One Child Policy is One Big Problem for China - Case Study Example

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ABANDONMENT OF FEMALE AND DISABLE CHILDREN IN CHINA i. Introduction and Background Abandonment of children, especially female infants was there in China even before the 1950s and continued after the formation of the People’s Republic. The concern increased in the nineteenth century where people killed young infants instead. During this time, the Chinese government was highly against the act of abandoning which led to the augmented female infanticide. The People’s Republic made the abolishment of the act one of its core goals, which led to the decline of excess female mortality rate (Fenby 2013). Abandonment was no longer a tradition after this period because most people regarded it as harmful and the authorities considered it as a crime. During the 1950s to 1970s, the government seemed to be in control of the matter but in the early 80s, there was an increase in the number of missing women. Moreover, most institutions and government bodies linked this with the introduction of the one-child policy that is still there today. Naturally, the implementation of this initiative is an effort to control the increased population growth. People that get more than one-child face the set penalties of reduced salaries and limited access to social facilities; however, this takes place after the children are born. In the 1980s, the one-child policy did not work of well because the ratio of male to female was not proportionate leading to the allowance of a second child for families that lived in rural areas. However, this was only if the first-born child was a girl. The government supported this policy for a while but in the late 1990’s the World Health Organization intervened due to a significant number of missing women because of abandonment (Lehmann 2013). Generally, the current abandonment of girls and disabled children has its history with the only difference being the causes and implications for the different periods (Milson 2014). All the same, it has a been an economic and social problem for over fifty years and the different tactics implemented to counter this always end up failing. Significantly, China is in record for having the biggest imbalance between men and women in its population because of the abandonment of infant females that fairly contributes to the increased mortality rate. On the other hand, there are more men in China than any other state in the world, creating more gender issues for the nation. Some of the implications of female and disabled children abandonment include the popular abduction and slave trade market (Young 2014). Today, people refer to the different venues as ‘baby hatches’ where one meets with the dealers or enters a room, leaves the baby and rings a bell. Unfortunately, the increased number of men creates the thirst for the women, which in the end brings a lot of crime in China and neighboring nations. Definitely, there is a lot of discernment in China especially for the female children who have been in the spotlight since the twentieth century. The disabled children face expose to the same today, not necessarily due to the one-child policy alone. This pattern of discrimination reduces the chances of these children in life. There is a lot of pressure from bearing a second child for couples and they feel that the only way out is getting rid of it since registering it would mean facing the wrath of the government (Kubin 2014). Nonetheless, the society and economy of China contributes just as much as the political situations. Relatively, the government of China offers the option of adoption but the system is untrustworthy especially with the multiple documentaries shown in the media where female infants are more likely to die in rooms after registration for adoption. The state orphanages are not any better, being a subject of multiple criticisms from international child corporations, local NGOs and other child right’s boards (Nathan 2014). The criticisms are because of the poor sanitary conditions and the degradation of female and disabled children. Most of the male infants in these orphanages are those that have mental disorders or physical disabilities. Unfortunately, the most alarming fact is that around 95% of children in the Chinese State Orphanages are not orphans; they have parents that abandoned them because of being born of the unwanted gender (High 2013). The mass desertion has more than half a million girls and disabled children victims of abandonment with the impediments leading to death, trafficking, ailments and other harmful effects. Appreciably, the government of China has put a lot of effort in countering these problems as a way of creating equality for the female gender i.e. Marriage Law, Women’s Protection Law, The Maternal Health Care Law etc. However, with this and other laws in place female and disabled children still face the biggest threat of abandonment. In fact, most of the social and economic factors are the core facilitators of these children’s abandonment forcing loving parents to abandon their own flesh and blood. Below is a discussion of the key social and economic factors that lead to the abandonment of female and disabled children in China today. ii. Social and Economic Factors Facilitating the Abandonment of Female and Disabled Children After its review, the Chinese Government recently alleviated the one-child policy; however, international child rights corporations thought that this was a mistake but the state’s leaders used the current economic situation to support their actions. According to their records, the new procedures for the one-child policy assisted in reducing the population growth rate hence contributing to the augmented modernization. Since the late twentieth century, the policy applied as a basis of reducing excess birth rates and for the promotion of economic advancements. Evidently, it worked to a particular depth over the years but today it has brought a number of shortcomings, no wonder people have continuously criticized the government’s reluctance to drop it (Scutti 2014). The one-child policy limits the ability of couples to have more than one-child in the urban areas and a maximum of two for those in rural areas. Unfortunately, this has resulted to the abandonment of female and disabled infants because once they are out of the way; couples will evade wage-cuts and other legal consequences that are under the one-child policy. Typically, the policy affects the Chinese community socially and economically; for instance, China has two generations of adults brought up in a non-competitive society due to the limited number of children per family hence making them self-centered. Moreover, even with the recent alterations, women still feel the urge to work than stay at home because of their limited number. They see no need of going back to rural areas where they can raise more than one-child and stay at home looking after them daily (Lehmann 2013). With the multiple population issues over the years, most people have made the idea of having one-child more of a belief and tradition than a law. In 2014, two surveys noted that majority of progresses seek jobs in large corporations because of the tradition and ways that they grew up. With such perspectives in mind, most of these people will abandon their children or not have none and opt for adoption. Unfortunately, adoption laws partly contribute to abandonment of female and disabled children. Naturally, China’s laws on adoption specifically prohibit baby trafficking of any kind, whether the babies are yours or abandoned. However, the laws are vague about babies people find abandoned hence one can choose to give them out for adoption or keep them (Aldrich 2013). This encourages most parents to abandon their female and disabled children with their fingers crossed that the person who finds them will keep the baby as their own. According to reports by the Beijing newspaper, the one-child policy and adoption laws contribute a certain percentage of the abandoned female and disabled children in hospitals and streets. The Chinese Government has a lot to do with the adoption and regulation system but it is only in few cases where the right repercussions apply in concealing abandonment of female and disabled children. The social and authoritative structure does not utterly allow the right steps to apply for those parents found having abandoned these children (Blanchard 2014). Additionally, taking these steps is costly for anyone, both psychological and morally; it is stressful because one has to go through all sanctions required for a case of human rights violation for children. Research shows that the Chinese legislative council has no particular structure that handles such cases despite abandonment of children being common in the country. Relatively, ample resources apply in monitoring women pregnancies instead of other key aspects of female and disabled children abandonment; definitely, this is hard because most women move around the country for work. With the complexity of the monitoring, many women still give birth to illegal children and renounce registering them hence leading abandonment. Even with the adverse growth of China’s economy, some parts of the country still have poverty as the main challenge especially in the rural areas where couples can have two children. Any parent agrees that raising a child is costly especially with female infants or others with special needs that require additional attention (Milson 2014). This makes finances a contributor for the abandonment of female and disabled children. Some of the parents lack sufficient money for welfare provision and access to the necessary facilitates hence they end up abandoning these children. Moderately, couples face a lot of stigma after giving birth to proscribed children. This factor acts as a catalyst for abandonment by poor couples. For instance, in November 2013, people found a baby girl in a garbage can and the authorities were able to trace her parents who lacked food for days. Typically, gender is also a factor for many couples in China and with the one child policy, most of them prefer male. Broadly, abandonment of children, in general, is part of a social revolt because of China’s explosive growth that altered the lifestyle of its citizens and the nation at large. Even though some communities still respect their culture, beliefs and traditions, urbanization and materialism still has the better part of the population. The collectivism in China today has everyone in the country focusing on how its economy will dominate the universe (Blanchard 2014). This makes it easier for people to abandon females and disabled children without worrying of any consequences from the government taking actions because of them longing to be on the highest level. However, this only affects the greater part of urban areas since rural China is yet to develop or eradicate poverty; mainly because everyone with the ability moves to cities after attaining the age of 16 and goes back after 55. Evidently, regulation of growth in China is very poor, the main source of the multiple and recurrent issues such as the abandonment of female and disabled children. Much common problems include pollution, contaminated drinking water, food full of toxic chemicals, spiked milk to augment protein content among others. The social media gives such issues more time and attention hence making the citizens view abandonment of children as a minor subject compared to those that affect the economy or government (Fenby 2013). With such mindsets, no one sees abandonment of female and disabled children as a major crime as it gets limited attention. The set economic and development objectives set by the administration, more of dreams, shift most of the people’s attention from what is real. Trafficking of children is common in China especially with multiple arrests of deceitful medical practitioners who profit from the illegitimate trading of children. Female children are a popular target for traffickers but this is rare for the disabled because of their health conditions. In some cases, the doctors lie to the parents that their child has an incurable ailment so that they can sell them after abandonment. Moreover, for disabled children, the doctors also abandon the child after the parents leave them in the hospitals after realizing their conditions. Some parents claim that they agreed for adaption for their children not abandonment after realizing that nobody takes care of their babies who lack any form of protection. The Child Welfare Office is set to take care of abandoned children; however, the authorities misguide these parents because no one accounts for the fate of the baby girls and the disabled children. Nonetheless, this is still abandonment from the parents. Concurrently, edification, alteration of the girl child laws and access to collective prosperity in China acts as a justification of the abandonment of female and disabled children (High 2013). iii. Conclusion According to the World Health Organization, there were over a quarter million abandoned babies in China last year. Over half of these infants were girls whose parents wanted to get a boy child instead. For a record-breaking state, economically, this is disappointing for China, requiring more efforts and counters on the issue. The Chinese Government needs to brace its organization on the subject of abandoned children. Definitely, this is advantageous to the society and the government acting as a promising source of revenue from potential clients interested in adoption. However, the only way that this ends up working is if there is satisfaction for the families in the laws and the rest of the adoption procedures (Aldrich 2013). Generally, China’s current situation of increased orphaned and abandoned children creates a big question on the best solution to counter the issues, without making the state of affairs worse and more expensive. Recently, the highest court of China created a term of imprisonment from everyone that abandons children or fails to give the necessary support. Obviously, this is not that effective given the depth of the situation but it can act as a foundation for greater and effectual strategies on correcting the condition. As the second step, the government should correct all faults of the legal adoption initiative as it could create a more domestic environment for the abandoned female and disabled children. However, this is just for now, as the government puts a comprehensive solution in place to reduce the increased abandonment for starters. 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