I like our class
very much because it covers a lot of topics. But one area that I realized we
didn’t talk about that much throughout the semester was “having baby.” I
guessed I am interested in this because 1) my dissertation topic is so related
to “only child policy” in China, and 2) news
regarding the “only child policy” released from the just-ended Communist Party
Central Committee Plenum caught my eyes. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10451767/China-to-ease-one-child-policy.html
As the news noted, the President of China, Xi Jinping, said that China would
begin to allow couples to have two children if one of them is an only child,
and would gradually change and perfect the family planning policy and boost the
population to grow steadily in the long term. But the opinions towards this
policy change varied greatly. Experts on the family planning welcomed this loosening
of the one-child policy in terms of a scarcity of young people in the future
will be a major constraint on the country’s development, while others still
feel that China is too over-crowded and that longer lifespans demand
continuation of strict limits on fertility. http://www.asiasentinel.com/society/one-child-policy-wasnt/
For
me, I found those two pieces of news regarding the policy change interesting
because little attention was given to the person who will have baby and that is
“woman.” Of course, those two news articles talked about women, in a sense like
fertility, but not something like their own will in terms of how many kids they
want to have. I guess it almost like a luxury for Chinese women to think about
the topic—how many kids they want to have—because of the enforcement of the
“only child” from the government. For more than 30 years, Chinese women’s body
has been controlled by the government. During those years when the “only child
policy” was just launched, a woman would be forced to have abortion no matter
how many months she had been pregnant if it was not her first pregnancy. One of
my friends used to tell me all those crucial stuffs since his mother works in
the local department of the family planning of my city. He used to express how
lucky he felt to be “the one” that his parents kept. I used to laugh at his for
being sentimental, but then thought to myself that I am lucky to be “the one.”
Even
if the government loosens the “only child policy,” does that mean now it’s
women’s turn to decide how many kids they want to have? As one of the news
article pointed out, the increase of the job opportunity for women may be a big
factor to influence the number of kids that they want to have. Also, raising a
child in China has become more and more expensive, in particular in big cities.
I don’t know if this is something special among girls in my generation. But
when my friends and I were talking about plans like having a kid, all of us
agreed that we would give our kids everything of the best. If we don’t have
capacity to do that, we don’t want to have kids. I am not sure if this is
something special among kids from the generation of “only child” family in
cities. But literally, every female friend who has a similar background as I am
said something similar like this.
Now
my female friends started to go on the path of being a mother. Some have babies
no more than one year old, while others are waiting for the due days of their
babies. I witnessed how they tried to provide everything of the best to their
babies or babies to be. Because of the milk powder issue happened two or three
years ago in China, my friends refused to use any milk powder to feed their
babies that is produced in China. Some of them asked me to buy milk powder on a
quarterly basis and mail them in a huge box back to China. But that was not
cheap at all! The international mailing fee ran even higher than the milk
powder. When asked if they want to have a second child, some of them seemed to
be hesitated. One of my best friends whose baby girl is six month now said, “Yes,
we want. But it really depends on whether we can afford it or not.” Again, even
if the government loosens the “only child policy,” it doesn’t mean that a
second child is always affordable to the couple. Besides their ideology to
offer their kids “everything of the best,” the tuitions and fees in a good
school in large cities are ridiculously high.
“When
will have a baby be a personal choice,” I couldn’t help but ask myself. It is really
like how the 2nd wave feminism was saying that personal is still political.
I think it is also applicable to the case of Chinese women who want to have
babies. :)
I find population dilemmas to be incredibly interesting. Post-industrial nations like the US tend to experience a decrease in birth rate. In the case of the US, this is balanced out by immigration. China's case, however, is very different. On the one hand, if they keep the birth rate too low, they will face demographic problems caused by an aging population. On the other hand, if they relax their child limit policies, they will face overpopulation problems. There is no easy route to dealing with this issue.
ReplyDeleteAnd as you point out, at the policy level the fact that women are the ones who will be bearing children is often glossed over and ignored. I’ve read a lot about how Japan has dealt with its own crisis caused by its declining birth rate, and I recall reading about many male politicians making insensitive remarks regarding a woman’s role in reproduction. I’m not sure of what the situation is like in China, but I’m curious as to what the view in the government is in regard to how these policies affect women.
In regard to your friends, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to consider the costs of having children. As you said, the cost of having children is going up in China. If the Chinese government is really serious about increasing the country’s birth rate, I don’t think that loosening the one child policy is enough. It should also provide social benefits to ease the burden of having children for families. These social benefits can range from government run daycare to tax benefits to subsidies for families based on how many children they have. I think that recognizing the role of women in the matter of having children is a key part of providing that kind of assistance.
The exclusion of women from the population debate reminds me of when we started the “ Family Planning” policy in Egypt in the 1990s, however the issue was proposed long time before that. In Egypt, we are over populated as well and on top of that we have a high level of unemployment. However the religious tension around the government dictating a certain number of children per family is what could prevent us from having a similar policy. There is this idea that suggests that the more children you have the more you will protect the heritage of your family which is still prevalent in Egypt and even among those who don’t afford having any children. Mostly, among the poor women couldn’t have the decision making power on that, and because of the lack of enforcement against child labor. Some families would live on the income generated from their children’s work, so in that sense more children could mean more income. The unfortunate thing is that the mother would be burdened by the dual role between reproductive and productive roles. Also the availability of affordable prenatal and skilled delivery providers decreased the mortalities associated with labor. So with decreased infant mortality rates and maternal mortality rates, and increased life expectancy suggests that we will still have population growth, however what the current situation suggests that the poor segment will maintain its increase while the middle class could grow but at a lower rate. That could suggest more burdens for poor women and lack of agency on behalf of middle class women who would be restricted by the economic situation.
ReplyDeleteMy mum worked with the family planning policy for a while and she applied the policy then to our family, however not a lot of women have this luxury of choice. At the same time even if the couples decide on something the extended family could interfere and influence their choice and further decrease the agency of the women. So the government in Egypt doesn’t enforce regulations on that issue but they don’t do anything for providing better services to the new born children so it all depends on the family standard if they are poor then women’s subordination in the decision would be evident as well as they will be burdened by the consequences of any decision taken.