2/24/2021

China introduced the one-child policy in the late 1970s in a dramatic effort to slow rapid population growth, before reversing it in 2016 to allow families to have two children as fears grew about the country’s fast-ageing population and shrinking workforce.

But the change has not yet resulted in a baby boom, with empowered Chinese women often delaying or avoiding childbirth and young couples blaming rising costs and insufficient policy support for families.

The number of newborns in China plummeted 15 per cent in 2020 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Public Security, with the onset of the novel coronavirus disrupting the economy and weighing on decisions to have a family.

But the change has not yet resulted in a baby boom, with empowered Chinese women often delaying or avoiding childbirth and young couples blaming rising costs and insufficient policy support for families.

The number of newborns in China plummeted 15 per cent in 2020 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Public Security, with the onset of the novel coronavirus disrupting the economy and weighing on decisions to have a family.

China saw 10.035 million births last year, the ministry said on Monday, compared with 11.79 million in 2019.

The gender balance was 52.7 per cent boys and 47.3 per cent girls, according to the data. 

What is China planning to do about it?

A Chinese NGO has proposed playing cupid. Meanwhile, a Shanxi-based think tank development association says  ‘leftover’ urban women, who are above the age of 27, unmarried, highly-educated and urban, should be paired with surplus rural men.

This NGO advised these ”leftover” women that they should not feel ”afraid to go and live in rural areas”.

It also proposed to the Chinese government that it should offer an incentive to encourage urban women to move to rural areas and provide vocational training to sheng nan or leftover men.

Women have been trafficking from northern Myanmar into China. These women were sold for anything between 3,000 to 13,000 dollars to Chinese families, as per reports. Once bought, women were held prisoners and pressured into producing babies.

Another scandal came to light in 2019 when Brides from Pakistan were being trafficked into China.

The Associated Press claimed that at least 629 women were sold to Chinese men. They were abused and raped.

The Chinese foreign ministry said it was unaware of it…

It said the two governments of China and Pakistan support the formation of happy families between their people on a voluntary basis in keeping with laws and regulations.

Disregard for consent can never be the answer to bridging the gender imbalance.