Chinas One Child Policy free essay sample

China’s One Child Policy Like Arthur Waley states When a son is born, Let him sleep on the bed, Clothe him with fine clothes, And give him jade to play†¦When a daughter is born, Let her sleep on the ground, Wrap her in common wrappings, And give broken tiles to play†¦. Traditional Chinese Society value and worship boys rather than girls because they say boys are more beneficial since they are harder workers and they carry on the last name of the family. Even though China may be heavily populated, its one child policy is brutal and needs to stop because newborn females are being abandoned, murdered, and abortions are conducted at an alarming rate. In 1967, the one child policy was introduced to limit the population since it was one of the worlds most populated country. â€Å"The one child family policy was developed and implemented in response to concerns about the social and economic consequences of continued rapid population growth† (Kane). This policy limited every family to have one child in order to try and decrease the size of the population in China. In some areas, the law didn’t apply if the first born child was a girl, military officers of a certain rank, members of China’s many ethnic minorities or farmers who were poor. Many families who decided to have more than one child, weren’t able to obtain a birth certificate, education, future birth control, and a fine would be applied to each and every other child one has. Those who didn’t want to face the consequences of having another child, often aborted or just left the baby to die in the street, especially if it was a baby girl. The frequent use of abortion and neglect in china is just savage to those innocent babies of Chinese families. Female Infanticide increased in China due to this one child policy. â€Å"Although the Chinese government recognized the risks to female infants in rural areas where anti-female bias is greater, allowing couples to have a second child if the first is a girl, the number of girls who have been subject to murder and neglect, as a result of this policy, numbers in the millions† (Female Infanticide). China’s one child policy was passed knowing that the female infanticide would grow and as a result it led to millions of neglected and murdered newborn girls which brought the birth rate of girls down. â€Å"Despite the egalitarian nature of Chinese society, many parents believe that having a son is a vital element of providing for their old age. Therefore in extreme cases, a baby is killed if it is not of the preferred sex, because of the pressure not to have more than one child† (Female Infanticide). Girls in China are being neglected and intentionally killed by their own parents due to the fact that many families in china prefer to have a son since they are the ones who carry the last name and are more likely to succeed. â€Å"The main reasons given for abortion are contraceptive failure and a lack of government approval for the pregnancy under the one child policy† (Hesketh). The lack of money also resulted in many abortions and neglect of newborn babies. If families followed this one child policy, the first child would earn free education, health and money for their one and only child. Having more than one baby effected the life’s of many families because of the fact that there would be a fine assigned for each and every other child they had, they wouldn’t earn a birth certificate, there would be no government help and they would have to pay more tax. The primary reason why China’s One Child Policy was conducted, was because of its overpopulated country. â€Å"After the introduction of the one-child policy, the fertility rate in China fell from 2. 63 births per woman in 1980 (already a sharp reduction from more than five births per woman in the early 1970s) to 1. 61 in 2009† (Torrent). When this policy was passed, many families followed the one child policy, which prevented the population from going up. If the policy was never conducted, the births between those years would have been double the amount they were. â€Å"In China’s poor areas, economic and cultural backwardness and too many births often interact as both cause and effect. The Chinese government has taken a step in giving support to the development of poor areas to alleviate poverty by promoting family planning, holding population growth under control, and raising the life quality of the population in those areas† (Torrent). The overpopulation resulted in an increase in birth rates, decline in mortality rates, and made it difficult to obtain more resources. This policy also helped those families in need, by providing government resources if only they abided by the rules of having one child. Overall China’s One Child Policy has helped maintain the population from increasing and it also has given an opportunity for the low class to live in better conditions. China’s One Child policy is unjust to those innocent newborns who are being abandoned, neglected by their own parents, put up for adoption, and sometimes not even given the opportunity of being born. The preference of a boy over a girl is also really unnecessary, yes boys are more capable of being more successful in the Chinese society because of the higher wages they earn, and better jobs they offer but a girl should also be able to live her life, girls are humans just like boys are. â€Å"But men without women are altogether more troublesome than women without men, especially when they are young† (Hitchens). At an obvious point, women are needed to reproduce. How is the Chinese society going to keep on growing if only boys are being reproduced? Does the Chinese society want girls to become extinct, because without girls boys will also become extinct, which would just make the whole Chinese society extinct. Keeping population low helps the society live in a better, stable condition but girls shouldn’t be neglected and they should be favored as much as boys are favored, because either way boys and girls are both humans beings and should be treated equally. Overall, it’s ones fault for their actions so why put others down for ones mistakes. Even though China’s population increased over time, China’s One Child Policy kept it from increasing even more than expected. â€Å"As a result, in 2008, China’s rate of population growth was only 5 per thousand, down from over 14 per thousand in 1990 and 25 per thousand in 197â€Å"(Wang). Population is still increasing but not as dramatically as before. â€Å"Today the national fertility level is around 1. 5 and possibly lower. In the country’s more developed regions, fertility has been even lower for more than a decade—barely above 1 child per couple, a level that rivals the lowest fertility rates in the world†(Wang). Even the birth rate has been reported to be decreasing, it might be because the policy is being followed or because many families are continuing to abort, neglect, or murder the child. â€Å"†¦the projected 20 to 30 million Chinese men who will not be able to find wives, due to the country’s decades-long imbalanced sex ratio at birth, may constitute a large group of unhappy, dissatisfied people† (Wang). It is said that, since there would be less women than men, many men would not even get the opportunity to get married which will cause criminal intentions and maybe even homosexuals. This policy may be helpful in decreasing the population, but it’s changing the way many people think about girls and boys, and it’s making people do unwanted actions. Everyone should have the chance to live how they desire, to have as many children they want, because either way they’re responsible for their actions. China’s One Child Policy was conducted to reduce the rate of population by following the rule of having one child per family, which led to many neglected unborn or newborn babies and female infanticide. As Cameron states, â€Å"We document that Chinas One-Child Policy (OCP), one of the most radical approaches to limiting population growth, has produced significantly less trusting, less trustworthy, more risk-averse, less competitive, more pessimistic, and less conscientious individuals†. The main cause for China’s One Child Policy was to avoid a national population crisis, and the effect that arose was the sex-selective abortion and uneven gender ratio. It is always ones choice and action one decides for themselves, no matter what the consequences bring.