2.1 China’s One-Child Policy The Communist Party officially implemented the One-Child Policy in 1979 as a means to curb population growth (The Guardian, Date). Prior to such implementation, the Chinese Government adopted the slogan “Late, Long, Few” (later marriage, longer birth intervals, and fewer births) in 1975, urging each family to have no more than two children. To achieve its goal of lowering population growth rate, the Chinese Government later introduced the One-Child Policy (hereafter called OCP) and created a reward and punishment system to further implement the policy. Rewards and incentives included an increase in hourly wage for family units who followed the rule, promotion in a government job and waived fees for both
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The first attempt was in 1955 where campaigns were launched to promote birth control. These campaigns eventually led to the creation of the first family planning program in 1956 (The Guardian). However, the Great Leap Forward in 1958 interrupted further progress. Shortly after the famine, the baby Boomer generation in China led to the second attempt at controlling population growth (Schramm, 2011). The government promoted later marriage hoping it would lead to fewer births. This time, the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution led to the downfall of the second attempt at controlling the population (Schramm, 2011; The Guardian). The third attempt was the already mention “Late, Long, and Few.” According to Yu (2011), the third campaign proved to be successful in reducing the birth rate. However, it did not mean the fertility rate was decreasing; in fact, the fertility rate was only affected slightly (Schramm, 2011). Ultimately, the last campaign brought rise to the OCP, which aimed to lower fertility rate instead of birth rate. To do so, the government capped the limit of one birth per family— with some exceptions …show more content…
Because the OCP only allows each family to bear a single child, many family chooses to give birth to a son instead of a daughter due to cultural reasons. China has entered an era know as the “missing girl era” because more sons are coming to the world. The current female to male ratio is 1 to 1.62 (Doherty et al., 2001). The punishment system created to reinforce the OCP only causes more girls to go “missing.” Obstetric care is used to provide insurance for both the pregnant mother and the child, however, because of the OCP, mothers —who give birth to more than one child must pay a fine in addition to the total cost of obstetric cares— chooses to opt out of that option. The risk of bearing a child then increases substantially, thus leading to a higher chance of death of both the mother and child. With the missing females in the Chinese society, the fertility rates will continue to drop because fewer births will occur. The “missing female” era may put the Chinese in a cycle of constant wage increase and failing GDP. This ultimately led to the relaxation of the
The first attempt was in 1955 where campaigns were launched to promote birth control. These campaigns eventually led to the creation of the first family planning program in 1956 (The Guardian). However, the Great Leap Forward in 1958 interrupted further progress. Shortly after the famine, the baby Boomer generation in China led to the second attempt at controlling population growth (Schramm, 2011). The government promoted later marriage hoping it would lead to fewer births. This time, the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution led to the downfall of the second attempt at controlling the population (Schramm, 2011; The Guardian). The third attempt was the already mention “Late, Long, and Few.” According to Yu (2011), the third campaign proved to be successful in reducing the birth rate. However, it did not mean the fertility rate was decreasing; in fact, the fertility rate was only affected slightly (Schramm, 2011). Ultimately, the last campaign brought rise to the OCP, which aimed to lower fertility rate instead of birth rate. To do so, the government capped the limit of one birth per family— with some exceptions …show more content…
Because the OCP only allows each family to bear a single child, many family chooses to give birth to a son instead of a daughter due to cultural reasons. China has entered an era know as the “missing girl era” because more sons are coming to the world. The current female to male ratio is 1 to 1.62 (Doherty et al., 2001). The punishment system created to reinforce the OCP only causes more girls to go “missing.” Obstetric care is used to provide insurance for both the pregnant mother and the child, however, because of the OCP, mothers —who give birth to more than one child must pay a fine in addition to the total cost of obstetric cares— chooses to opt out of that option. The risk of bearing a child then increases substantially, thus leading to a higher chance of death of both the mother and child. With the missing females in the Chinese society, the fertility rates will continue to drop because fewer births will occur. The “missing female” era may put the Chinese in a cycle of constant wage increase and failing GDP. This ultimately led to the relaxation of the