Redemption: Sex and China Essay

Submitted By meagan9251
Words: 1229
Pages: 5

Girls Rule The World…. Or do they? “When the one-child policy was introduced, the government set a target population of 1.2 billion by the year 2000. The census of 2000 put the population at 1.27 billon” (Nakra 2). China’s government implemented the one-child policy in 1979, in response to an explosive growth in population. “In March 2006, the head of China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission announced that China’s family planning policy had helped prevent 400 million birth since its inception” (Nakra 2). It is apparent that the policy was very successful in regulating the population growth in China, but it also has some very negative side effects that accompany it. Since every couple is only allowed one-child, what sex do you think is preferred? Male. In China, Males are the prized sex for many different reasons, most being they are more economically sufficient. Since families are limited to one child, and they mostly desire males, that creates many social consequences and imbalances within the society. Some of the major outcomes are gender imbalances and discrimination against daughters. China’s society has males put on a pedestal, leaving some couples doing unthinkable things to make sure their one child is a boy. Sex selective abortions have been very controversial in China, and they have laws banning them, but the pressure on families to have a boy is weighing to heavy. They will go to any lengths to make sure they will have a boy, and sex selective abortions are one of the major methods used. Technology has furthered this by using ultra sounds for detecting to sex of the baby. China’s female to male ratio is very skewed, leaving society with the aftermath. Yes, it has controlled the population growth, but there are too many bad effects of this policy.
China’s one-child policy has created an unequal and imbalanced society, but there is a reason males are more valued than females. Males are the only ones who can carry on the family name or legacy they may have created, making them more desirable than females. They carry land rights and pass things down such as inheritance. Also, it is their responsibility to take care of their parents in their old age or in sickness, whereas daughters are not. They are also referred to as the “breadwinners”, and are obligated to help out financially if needed. The workforce in China is predominantly males, making it easier for them to find work. One of the main advantages of having a son is that it is more economically sufficient in the long run. Families have these notions in the back of their head when they conceive, and having the one-child policy bears a burden on them that their one child must be male. They simply carry on traditions and pass things down from generation to generation. They run the work force and provide much more than a female could.
The one-child policy only magnifies the discrimination towards daughters, because they can only have one child. “Once the ‘one-child’ law was enforced, first giving birth to a girl placed a lot of families in an unfortunate position. The result of this was a high rate of baby girls being abandoned right after birth, a high rate of infanticide and an even higher number of unregistered baby girls” (Pascu 105). As technology advanced couples began to pre-natal sex determination to find out the sex of the baby, and if it were not a boy they would abort the child. The sex ratio differences between males and females have major impacts on society. The surplus of men is allowing females to “marry up” in society, whereas they would usually not be able to do. With the percentage of women being so low, the upper class men will accept a lower class woman, but that leaves the lower class men with few options. This is suggested to cause a spike in crime rates in China. In China getting married and having a family is tradition and in a sense expected of the male. If he is not able to do that it is