One Child Policy Dbq

One could say that the one-child policy was unacceptable policy for China. In 1949 the Chinese communist leader, said, “people are the most precious.” One of Mao’s early goals was to catch up economically with richer countries like the United states. In the late 1960s he introduced the slogan “Late, Long and Few.” The idea was for couples to marry late, wait a long time before having children, and then, when they did have kids, have only a few (pg. 499). So one might ask, was the one-child policy a good idea for China? The one-child policy was a bad idea because, it created social problems, affected women’s health , and it also affected the economy.
First and foremost, the one-child policy created many social problems. For instance, male and female imbalance became one of the biggest issues in China because of the one-child policy. Shown in document E, “Particularly sex discrimination. With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide…” “The resulting gender imbalance widened after 1986, when ultrasound tests and abortions became easier to come by.” With sex discrimination, as there were more boys in china, because female were being infanticide before even turning one. And also

with abortions being easier for mostly female infants to not be born. Another problem was pressure on the youth, as most kids who don’t grow up with brothers or sisters feel to be lonely and wish they had someone to talk to. For example, “Still, she says, she had a mostly lonely childhood. “I used to cut myself on my wrist after being yelled at by my mom and dad because I didn’t know who I should talk to or turn to,” (Document F).” Kids who were only child felt lonely and sometimes wish they weren’t always the center of attention. Although there was a female and male imbalance, there were worst issues to women.
Furthermore, this policy created health issues for women. For example, abortions were more common and sterilization was forced if women had more than one child. Shown in document E, “Depending on where they live, couples can be fined thousands of dollars for having an extra child without a permit, and reports of forced abortions or sterilization are common.” If you were wealthy than you can have more than one child, but if you were poor than you can only have one child. Another problem was fertility reduction and the limit a woman can have. For example, “At the time of the policy’s announcement in 1980, China had already achieved a remarkable fertility reduction, halving the number of children per women from 5.8 in 1970 to 2.7 in 1979 (Document B).” With the fertility rate decreasing, there were less women being reproduce than men. In addition to health issues, it also affected the economy.
As a result of the one-child policy in china the economy was affected.

For example, in many factories, employers could not found workers. As illustrated in document E, “In 2007 there were six adults of working age for every retiree, but by 2040 that ratio is expected to drop to 2 to 1.” As the population decreases overtime, it would become harder to have found work in a lot of places especially factories and harder for the elderly to retire. In addition, according to the chart in Doc. A, the population will be at 900 million in 2070. Which means less workers, less production and more male and female imbalance. Overall, the one-child policy has not been most effective in China, today, nor in the near future, according to all the documents

cited.

Although the policy created benefits some, it still created social problems, women health issues and it affected the economy. The government should never become involved in family matters. The one-child policy caused a lot of abuse to people who had more than one child and ruined many families. This policy decreased the population over the years, but that only means less workers and more gender imbalance. Overall, there may be some benefits to the one-child policy, but there were many things that hurt the economy and population in China from the one-child policy.