“As a culture we need to emphasize the benefits of having a one-child family so people will choose to have fewer kids.”, she stated.
-Alexandra Paul (TEDX Conference)
-Alexandra Paul (TEDX Conference)
The Policy Today
Although China has made slight changes recently, the policy still includes people’s human-rights, gendercide, and forced abortions. The Chinese government decided to ease the one child policy this year on November 15 and gave married couples the opportunity to apply for a two birth permits if one spouse was an only child. Whereas before the small change to the policy, both spouses had to be an only child to apply for two birth permits. The Chinese government may have offered another benefit for married couples but they have yet to address the problem of gendercide. Due to sex-selection abortion and female infanticide, the policy has caused 37 million missing girls in China. Statistics say that this change in the policy could cause 2 million more births every year on top of the 15 million that already occur. But most people are hoping this little change can cause the one-child policy to end once and for all eventually. The Chinese government’s decision to relax the policy was possible because of China’s slow population growth and would help to offset the pressure to cope with aging society in the long term. But the new policy wouldn’t affect China’s goal to a young society with increasingly labor force. It’s very unlikely to have a short term impact on China’s population based on behavioral changes, so this option was offered to the Chinese society. Many believe this all but a small step to abolishing the one-child policy. Many couples would like to have another child but financially they just can’t without receiving money from the government, but then again don’t want their only child to carry the pressure of supporting their family.