Potential Problems of Chinas Gender Gap - Case Study Example

Potential Problems of China’s Gender Gap Introduction The People’s Republic of China is located in the middle andEast Asia and bounded to the east by the Pacific Ocean. China covers an area of 9,600,000 sq. km. The overall population of China as at 2004 was about 1.3 billion with most people inhabiting the Chinese City of Beijing. The over increasing Chinese population has been contributed to by the geographical and climatic conditions of China. The climatic condition in this country is mainly the monsoon climate (Tibet: vertical climate zone). The people of China consist of the Han Chinese (93.3%) and the other 55 ethnic groups such as the Li, Mongolian, and Miao. Languages spoken in China include Putonghua by Mandarin Chinese based on the larger Beijing dialect and some locally formulated dialects. The main Chinese religions and beliefs are atheism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Islam (22 million), Protestantism (10million) and Catholicism (about 40million). Gender-based problems in China has been a contemporary issue since the ancient periods through to the modern day China. This is because of overwhelmingly increasing population of China with the majority of the population being male gender. History has it that, at some point, Chinese population adversely consisted of female children. The people were, therefore, discouraged from giving birth to female children, which led to a twist of event of the overall Chinese gender. In cases of female conceptions, abortion was done thus leading to the increase of male gender in China to date. This paper investigates the potential problems of China’s gender gap. China’s Gender Gap and One Child Policy The Chinese cultural “boy bias” has created about 32 million gap between the number of males and females under the tender age of twenty. By the year 2002, 120 boys were born for every 100 girls. This is underway in comparison to the overall world’s gender gap where the average ratio is 103 boys to 107 girls. In prediction to the coming year’s gender gap in Chinese, it is evident that in the next years, the gap will increase as it has been demographically pronounced in between the ages of 1 and 4 years. In the year 2005, for instance, there were 1.1 million more baby boys being born in China than girls (Das & Li 643). It is nonetheless imperative that the Chinese government takes no tangible action to do away with the gender gap in this country because this gap will adversely affect the Chinese’s politics, economy, and the overall societal ways of life. Historically, until the year 1978, China was a socialist planned economy that was at the epitome of gender equality promotion as one of the key principles of societal organization. After China embarked on economic reforms in between 1990s and 2000s, gender inequalities in the Chinese labor markets greatly increased. Gender inequality in the Chinese labor market emerged as a significant social and economic problem (OECD 111). Internationally, China is ranked the 35th on the United Nations Development Program’s Gender Inequality Index (GII) among 142 countries. China’s Gender Gap as a Man-Made Problem In the recent past, the world has witnessed an enormous social, economic, cultural and political development in China. As the most populous country in the world, Chinese transitional elements influence the overall world system. The Chinese gender variation, as a culturally fabricated problem, has led to the immigrant influx of the Chinese citizens throughout the world with the majority being the citizens of the smasculine gender. Chinese living overseas constitutes the largest world’s diaspora. The Chinese economic and political influence is, therefore, beyond doubt influential in the world system. The Chinese gender gap accordingly is characterized by the changing age structures (with distinct geographic patterns of aging population) (Gustafsson & Shi 328). Additionally, the Chinese gender imbalance is also viewed as an element of male and female population inequality in most parts of China. Concisely, due to China’s gender imbalance, a pervasive problem caused by this country’s one-child policy, this country is at the periphery of experiencing more and more societal problems during the 20th and 21st Centuries. The China’s interconnectedness nature to the rest of the world makes any of the situational problems hampering China’s existence to be part of the west economies problems as well. For the China’s neighbors, the gender imbalance problem in China has also certainly affected their economies. This is because of endless Chinese immigrants into these neighboring countries thus influencing their gross domestic products (GDP) (Hong 130). China, as a country, is additionally having a leading situation in which huge number of men in the current gender imbalance situation is unable to find a match on the “marriage market.” This is because of the 117 boys to 100 girl’s ratio. Potential Problems of China’s Gender Gap Political implications (internal and foreign relations): The already existing destitute living conditions in the Chinese Western rural areas may be worsened by the current gender imbalance, which is seemingly getting out of hand. The migrants moving from inner parts of China to the coastal areas are predominantly females. This aggravates further the already existing gender imbalance in the rural Chinese areas. Many of the Chinese areas are currently recording a suffrage from economic underdevelopment and uprisings. Per se, the gender imbalance in China is not only a socio-economic problem, but also a security issue. Studies have also shown that China is prone to having an increased crime rates due to the larger number of men population. Unmarried men are always prone to leading unhealthy lifestyles than married men and the areas dominated by men tend to have high crime rates (Zhang et al. 243). Illegal prostitution and trafficking of young women have also increased in the Chinese territorial boundary. To deal with all these problems, the Chinese government and policy makers will have to increase the ratio of police officers to civilians in the China’s political domain. Economic implications: in relation to economic performance, men often drive the economy. Gender imbalance especially the men inclined Chinese gender imbalance has a positive impact on the economic output. According to Das and Li (2009), monetary security and income in the Chinese economy have become an important aspect of “marriage market” (650). In order to improve the chances of Chinese men finding a good match, Chinese men have been increasingly pushed to achieve a higher economic status. The Chinese gender imbalance has also cordially led to the increased urge towards savings especially among families who have only daughters. This implies that these families will have to support their daughter’s education and ease their marriages with dowry as per the Chinese’s customs and traditions. To some degree, the practice of huge savings has highly hampered the Chinese economic growth by slowing down the domestic consumption. Summary Health and social implications of gender imbalance in China are some of the additional problems of gender inequality. Health issues such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have emerged in the Chinese societal health system. This issue is particularly a challenging one to be dealt with. This because STIs are taboo subjects of discussion in the Chinese society thus this issue cannot be combated with public awareness programs as in the West States. As a noted in the gender inequality drawbacks, single men tend to lead unhealthy lives with poor quality nutritional needs full of alcohol consumption, tobacco, and drugs. Stable family structures may prevent largely certain misconducts of men, but since this aspect of the family is lacking in most Chinese families, the health of unmarried men tend to be at risk. These problems will collectively cause the Chinese welfare system to suffer increased costs in the future if the issue of gender parity is not dealt with accordingly. Lastly, socially, the well-off families economically in China will increasingly decide not to have children. This will continually increase gender-based parity in China as a whole. Works Cited Das Gupta, Monica, and Li Shuzhuo. "Gender bias in China, South Korea and India 1920–1990: Effects of war, famine and fertility decline." Development and Change 30.3 (2009): 619- 652. Print. Gustafsson, Björn, and Shi Li. "Economic transformation and the gender earnings gap in urban China." Journal of Population Economics 13.2 (2000): 305-329. Print. Hong, Fincher L. Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China, 2014. Print. OECD. Closing the Gender Gap. Paris: OECD Pub, 2013. Print. Zhang et al. "Trends in the gender earnings differential in urban China, 1988–2004." Industrial & Labor Relations Review 61.2 (2008): 224-243. Print. Read More