Economic Component of Chinas One-Child Family Policy - Literature review Example

Name Course Tutor Institution Introduction In 1992, china carried out its census in order to determine the country’s population. Most of the Chinese foreign scholars presented papers on the "missing girl". From these papers came the awareness that the death of girls in groups of children was not a Chinese problem but the entire East Asia countries, such as South Korea, India and some in south Asia. The country raised alarm of the country’s population imbalance between boys and girls in the near future to come. These factors have been critically elaborated in the text (Arun Pp 16-18). The notion of son preference is deeply rooted in the society. In China for example, sons enjoy great deal of prestige in terms of social, cultural and economic. It was men’s responsibility to perform traditional ancestry cult. In communities where families were required to pay dowry when their girls marry, the concept of discrimination was witnessed by most people if not all than where boys were required to pay money to the girl’s family. The murder of girl’s new-born children as the last resort to the dowry issues became more acceptable majorly in the poorer region of India. In china, “one-child family"(Fong Pp 104) was a fact pushed through in different society by force in many families. The one-child allowed in a family, according to the parents will, was to be a boy and not a girl. The papers presented by foreign scholars pointed out that sex preference persist in modernizing East and Southern Asia. Families tried as much as possible to ensure that they at least have a son. This came to pass through sex-selective abortion as well as under-reporting of births, in order to satisfy the gender preference. Most women status depended on the production of a male or a son so as to continue with the family line or purposely for aging support. In the near future, as social security is strengthen in different societies, the dependence on male (sons) for financial help in aging may lessen. Conversely, this opts to be seen. There is a continued research on the effects of fertility on gender preference as well as family dynamics. At this moment, it is very clear from the papers that son preference is a strong indicator of family composition in Asia. This underscore the need of understanding different roles of culture and gender preference, as a live reality which has the potential of influencing the agencies of relationship between; women and their partners, women and other persons who form family in Asia. A societal preference for sons has become an unlikely power used by Indian women. The abortion or termination of womanly fetuses in favor of boys--- is an illegal but a widely spread act--- this means that in the near future, there would be more eligible bachelors as compared to the potential brides, allowing women as well as their parents to be selective when organizing a match…… The preference for sons has economic, social, and cultural roots in south Asian society. Historically, son preference has led in unusual death toll for female infants. In china, the birth of a boy child was welcomed with jubilations and firecrackers, but when a girl child was born, neighbours said nothing. Billboards were installed in every corner of the country, promising more than 500 rupees for any parent who would abort a female fetus so as to reduce future expenses in terms of dowry. Girls went missing (Sidney Pp 4-5). The preferences for sons were highly rooted in social and cultural aspect in south Asian societies. Male children inherited their family property, carry on the family name and played a special role in the family and the society at large (Sidney Pp 4-6). In Hindu society, male lights the funeral pyre when their parents die. In countries with Confucian influence, such as South Korea and China, family ritual was to be led by the eldest son. However, if there was no existence of any male child, the family dies. Powerful economic factors also influenced son preference. In most of the Asian society if not all, married sons were expected to live with the aging parents in order to provide financial assistance. Contrast to this, when a woman marries, she is not required to contribute anything financially to her parents. Her marriage itself constituted to a financial burden-as a result of large celebration in the case of South Korea or huge dowry payments, as in India. Most authors argued that parents prefer males since their perceived net value is greater than that of girls. Their arguments is mostly based on the fact that sons can help on family farm, provide financial support to their old age parents- while girls have less to offer and they can become economic burden if their marriage expense incurred were high. In its extreme manifestation, son preference has the tendency of affecting how boys and girls survive to maturity. In most human demographic, women gave birth to more boys than girls. The focus of the three Asian populations, that is, South Korea, china and north Indian, have clearly shown evidence of sex imbalance in their birth rates (Sidney Pp 6-10). Parent’s preferences for sons have significant effect on children’s welfare as well as demographic behavior. India exhibits considerable variation in its economical, cultural and geographical environment. Arnold et al states that cultural, economic and social environment influences the costs and benefits of son’s preferences. Surveyors have identified three major factors that underlie son-preference. First is the social and economic utility of sons. Many individual have argued out that a lot of sons have the tendency of providing family labor in a family business, earn wages or salaries. Upon marriage, every male child is expected to bring a daughter-in-law into the family; the girl is expected to provide help around the house as well as brings economic development or importance into the family through dowry payment. Among major factors which led to the consideration that females were less important as compared to males in the society was through inheritance. In many areas of rural china, there was a strong taboo on a girl inheriting land, because if she did so, the land would be lost to her father’s lineage. If any woman attempted to claim her rights to share her parents immovable goods, she is more likely to lose the affectionate of her close brothers as well as the sense of obligation to be supported in the case of emergency or in the event where her husband is dead (widowed) . Besides, more women in many areas are economically dependent on their men who tend to be breadwinners in the family. Having a son helped the father in securing betters status in the community. On the other hand, a girl child was considered as a curse by her father leave alone the community at large. A girl was not only considered inferior but a liability—brides dowry could financially crippled a poorer family. In addition, dowry practice could deteriorate into extortion of possessions (wealth) from the girl to the son’s parents, leaving the girl’s parents in debt. Giving and raising girls was like watering someone else’s farm: this was a saying used by Chinese peasants. Sex-selection abortion was mostly used by the well educated women in the society. There is evidence of dowry abolishment in the year 1961, but these customs is still practiced up to date. In some parts of the Asian continent, humiliation and death were punishment used for a mother who gave birth to a daughter, as a result of the economic hardship as well as stigma caused by the girl child (Jimmerson pp.47-79). There is an immediate consequence of this acts, in years to come, there is a belief that there will be 12-15% excess men leading to bride shortage. This may lead to rape, alcohol abuse, increase in crimes, women will be viewed as commodity; for instance kidnapping and girl trafficking across the borders, increase in inter community girl trafficking and it also may lead to a situation where all men in a family would have to share the same wife. Another aging woman narrated the need for having a son. In her own words, she said, “maga manege; magalu pararige” meaning sons are for the family whereas, daughter are for other family. Another factor is the cultural utility, in the notion of India patriarchal family system, having a son helped in the continuation of the family lineage. It was believed that a male child offers or provides additional status to the family. Although a girl child provided help in house choirs before marriage, she was often considered as economic liability to her parents. Socially, the benefits of having a daughter are low as compared to the costs. Daughters are known to provide emotional satisfaction to their parents as compared to a male child. Parents bear large burden while arranging a suitable marriage for their girls in order to protect their chastity before marriage. A strong preference for a son may be a hindrance to fertility if couples insist on having children after reaching their general family-size since they are contented with the gender of their children. China has an old age fascination with a boy child. Both Indian and Chinese cultures were profoundly feudal, this means that, women were neither seen nor heard. There was societal demand for women to bear male child and as a result most women were considered failures and they tend to feel guilty when they give birth to a girl child. Women were considered less importance to the society if they failed to deliver a male child into the family, their husbands would often beat them while others were rejected. Giving birth to a girl child by women meant rejection by all community members. Sons had a duty of lighting up their parent’s pyre. Having a family made of girls amounted to condemnation. Mothers who gave birth to a girl child were cursed while those who gave birth to a boy child were blessed and it was always accompanied with celebration and jubilation. The concept of son preference was followed with a theory that, if the first child delivered was a girl, she was to be killed, and the next child will automatically turn out to be a boy. A lot of community believed in this superstition, thereby putting it in practice. Methodology Household community survey was carried out in October 1993. A random selection of two countries was made, that is: china and India. About 16,000 women and 20,000 men were questioned on the idea of son preference. Out of these interviewed fellows, more respondent argued that having a son is more beneficial as compared to a girl child. In china for example, women were paid up to 500 rupees in order to abort any female fetuses in their womb, this was mainly carried out to reduce future expenses to be incurred during dowry payment. One of the respondent said that a son was seen an asset to the family while a daughter was seen as a liability. In 2003, survey was carried out, it happen to be that for every 1000 boys born only 770 girls survived. China and India were responsible for 80 million “missing females” in the entire world (Coale 459-479). One of the crude ways used in eliminating girls after birth was through poisoning, starvation, drowning, throat splitting and smothering. “Some parents went an extra mile of faking deaths certificate if they gave birth to a girl child”, one of the respondent said. Some girl’s were disposed of into the garbage or drown into the seas. Each year the death toll of a girl child was double that of the male child. Girls who managed to survive were denied the right to life sustaining health and were neglected by the communities as well as the society they lived in. Conclusion The immense magnitude of female abortion in India, china and some parts of south Asia has reached a point of creating a worldwide population imbalance, leading to drastic economical, social and cultural consequences. More than 100 million women are said to be missing in Asia which will result in excess men than women in several years to come. Sex selection abortion not only genies daughters the right to life- right to be born- but also turns most women into silent victims. Killing refers to the act of murder where women were killed for their perceived behavior. Such killing are evidenced in most parts of the world, such as Uganda, Sweden, India, China, Egypt, Pakistan, Britain, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran, etcetera. A lot of daughters were considered as a liability to the family, some parents took drastic measure such as drowning, choking, and disposing their girl child. A girl was mainly considered as a liability during marriages, it is said that during such ceremony, the girl’s parents is expected to hold a huge ceremony for the expected girl to marry, this is an expense or a period that most families in India as well as china does not like. Marriage at time had the potential of making the girl’s parents even poorer than it was. Most couples control their families as well as sex composition. If China's and Indians fertility reduction continued and the preference for sons remained constant, prejudice against girls may deepen. Despite modest development in sex impartiality, levels of culture, economic circumstances, and the practical facts that girls will be swallowed to other lineages and family pressures pairs who might be willing to endow in daughters to carry on procreating until they give birth to a son. Young mothers, for that reason, unwillingly acknowledge the need of having a son, enlightening a difference between their primarily stated reproductive ideals as well as their eventual behavior. Continued and quick economic development in China is not accompanied by the drastic change in traditional value, and most peasants still believe on the value of son preference. It was very important for women to give birth to a male child since it would be followed by blessing unlike when a woman gives birth to a girl child. These discrepancies led to a lot of girls missing. China and India are countries considered with the highest number of missing girls as compared to the entire world at large. Those girls who managed to survive until maturity faced hardship from their families as well as the entire society; some went hungry while others were left across the street. Reference Arun K Aggarwal, (2009) Gender issues: Why I was not born as a son? My struggles to get my daughters justice, Demography Vol.Pp 16-18 Coale, Ansley J. & Judith Banister (1994) “Five Decades of Missing Females in China”, Demography Vol. 31:3, 459-479. Fong, Vanessa L. (2001) “China’s one-child policy and the empowerment of urban daughters,” American Anthropologist 104, 4 (December), 1098-1109. Gregory, Lisa B. “Examining the Economic component of China’s One-Child Family Policy under International Law”, Journal of Chinese Law Vol. 6:1. Jimmerson, Julie (1990) “Female Infanticide in China: An Examination of Cultural and Legal Norms”, Pacific Basin Law Journal, vol. 8:1, pp.47-79. Sidney, Westley at el. (2007). How does son preferences Affect population in Asia. Read More