There's a lot of pressure growing on Mainland China to reverse its long-standing "one child only" policy for most families. It was introduced 30 years ago in an attempt to stem the population explosion but it's had an unintended effect -- inverted families where one child is expected to take care of both parents and four grandparents in their later years. Support that would have in the past been shared by a number of siblings. In reality, the one child policy applies mostly to urban areas; in rural parts of the country parents are allowed to have a second if the first child is female and/or disabled. Not to mention the struggle of three or even four men fighting for the heart of just one woman.
That doesn't mean there have been abuses -- and they have been outrageous. Factory supervisors monitoring female employees' menstrual cycles. Parents being forced to have abortions against their will for unplanned pregnancies. And while the law forbids parents from finding out what the sex of their baby will be, that doesn't stop parents from finding out anyway -- and if it is a female they either get an abortion or murder the child soon after it's born. Or leave it up for adoption, further straining the social service system.
Moreover, fines which are supposed to be paid to compensate the state for child born "illegally" are often waived, if one has the right connections. This is usually middle and upper class families who can afford the risk; peasant farmers in rural areas simply cannot.
Perhaps the "one child policy" was a reaction to Chairman Mao's misguided "Great Leap Forward," but restricting family rights is just as cold-hearted and mean spirited. In my opinion, common sense should prevail. Families should be able to decide for themselves how many children they can afford to support and/or will need to support them in later years. China really no longer needs the rule and should dump it. The "one-two-four" dilemma is just the tip of the iceberg.
Besides, kids with siblings are often better off psychologically -- the intense feelings of loneliness of only children can be potentially damaging and hurtful. Take it from someone who knows.
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2 comments:
Every Country should have a one child policy. There are about 7 billion people on the planet. How many can we sustain? 12 billion 20 billion? I think not, how about 3 billion which is much closer to a sustainable number. And it was always one child that took care of both parents and grandparents in East Asia, the eldest.
There are other ways to car for an aging population and the gender gap is due to selection abortion and infanticide, not the one child policy, both of which could also be solved with incentives from government for having girls.
With only one child development indicators increase for the entire community. People with more children are poorer, have lower quality of life standards are less educated and are less likely to pass a better life to their children than those with fewer.
China's one child policy has helped its development immenselyand should not under any circumstance be reversed.
s.b.
I support something which is even bolder: Voluntary Human Extinction.
The website is:
http://www.vhemt.org/
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