policy”.”(Gilbert, 24) Under the one-child policy, couples are given incentives to have a single child. Couples who pledge to have a single child receive monthly allowances for child support until the child reaches the age of fourteen. “Along with the money received monthly, they are promised more spacious housing and higher pensions for retirement”(Gilbert, 24). However, for
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