One Child Policy Essay
1 Child Policy
The one child policy was first introduced in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s by the central government. The population was rapidly approaching one billion, so Deng Xiaoping implemented the policy to reduce the growth rate of their population.The goal of the policy was the limit the vast majority of families to having only one child. The government started promoting birth control and family planning as a way of limiting family size. The policy was effective at limiting the population in the latter stages of its implementation, but also brought several issues including forced abortions and sterilizations, a male dominant society, fewer children to support their grandparents, and second children being undocumented.
The first
program to limit the population was introduced in 1978. The program was voluntary and encouraged families to have less than 2 children, 1 preferably. However, the program proved ineffective and the population continued to grow too rapidly. The government decided to standardize the one child policy nationwide on September 25, 1980. A public letter was issued by the Chinese Communist Party and made the one child policy mandatory for all. This letter is considered by man to be the official start date of the policy. The policy did have a few exceptions, allowing parents within certain ethnic minority groups or those whose firstborn was handicapped to have another child. Due to the tendency for overcrowding in larger cities, there was stronger enforcement there and more leniencies on the countryside. In the countryside, families were more likely to resist because of the necessity for help on their farms. The government provided several means of enforcement, including financial incentives and preferable employment, and at times invoking stronger measures such as forced abortions and sterilizations. The result of the program was a success based on what the goal of it was. The plan effectively reduced the fertility and birth; rates in China. However, the plan also led to many problems.
The aftermath of the policy was a damaged society and unrest within the Chinese people. The first was a male dominant society, because girls were undesirable. Families, particularly in rural areas, had their sons inherit the family name and property and were responsible for the care of elderly parents. This meant that if a couple's firstborn was female, there was a high likelihood of the child being aborted, orphaned, or even killed as a newborn. The country’s overall gender ratio became unbalanced with around 3-4% more males, which in a population close to one billion is a large difference. Over time, the gap between males and females grew larger, leaving less females available for marriage. The second was fewer children to support their grandparents. This was a big problem because the majority of grandparents would rely on their grandchildren to take care of them, but there were less to support them. A third consequence was instances where the births of children after the first went unreported or were hidden from authorities. Often times, those children were undocumented and faced hardships in obtaining an education and employment. Estimates range the number of undocumented individuals from the hundreds of thousands to several million, although exact numbers are unknown.
The one child policy was first introduced in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s by the central government. The population was rapidly approaching one billion, so Deng Xiaoping implemented the policy to reduce the growth rate of their population.The goal of the policy was the limit the vast majority of families to having only one child. The government started promoting birth control and family planning as a way of limiting family size. The policy was effective at limiting the population in the latter stages of its implementation, but also brought several issues including forced abortions and sterilizations, a male dominant society, fewer children to support their grandparents, and second children being undocumented.
The first
program to limit the population was introduced in 1978. The program was voluntary and encouraged families to have less than 2 children, 1 preferably. However, the program proved ineffective and the population continued to grow too rapidly. The government decided to standardize the one child policy nationwide on September 25, 1980. A public letter was issued by the Chinese Communist Party and made the one child policy mandatory for all. This letter is considered by man to be the official start date of the policy. The policy did have a few exceptions, allowing parents within certain ethnic minority groups or those whose firstborn was handicapped to have another child. Due to the tendency for overcrowding in larger cities, there was stronger enforcement there and more leniencies on the countryside. In the countryside, families were more likely to resist because of the necessity for help on their farms. The government provided several means of enforcement, including financial incentives and preferable employment, and at times invoking stronger measures such as forced abortions and sterilizations. The result of the program was a success based on what the goal of it was. The plan effectively reduced the fertility and birth; rates in China. However, the plan also led to many problems.
The aftermath of the policy was a damaged society and unrest within the Chinese people. The first was a male dominant society, because girls were undesirable. Families, particularly in rural areas, had their sons inherit the family name and property and were responsible for the care of elderly parents. This meant that if a couple's firstborn was female, there was a high likelihood of the child being aborted, orphaned, or even killed as a newborn. The country’s overall gender ratio became unbalanced with around 3-4% more males, which in a population close to one billion is a large difference. Over time, the gap between males and females grew larger, leaving less females available for marriage. The second was fewer children to support their grandparents. This was a big problem because the majority of grandparents would rely on their grandchildren to take care of them, but there were less to support them. A third consequence was instances where the births of children after the first went unreported or were hidden from authorities. Often times, those children were undocumented and faced hardships in obtaining an education and employment. Estimates range the number of undocumented individuals from the hundreds of thousands to several million, although exact numbers are unknown.