LEDC Population Policy Case Study

LEDC Population Policy Case Study China’s One Child Policy

Introduction • The One Child Policy was introduced in 1979 • Its aim was to reduce the rate of population growth • It works by persuades couples to not have more than one child through use of penalties

What is it? • China's Communist Party implemented in the 1970s amidst growing concerns over whether the famine-prone country could continue to feed its skyrocketing population.

The rule, which reportedly is more lax today, stipulates that urban couples should have only one child.

Couples in rural areas, where 80 percent of the population lives, may have two or possibly more children but should delay getting married initially and then space their children.

Families that violate the rule where it is most strictly enforced face mandatory abortions and severe financial penalties, while single-child couples throughout the country are entitled to better child care, preferential housing assignments, and cash bonuses.

The policy has generally worked, and fertility rates have fallen to an average of about two children per woman, down from more than five children per woman in the 1950s. • However, the number of Chinese women having children today is still much greater than were having children in the previous generation, so China's population growth continues.

What is it? • "One Child Policy" aims to encourage couples to have one child only by:- • free contraceptives and family planning advice • abortion and sterilisationprogramme • special benefits - e.g. pay rise, guaranteed jobs, free education for child, good health care (all lost if couples have two children) • State control on when a couple marries and when they can start a family • Legal age to marry has been increased - male 28, females - 25 • China is a Communist country so can enforce such controls especially in the towns

Exceptions • Ethnic minorities are formally excluded from the policy • If both parents are only children they are allowed to have more than one child provided the children are spaced more than 4 years • Families who have children with mental or physical disabilities are sometimes allowed to have another child

Why? • PROBLEM • China has world's largest population 1.2 billion people • quarter of world's population • 9% of world's land area • birth rate 17 per 1000 • death rates 7 per cent • rate of natural increase 10 per 1000

The Benefits • Preferential treatment in education • Healthcare • Housing • Wages • Couples with unauthorised children are subjected to a range of economic, social and political sanctions

Thoughts • Education is very expensive • Resources concentrated on one child • Women are able to concentrate on careers • Increased role for women in the workplace

The result? • the population growth is slowing down in the towns • hard to control the birth rate in the countryside (need large workforce) • female babies often abandoned or killed as male off spring particularly important to carry on the family name • in 50 years time there will be a large number of elderly Chinese but only a few Chinese of working age • over indulged single child, spoilt (‘little emperor syndrome’)and struggle to find partners with shortage of women • internationally seen as a breach of human rights • population still set to double in the next 100 years • shift in dependency – while fewer children lower dependency at one end of the age spectrum, they raise it at the other end; the bulge in the middle of the present population pyramid will soon result in more old people being supported by a reduced working population

Problems • uneven implementation – the policy seems to have been implemented more effectively in towns and cities than in rural areas • negative growth is now being experienced in some cities (e.g. Shanghai), where the policy may have been too effective • sex-selective abortion – the traditional wish of fathers to produce a son remains strong; the sex ratio now stands at 116 males to every 100 females • increased divorce rate – divorce is used by men as a means of ensuring a male heir

Success or Failure? • Rural areas more reluctant, reasons for this include: • The continuing need for security in old age • The abandonment of the cooperative farming system meaning child labour is important • The perception that girls are no good in ether respect because they marry and leave home

Success or failure continued • So far the policy has reduced China’s population by 250 million • Critics say that the ratio of Chinese males to Chinese females 100 to 117

KQ5. What are the causes and impacts of changing gender structures? • Changing gender structures as countries pass through the demographic transition. • Social, economic and political impacts of gender structures

Gender Imbalance LEDCs • Sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. In human societies, sex ratios at birth or among infants may be considerably skewed by sex-selective abortion and infanticide.

Gender Imbalance in China • Created by the preference for a male child, this promises some serious social problems. For example, due to the increasing shortage of women of marrying age, bride bartering or kidnapping has already become commonplace in rural areas. Prostitution and the trade in sex slaves are now rife in the cities. The growing population of unattached ‘little emperors’, particularly in the cities, could easily spark social instability and a rise in crime. Another possible solution might be to encourage the immigration of women from other countries.

What is it? • Gender imbalance is a demographic effect that may arise either as a consequence of warfare (excess of females, notably in the wake of WWI in western Europe, and WWII, particularly in the Soviet Union) • Sex-selective abortion and infanticide (excess of males, notably in mainland China as a result of the one-child policy, or in India), • Large-scale immigration, such as that of male labourers unable to bring their families with them (as in Qatar and other Gulf countries).

Causes • Boys traditionally more valued than girls • Boys can do more manual labour • Boys can carry on family name • Boys support family into old age • Girls seen as a burden as they leave to join start new family when they reach 18. • Must pay for girls’ weddings • Sons seen as status symbol

Effects • SEX trafficking, violence against women and depression among men could increase if the gender imbalance across Asia is not addressed, researchers say. • warned that future deficits of adult women would affect the stability of the entire marriage system and lead to social unrest where men were likely to be violent against women. • There are 2.1 billion men and 1.9 billion women across Asia. Some Asian countries have between 5 and 20 per cent more men than women. • Gender imbalance may result in the threat of social unrest, especially in the case of an excess of low-status young males unable to find a spouse, and being recruited into the service of militaristic political factions.

Effects Social And Political Implications • Apart from being a human tragedy, there are concerns that political and social stability in both countries could suffer. It is feared that the millions of restless young men could begin to vent their frustration through violence, crime, and political extremism. • "This is not something which is happening in poor families, but in wealthy families. They want to conserve land and property and hand it on to sons. And they don't want to dissipate that wealth among girls." • The problem lies in the fact that for many generations boys have had a higher social status than girls."It's a cultural thing," she says. "People do not think, for example, that in the future the men should have women to marry. Especially in rural areas, the son, -- even when he grows up -- remains part of the family, whereas the girl is taken away into some other family. So they think, especially in rural areas, that the son will support the family. • "Many of these surplus males are now starting to leave rural areas to work in the cities. That has given rise to questions about potential dangers to public health. Sex industry workers in China, for instance, are at a high-risk for infection with the HIV/AIDS virus. Prostitution, and possibly trafficking of women, also is expected to rise in areas where there are many single men. This could encourage the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. • "There is concern about migrant and mobile men, as populations are moving in mass numbers from the countryside to the cities to build the new urban areas,” • "There is also a lot of new business. So you get a lot of mobile men with money.“ It is diffiult to predict the impact of the phenomenon on public health and other social issues because, in China at least, there has not been much solid academic reseach into the question.

Solutions - China • Girl Care Project The imbalance has spurred some official efforts to shift public opinion. The "Girl Care Project" is described as a multi-pronged approach to encourage the birth of girls, although some experts complain that it's being framed in terms of the future needs of men • "This project ought to be seen as a way to foster more respect and concern for women and girls,“ The program aims to end pre-birth sex selection, as well as "attacking the criminal activities of drowning and abandoning baby girls rewarding and assisting families that plan to give birth to baby girls," reported The People's Daily, • The pilot program is being launched in more than a dozen of China's poorest provinces, with funding split between the national and local government. ‘We still have a lot of work to do. There's no road map yet on how to achieve the goal of normal sex ratio.’

Solutions • Leading the way is Fujian province where some $24 million has been allocated for distribution among nearly half a million households, with some 100,000 girls to be exempt from school fees. • Under the program, couples who limit themselves to two girls would receive a combined annual pension of about $150 for the rest of their lives. • Preferential treatment in health care, housing and employment would also be provided.   A recent glowing report in the The People's Daily cited a village where new houses for beneficiaries worth more than $2,300 each were built along a "Family Planning Basic Policy Street.”

Solutions - India • India subsidises girls' education to offset gender imbalance, a move aimed at curbing both population growth and preference for male children, the government of India has announced free and reduced cost education for girls.The new program will offer free education at high school level to all girls of single child families. Those with two girls and no other children may receive discounts of up to 50%. As a continuation of India's policy of promoting education, the program includes provisions for fellowships of US$ 45 per month for those undertaking post-graduate • India faces problems with the balance of the sexes in the country; some areas have a ratio of 80 girls to every 100 boys due to selective abortions. Boys are more highly prized in Indian society and as a result, many couples will have additional children after a girl in an effort to produce a boy. In cases where the family already has one or two female children the likelihood of a female foetus being aborted is significantly higher.Indian law already prohibits tests to determine the sex of an unborn child for this very reason; however, it is routine during medical examinations of the mother for the doctor to disclose the sex of the child.

The Future • Recent speculation about the future of the policy • A Chinese official has been quoted as saying that the policy was intended for one generation only • In 2004, the government recognized the problem and introduced its ‘Care For Girls’ plan. Farming families are to be offered incentives to stop the abortion of female fetuses. Girls will be exempted from school fees, while their parents will benefit from tax breaks, free insurance and extra housing.

Gender Imbalance MEDCs • Should parents undergoing fertility treatments like IVF have the right to choose the sex of the baby? Lawmakers in Britain have split over this issue, reigniting the debate over "designer babies". Couples should be able to decide the gender of the embryo being implanted, parliament's cross-party Science and Technology Committee said in a report published Thursday. But half of the committee's 11 members rejected the findings as "unbalanced and light on ethics"."The use and destruction of embryos does raise ethical issues and there are grounds for caution," the report concluded, but added: "On balance we find no adequate justification for prohibiting the use of sex selection for family balancing."Critics of this policy are concerned that this would turn babies into "consumer items" - and make "designer babies" possible, with user-specifiable hair color, eye color and so forth. "Family balancing" refers to couples who have three girls already, and would like a boy (for example). Under current law, sex selection is allowed if there is a risk of gender-linked disease such as muscular dystrophy or hemophilia. Science fiction authors have discussed possible futures in which sex selection of offspring is allowed.

The History of Sex Selection Gender selection has actually been around for centuries; in fact, methods of sex selection were recorded in hieroglyphics by the Ancient Egyptians. Recent advances in technology, however, have allowed for sex selection to become much more precise and effective. Through these technologies, couples can significantly improve their chances of having a child of a specific sex. Why Sex Selection?   The reasons for undergoing baby gender selection are numerous. The most typical reasons for choosing sex selection procedures include: Genetic Disease: Some couples are afraid of passing certain genetic diseases on to their children. There are genetic disorders associated with male children, such as hemophilia and muscular dystrophy. In order to avoid having a child with these disorders, some parents choose to have a female child.Family Balancing: Family balancing is also a popular reason to turn to sex selection. Couples who have already had a child often would like to have another child of the opposite sex, in order to balance their family.Death of a Child: Unfortunately, some parents lose their children at a very young age. Sex selection provides these couples with the chance of having another child of the same gender.There are also certain cultural, economic, and social reasons for having a child of a specific gender.

Ethical and Legal Concerns   Sex selection is hotly debated in countries all over the world. This is because the sex selection procedures go against the moral and ethical concerns of many people. Some argue that sex selection perpetuates sexual discrimination and stereotyping. Many worry that sex selection will have a negative impact on the ratio of male to female births in certain countries. Others worry that it will lead to the desire to select other characteristics of our children, including hair color, eye color, and intelligence level. For these reasons sex selection based on non-medical reasons has been banned in certain countries. Sex selection is available at fertility clinics throughout the United States. To date, there is no body that governs sex selection procedures and fertility clinics may offer it at their own discretion. However, sex selection techniques are typically only offered for those concerned about genetic disorders. Sex selection based on non-medical reasons is illegal in both Britain and Canada. If you are interested in sex selection techniques, be sure to contact your local government authorities for information in the laws in your country or state.

Exam questions • What are the successes and failures of a policy you have studied that aims to halt a youthful population? • What are the causes and impacts of changing gender structures? (Social, economic, political)

LEDC Population Policy Case Study