Pro & Anti-Natalist Policies
Positive Impacts of 'Code de la famille'
- All mentioned incentives & benefits offered in the policy) - Out of all introduced policies; provision of childcare services appear to be the most effective in encouraging families to have children & women to remain in the workforce - High fertility rate, near replacement level (1 of the highest rates among EU countries) - Growth in working age population 1970-2007 around (see pop. structures above) → now decreasing - TO an extent promotes gender equality because women are encouraged to have children but without the prospect of losing their jobs and being able to return to careers (although as mentioned, this is not perfect)
Positive Impacts of China's one child policy
- Altered the perception of women within China's society. Before the policy, males were given a majority of the educational opportunities and career investments by a family. Women were expected to take care of their homes and families unless exceptionally gifted in some way. After the policy, families with one girl enrolled their children into school more often. - Increased the number of available jobs opportunities in China. WIth fewer children being born because of the one-child policy, job openings became readily available as the generation born in 1979 and after began growing up. Fewer babies meant less competition for the best possible jobs. - Lead to improved maternal and pre-natal care reducing infant/child mortality and female mortality in birth. - It fulfilled its aim. It is estimated that China's population would be 400 million more today had the policy not been introduced and debatable as to whether China would have made the same level of economic growth and become and emerging Superpower. - It enforced a "Demographic Dividend" (be able to explain) which China took advantage based on economic and industrial boom from the 1980s onwards and improving living standards...growth of middle class.
Negative Impacts of China's one child policy
- Caused families to want boys over girls. The country saw a disparity in the number of boys being born compared to girls. There are 30m more men in China than women, which could lead to future economic instability. This also led to many single men being unable to find a partner. Esp. rural areas where gender imbalances in some parts is 130:100 leading to forced marriage & prostitution (link to trafficking)/kidnapping incidents. - Caused the cost for adoption to increase. Parents could not adopt other children if they already had a child because of the legislation passed. This left numerous children to be cared for in state-run institutions. Up to 90% of the children in these institutions were girls, most of which were there because they'd been abandoned due to the one-child policy. - Created a care burden for ageing parents. Experts found that as parents and grandparents aged, their one child was forced to support up to four grandparents and their parents at the same time. This was referred to as the "4-2-1 Problem". This structure forced families to seek out charitable support to meet basic needs. There was also a surge in the dependency program applications in China, and some regions permitted families to have additional children if their financial situation predicted the 4-2-1 Problem in the future. - Encouraged out-of-country births. Chinese women were paying up to 50,000 to give birth to a second child in the US. the US was the most-desired location because any child born in the country automatically became a citizen, earning a passport which could help reduce or eliminate the fine of having an extra child. - Targeted the poor more than the rich. Wealthy families in big cities could easily pay the penalties for having additional children. In the poor provinces, families were at risk of having their property confiscated because they could not pay when violating the one-child quota. - Caused unreported children. Some subsequent children after the first went unreported or were hidden from authorities. Those children, most of whom were undocumented, faced hardships in obtaining education and employment. The number of such children is unknown, however estimates have ranged from hundreds of thousands to several million. - "Little Emperor" syndrome of spoiled only child boys. - Corruption: "Red envelopes" paid to doctors to find out sex of babies leading to abortion of female feotuses.
China's one child policy Historical Background
- China began promoting birth control and family planning in the early 1950s, however this did not have a great effect on the country's population. By the late 1970s, China's population was rapidly approaching the 1 billion mark. A voluntary program was announced in 1978 that encouraged families to have no more than two children, one child being preferable, but in 1979 demand grew for making the limit one child per family. However, that stricter requirement was then applied unevenly across the country among the provinces, and by 1980 the central government sought to standardize the one child policy nationwide. → Brief timeline: 1953 - Chinese leaders suggest that the chinese population should be controlled and approve a law on contraception and abortion, but the plan is later stranded by political upheaval and the 1959-1961 famine. 1970 - China's population exceeds 800 million. 1975 - China adopts the slogan "late, long and few", encouraging couples to have once child, and urging them to have no more than two. 1979 - The communist party says couples should have no more than one child. A new marriage law says couples are obliged to practice family planning, placing a limit of one child per family 1984 - China adjusts the policy, allowing a second child for some families in rural areas and for couples who were both an only child, and in some other specified circumstances. 2001 - New laws decreed to better manage the administration of the policy, including penalties for unapproved births. The laws allow local government to impose fines for additional children. 2013- China adds an exemption allowing two children for families in which one parent, rather than both, is an only child. 2015 - The one-child policy is scrapped, allowing all couples to have two children for the first time in more than three decades. Due to concern of future falling population (after population momentum) and ageing which could impact future economic growth.
France: Pro-Natalist Policy
- Introduced (1939): "Code de la famille" - Since the early 2000s France has consistently topped European rankings of fertility rates - Approach that is working combines the idea of a modern family based on gender equality & powerful government policies - Social norms or the "family package" is more flexible: 1 doesn't have to get married or have children, more open & families more diverse - Family norm is much more flexible, with late marriages, reconstituted families, single parents, much more frequent births outside marriage & divorces - Women's freedom of decision is essential to this system - Principle of gender equality & the necessary corollary of women being free to work are the key factors in this family model that emerged at the end of the 20th century - According to data for 2010 published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development, the employment rate for women aged 24 to 54 in work was 83.8% in France, barely lower than the equivalent figures for men - Fertility in Europe is higher in countries where women go out to work, lower in those where they generally stay at home
Why 'Code de la famille' was implement (evidenced by DD, population growth, natural population change, fertility rate, life expectancy, population pyramid )
- Introduced because of the decrease in fertility & the increase in life expectancy → decrease in the supply of labour, socioeconomic implications of an ageing population, long term prospect of population decline - As seen in the population pyramids over the year, the structure is becoming increasingly narrow at the bottom & wider at the top; indicating an ageing population, lower fertility rates & therefore a rapidly decreasing support ratio. However, the working age population has visibly grown.
Negative Impacts of 'Code de la famille'
- Most women eventually return to work, usually to the same job & same hours, but +⅕ of women who were working full-time before the birth of their child return to work part-time - Women who interrupted their careers to take parental leave suffer a drop in salary after they return to work, amounting to roughly 10% for every year of leave - Access to childcare services is highly stratified by household income → women from low-income households often stop working when they have a child, w/ unanticipated consequences for their future careers - Its fertility rate is still slightly below replacement level so it is debatable how effective it has been and to what extent it has been worth the economic cost. One COULD argue that migration has had more of a positive impact on swelling economically active and fertility rates. France's population is STILL ageing, just slightly slower than other EU countries.
Overall evaluation on China's one child policy
- The one-child policy is very controversial around the world, and opinions about the effectiveness of the policy vary. The many demographic statistics such as the fertility rate and natural population change all decreased after the one-child policy was implemented. This shows that the policy may have been effective in these aspects. It is hard to know how effective the policy was if we do not know what the population would have been if the one-child policy hadn't been implemented. - Overall, looking at the side effects of the policy, we can come to the conclusion that you cannot push population control methods on people without expecting some sort of side effects, which in this case were the negatives discussed before. The one-child policy had positive and negative aspects, most of which will affect China's society for many years to come. We will never know what China would have been demographically without the one-child policy.
How does China's one child policy work? How does it get people to have less babies?
- The policy states that the limit of the amount of children per family is 1. However, there are exceptions. For example, parents within some ethnic minority groups or those whose first born was handicapped were allowed to have more than one child. The enforcement of the policy was somewhat uneven over time, generally being strongest in the city and more lenient in the countryside.In some places, you could have more than one child if you were a fisherman. In others, you could have more than one child if your first child was a girl. - The list of exceptions to the one child policy were as follows: a couple may give birth to a second child if... ... The couple had just one child, who is handicapped or unable to work because of non-hereditary diseases. ... Both parents are only children themselves, and have just one child so far. ... The couple adopted their first child because one of them was diagnosed as infertile. ... The couple remarried but only have one child in total. ... The couple are ethnic minorities who moved to the city from provinces bordering other countries and were given permission from a high-ranking Family Planning office before they moved. ... The husband has brothers, but only one brother is able to give birth, and the others have promised not to adopt. ... The husband is a farmer who married a woman already with a daughter (this is only if that husband pledges to care for the woman's parents) ... The couple are rural farmers, in which one spouse is a handicapped soldier with an injury grade B or above or can no longer work. ... The couple are farmers from the deep mountains who only have a daughter, depend on farming and are poor. - In order to get people to comply to the policy, there are several incentives. Those who follow the policy are awarded a "Certificate of Honour for Single-Child Parents" and they are given rewards in the form of longer maternity leave, interest-free loans, and other forms of social assistance and government subsidies such as better healthcare, state housing and school enrolment. Government employees can receive an extra month salary each year until their child turns 14. Couples who delay marriage and having their first child are also eligible for similar benefits. In order to boost compliance, the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China (NPFPC) offers a free, universally accessible contraceptive. The New England Journal of Medicine estimated that more than 87% of China's married women use contraception (compared to about one third in other developing countries).
Pro-Natalist Policy definition
Encouraging the bearing of children, government support of a higher birth rate
How does 'Code de la famille' work? HOW does the policy get people to have more babies?
Incentives offered in the policy included: - Payment of up to £1064 to couples having their 3rd child - Generous maternity grants - Family allowances to increase the purchasing power of 3 child families - Maternity leave on near full pay for 20 weeks for 1st child to 40 weeks or more for 3rd child - 100% mortgage & preferential treatment in the allocation of 3 bedroom council flats - Full tax benefits to parents until the youngest child reaches 18 - 30% fare reduction on all public transport for 3 child families - Pension schemes for mothers/housewives - Child-orientated development policies (e.g. provisioning of creches, day nurseries etc.) - Depending on the family's income, childcare costs from virtually nothing to around €500 a month for the most well off of families - Nursing mothers are encouraged to work part-time or take a weekly day off work
Overall evaluation on the 'Code de la famille' policy
Overall the policy has largely influenced France's fertility rate & statistically it is proven to be working → has helped raise France's total fertility rate to 1.98, 2nd highest in Europe next to Ireland. Now has a stable fertility rate near replacement level which was one of the initial aims. However, the financial detriments caused by the largely government funded policy is huge, France's current budget deficit is 7.5% of its GDP. And significantly, the fertility rate is below replacement level.
China: Anti-Natalist Policy
The one child policy was implemented in the late 1970s and early 1980s in China. The purpose of the one child policy was to limit family sizes and reduce the growth rate of China's enormous population. The program ended in early 2016. - Rewards couples only having 1 child (primary healthcare + housing allocations) - Mainly focused on urban areas w/ high proportion of young residents (some exceptions for rural families) - Policy strictly enforced: punishments incl. loss of jobs, forced abortions, fines & removal of education rights - TFR declined from 6 to 1.7 & up to 250m births prevented since 1980 - Female infanticide/criticisms of human rights abuse
Why China's one child policy was implement (evidenced by DD, population growth, natural population change, fertility rate, life expectancy, population pyramid )
→ China's Annual Population Growth (%) 1960-2018 - China's annual population growth was at an all time high in 1971 (2.79), which was around the time the one-child policy was implemented. The one child policy was implemented because if the annual population growth rate remained at 2.79 it would lead to overpopulation, which could in turn lead to a variety of other problems for China's population. The current annual population growth rate in 2018 is 0.46, which is significantly lower than the rate in 1971. This shows the impact the one-child policy has had. Threat of famine and hardship. → China's natural population change (rate of natural increase) 1950 - 2018 - The rate of natural increase decreased significantly over the years, with slight fluctuations. The all time high was in 1969, when China had a rate of natural increase of 26.33 per 1,000 population. This value is very high compared to the current rate, which is 4.61 per 1,000 people (2018). A high rate of natural increase means there will be a high population growth. This graph clearly shows the impact that the one-child policy had on how rapidly China's population grew, as the rate of natural increase mostly decreased after it was implemented. → China's fertility rate 1960-2018 - China has seen a decrease fertility rate since the high of 6.39 births per woman in 1966 to the current rate of 1.68 in 2018. The birth rate was very high in 1966 which shows why the population growth was so rapid in 1966, the fertility rate was well above replacement rate. Now in 2018 the rate is below replacement rate, however it seems to be rising since the low of 1.59 in 2000. → China life expectancy 1960-2018 - China's life expectancy has not been greatly affected by the one-child policy. The life expectancy is gradually increasing within China, as healthcare and lifestyles improve. → China's population pyramids 1960 - 2015 - There is a significant difference between these two population pyramids regarding the number of children between the ages 0-24 and the number of elderly dependents. The significant decrease in birth rate is due to the one-child policy being implemented. This shows the effect that the one child policy had on China's population structure.
'Code de la famille' Historical Background
→ Introduced in 1939, the pro natalist methods in the policy incl.: - Offering cash incentives to mothers who stayed at home to care for children - Subsidising holidays - Banning the sale of contraceptives (repealed in 1967, likely due to contraceptives' effectiveness at stopping the spread of STDs) - Not that it is still a relevant example because it is still in operation today...it has simply evolved over time. → Why: - To attempt to improve France's falling fertility rate → ageing population → decreasing support ratio → less people in working age group who sustain & support country's economy - During the interwar period - So its population would replace itself over time ↳ lead to concerns; decrease in supply of labour, ageing pop. (increase in pension & health-care costs, less economic growth; the country's workforce shrinks because of low replacement rates), long term population decline. Replace economically active who died during WW2 → Change: - In 1967 policy banning the sale of contraceptives was alleviated due to their effectiveness at stopping the spread of STDs - Today, fertility decisions appear increasingly determined by a family's ability to combine care for children w/ workforce participation of both parents → policy priority has gradually shifted towards ways to help parents balance work & family obligations - Relatively 'newer' approach that is working combines the idea of a modern family based on gender equality & powerful government policies - From the 1970s onwards, however changes were introduced to family policy in order to adapt to the changes in family structures & to the increase in working mothers; the level of the "Single Salary Allowance" was progressively reduced & restricted to low-income families & completely abolished by 1978
