China One Child Policy Social

China One Child Policy

Social Change One Child Policy

Economic reform has brought many changes to China's rural economy in the past two decades, as reflected in a combination of rapid economic growth, rural industrialization, structural change, and sharp reductions in fertility. This dissertation evaluates the possible consequences of these changes on women's labor force participation.

The first essay explores the impact of China's "one-child policy" on female work patterns through its possible effects on fertility. Early studies that took fertility behavior to be exogenous to female labor supply tended to find that fertility has a negative impact on female labor supply.

This ignores a potential selection problem inherent in the estimation of the fertility-female labor supply relation, namely, that women who prefer to work may also desire fewer children. I use the instrumental variable method identifying variables that correlate with fertility but have no direct impact on labor supply to resolve this problem.

Thesis statement

In China the policy is called the planned birthed policy, but in Western countries it is called the one child policy. The one child policy is misleading because it is believed that couples in mainland China are required to only have one child. But the one child policy is promoted as an ideal and the limit has been strongly enforced in urban areas, and the implementation varies depending on location.

Introduction

In most rural areas, families are allowed to have two children, if the first child is female, or disabled. "For the majority of the Chinese population with rural or agricultural household registration statues, provincial-level fertility policy can be grouped into three categories: 1) One- Child policy; in six provinces, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Jiangsu, and Sichuan, almost all residents are expected to follow the one-child-per-couple policy. 2) 1.5 children policy; in 19 provinces, rural residents are allowed to have a second child after a specified birth interval if the first birth is a girl. 3)

Two- children policy; in five provinces, Hainan, Ningxia, Qinghai, Yunnan, and Xinjiang, all rural couples are allowed to have two children." (Scharping, 2003, p67-88) Also married couples which come from one child families are allowed to have more than one child. There are also wide arrays of special exemptions for couples who are not from one child families.

State power

In areas that are more restricting, additional children may result in fines. This can be done either by being forced to pay a penalty, or by not receiving funds from the birth control program, education, and family's health care. Some couples are allowed to simply pay a fine or social maintenance fee to have more children. China's harsh birth planning policies, while immensely controversial from ethical, moral, and international standpoints, are attributed from a direct economic need to manage the country's population.

Population signifies the production prospective of the country and also indicates large amounts of state spending to maintain this population's health, education, and welfare programs. (Wang, 2005, p117-28) An immense population has created severe economic burden on the country's economy, that taking control of the population is important in sustaining economic success. The correlation between population health and economics of a country continually affect each other.

The dynamics of this reciprocating pathway should be investigated before any governing body authorizes a decision which will impact society enormously. One of the functions of the government is to improve the quality of its citizens' lives. Governments can fully take on the responsibility of providing universal access to health care services. Also governments can enforce taxes to redistribute income and provides subsidies for the disadvantaged groups. (White, 2000, p74-78) But still health disparities persist and only benefit a portion of the population. China has made a bold move in sustaining its economic success through placing restrictions on its population. China is inducing higher living standards through a reduction in population growth by the one child policy to increase economic stability. (Head- Jones, 2004). China is also facing the dilemma of supplying its large population with quality education and quality healthcare. So although there may have been increased economic growth, the issues pertaining to the size of the population overwhelm these potential benefits and may even weaken existing support systems. (Winckler, 2002, p379-418)

While the one child policy is controversial, it is effective in reducing population growth. China's Communist leaders have pledged to focus on environmental protection and quality of life rather than seeking maximum economic growth (Scharping, 2003, p67-88). So capital earned from the controlled population growth will be reallocated into the population, strengthening existing life supports. Therefore more resources will be available for each individual, improving quality of life by investing in education, health care, welfare, public health, and better provision of water and sanitation. (Winckler, 2002, p379-418)

China has performed this population control relatively quickly but future predictions are uncertain of the consequences pertaining to the swiftness of the control. The drastic economic growth and now the quick decline in fertility rates will immensely impact their society.

Health Aspects

In rural areas, the health care system consists of village doctors and clinics, township health centers, and general hospitals. Most Chinese people live in rural areas which may negatively affect elderly health due to their lower economic status. Also millions of migrant workers travel to cities to gain employment, which may leave their elderly relatives to take care of themselves without their traditional social network. (Wang, 2005, p117-28) Community health centers, district hospitals, and tertiary hospitals constitute the health care system for the urban areas. Also due to the epidemiological transition in China, the chronic disease became the more prominent ailment to afflict the middle to older age groups. In general, stroke, cancer, ischemic heart disease, and chronic lung disease account for most of the mortality among middle-aged and older people, while children generally die from a short list of infections, most of which are relatively inexpensive to treat or prevent (Wang, 2005, p117-28)

There is evidence that now "China's disease profile resembles that of a developed country: 85% -- 90% of deaths are due to non-communicable diseases and injuries" (Scharping, 2003, p67-88). The rapid growth of the elderly population will create a large cohort of individuals with chronic disease. This will place a burden on the support systems which may lead to a decrease quality of life and create more economic strain on elderly people and society.

Geriatric departments have developed due to the growing need to provide care for retired government officials and workers (Poston, 2002, p333-47) Physicians that are currently in the geriatric department are specialized in other areas and develop future geriatricians through residents who are trained in the geriatric department.

Economic aspects

Economic reform has profound effects on how households allocate their family labor to different economic activities. By using the number of individual hours allocated to each activity, combined with average family "wages," as the basis for identifying individual "earnings," we estimate the relative incomes of men and women, and the correlation of incomes and labor supply with a set of village-level economic variables. Our empirical results confirm that economic reform has brought significant changes in the allocation of labor in the rural Chinese economy. Most striking of all, we find a general decline in the time spent in agriculture, which applies to both men and women. This finding is certainly in great contrast to the notion that women are being discriminated against and being "left on the farm." (White, 2000, p74-78)

On the contrary, women's participation on the non-agriculture sectors has increased substantially. This has helped to improve women's contribution to household income. However, men are in a much better position to gain from the process of structural transformation and their income has grown at a faster pace, and consequently, the relative contribution of women to household income has declined in the process of economic development. (Wang, 2005, p117-28)

We find that most of our evidence suggests that agriculture is still an important relative and absolute source of income for women. Finally, we find that in the process of structural transformation human capital plays an important role in allocating labor to the non-agriculture sector. The fact that men are usually the household members who receive more education perhaps explains why they are in a better position to take advantage of lucrative non-farm opportunities. (White, 2000, p74-78)

Present and Future of One Child Policy in China

Understanding the dynamics of the Chinese society which constitutes a large portion of our global population is vital. As populations increase and as resources are exhausted, other nations will arrive at a similar dilemma of sustaining economic success while improving living standards. (Poston, 2002, p333-47)Countries such as India have an immense population with a growing economy can learn from China's strategy to cope with this issue. These reforms which have stimulated economic growth has helped lift an unprecedented 150 million people out of poverty bringing the poverty rate down from 53% of population in 1981 to 8% in 2001 (Scharping, 2003, p67-88).

The Chinese government is facing an important challenge to balance economic stability with population growth. Several factors should be considered before the restrictions are lessened. The relaxation of the policy will only be considered if there is an ample amount of evidence showing that low fertility rates will be sustained. Current studies show that China is transitioning into a small family culture. In 30 pilot counties the policy has been lifted, allowing couples to choose their family size (Poston, 2002, p333-47).

However, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Survey also showed that in urban areas where the one child policy is strictly enforced, 43% of women still preferred two children. Another aspect which needs to be considered is that laws from the past may not be appropriate for the present. During the past 25 years China has drastically changed their socioeconomic infrastructure. (Winckler, 2002, p379-418)

To many the one child policy seems obsolete, because of the immense progress gained from wealth and globalization. Due to the increased wealth and freedom of movement, the government is having a harder time enforcing the policy. The wealthier families are not deterred by economic disincentives. So past policy regulations are not as effective in controlling family planning. (Wang, 2005, p117-28)

Also there are many negative aspects associated with continuing the strict policy. These aspects include high sex ratios, aging population, marital discrepancies, inadequate pension coverage, and unapproved pregnant women not seeking medical care. Although these stringent policies are slowing down the population growth to gain benefits in the economic world, it is adversely affecting other facets of China's infrastructure. The two child policy was analyzed in 1985 by John Bongaarts and Susan Greenhalgh in their study, "An Alternative to the One Child Policy in China." (Winckler, 2002, p379-418)

The two child policy entailed two elements: 1) a stop at two rules and 2) a minimum age of at least 25 for the first birth, combined with a spacing interval of several years in between the first and second birth. These findings have crucial implications for China's population policy because they permit resolution of the conflict between the government objective of low fertility, which is needed to control population size, and individual desires for at least two children. (Short and Zhai, 1998, p373-88)

In fact, with the additional requirement of a delay in childbearing, a successful stop-at-two policy can be as effective in curbing population growth as a successful one child policy (Poston, 2002, p333-47). The two child policy could alleviate societal discrepancies and provide a more balanced age sex structure to China's population. (Poston, 2002, p333-47)

Some still believe that relaxing the strict policies now, will jeopardize the progress made and keeping the population below 1.4 billion by 2010 will not be met. The two child policy would be more appealing to the Chinese population than the one child policy because it provides more options for the people. (White, 2000, p74-78)

Critical analysis

The one child policy is harder to implement because it does not give families much freedom in their options for child birth. Under the two child program, couples would have the choice of having two children, subject to the stipulated timing restrictions, or having a single at any time (Poston, 2002, p333-47). Also the one child policy has difficulty being implemented properly due to the inability of higher cadres to enforce compliance with the lower cadres who have the direct contact with the families.

Although the two child policy may not mitigate these issues between administrative officials, it does move some freedom to the families to choose their offspring timing, and is more lax so will not be as difficult to implement. Also this approach may encourage more families to be more compliant and not place pressure upon local cadres to bear more children. Therefore local cadres will be able to satisfy the higher levels of government. Also the two child policy may reduce economic costs; if this policy is preferred then policymakers might be able to reduce incentives for compliance with the policy.

Indications are that the two children, delayed fertility policy would find much more acceptance among the population than the current policy (Hardee, 2003, p68-76). Other costs of enforcement, such as expenses for ideological work, monitoring of births and their timing, contraceptives and medical services, would probably be the same under the one child policy (Lavely and Freedman, 1990, p89-116). The one child policy does not endorse sexual inequality, but is a byproduct of the policy that has adverse effects for women, leading to cases of female infanticide, abuse of wives, child abuse, and an unbalanced sex ratio. Although, gender inequality is incorporated by allowing a second child if the first is a daughter. The two child policy would not diminish the preference for a son, but may reduce the negative pressure placed on women to have a male offspring for their first birth. Also by enforcing a uniform policy in all areas of the country, it would be easier for political officials to align policy with ideology across the country. (Liu et al. 2000, p331-52)

Another implication that arises if the one child policy is perpetuated for several successive generations is that all children will be without siblings and they would have no nieces or nephews. These children's children would then be without uncles or aunts and no cousins. On the other hand, if every couple is allowed two children, then most children would have a brother or sister. (Winckler, 2002, p379-418)

As they get older, they will have nieces and nephews and then their children will have aunts or uncles. This would create a larger family support system to care for the elderly and divert costs with more family members. The one child policy may induce negative effects that jeopardize a families' ability to care for its elderly, reduce its productive potential, and degrade the families' sense of continuity and value to their family name. (Wang, 2005, p117-28)