Free Press
I read on The Age website (Australian newspaper) last week that there has been 4 days of riots in a south western province of Chna. I was amazed (and yet not) that such a thing can occur in the country you live in and you have no idea. As much as I realise that certain types of stories are not reported by the news media here, it still amazes me coming from a free and open (ish) press country like Australia. I think back to the Cronulla riots and the blanket press coverage they received.
The riots were sparked by a crack down on enforcement of the one child policy by the government. Severe fines are in place for families that break this law, and the news article I read even said that in some cases women were being forced to have abortions. While this measure is of course a huge violation of human rights, one does have to think what state this country would be in had it not been for the one child policy? But then again, India is fast approaching Chna's 1.3 billion people with it's 1.1 billion and is expected to overtake Chna in the next 50 years. India has tried methods such as paying women to remain pregnancy free, improving reproductive health care, education about and availability of contraception and state based financial incentives for reduced birth rates. Chna goes the punitive route. Scare and punish. And the people of India have access to information, education and a democracy (well, some of them at least).
There are some loop holes to the one child policy in Chna. I have heard that some rural provinces are allowed more than one child. And in some cases if you have a girl you are allowed to 'try again' to get a boy. If you and your husband come from parents who are both only children you can have two, and of course if you are rich you can pay to have a second.
I can't even imagine the problems in trying to run countries with populations the size of Chna and India. It is interesting to compare the two though, and see the similarities in 'the big issues' facing both countries and the ways in which they attempt to deal with them.
Sorry that was a bit political and boring eh?
posted by nancyshack @ 11:04 am
5 Comments:
I have this image in my mind of a woman giving birth for the first time and making the tremendous effort of making it to the end and being told she has a heathly baby daughter. I can almost hear the disappointment in the doctors voice and spewing out something like "that's okay ... have one more go and see if you can get it right this time"
It makes me so sad that having a daughter could possibly disappoint someone. I couldn't imagine loving my daughter more.
Don't they have 'girl power' over there ?
You nailed it right there Pet. A friend of mine here (also pregnant) had her scan to tell the gender and the doctor was all like "Oh" (disappointed voice), "I'm sorry, it's a girl". And then he said, "not to worry, sometimes the scans are wrong, it still might turn out to be a boy".
I was also in a shop and (sort of) talking to some Chinese women. I told them I was pregnant and one of the older ones said "I wish you a son" and the younger one said "don't be silly, she's a westerner, it doesn't matter to her".
funny.
So I'll find out this saturday if I'm having a disappointing girl or a blessing and joyous boy!
I don't think it's as bad as that - all of the students and Chinese people I've asked say they have no preference anymore. It's just those from the country areas (the significant majority still) with less education probably still strive for boys. People in educated places like Suzhou are smart enough to discover the flawed logic in only desiring males...
I once attended a lecture at uni about population and they said the biggest affect on birthrate is education of women. According to my lecturer, the birthrates in developing countries went down with education of women. But of course it's all linked to poverty and lots of other factors.
Western countries are facing the opposite problem - what they call a "fertility crisis". The issue is that the average age of the population is increasing because of low birth rates.
You are right that with such large populations, it will be hard for China and India to provide for future generations. But how do you address this? I suppose when you've got a totalitarian regime, you can make laws like that. But people will always find ways around lawa - or riot.
btw, I've heard you're going to have a boy but congratulations would be equal either way. Will have to make some submissions on Wurly's site.
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