One-Child Policy Cannot Improve Chinese Women's Social Status
As the most populous country in the world, the People's Republic of China has been adopting the One-Child Policy since 1979 in order to solve the problem of overpopulation which is regarded as an obstacle of the development of the country. I agree that this policy does have achievements in population control but I doubt that One-Child Policy essentially helps improving Chinese women's social status as the government always emphasized. Because in today's Chinaï¼Âgirls and women are still less valued in many places especially in rural areas due to the son preference, and the role of women as caretakers is still remained.
On one hand, in spite of China's modernization during the past decades, it is still common for Chinese parents to prefer boys than girls, especially in rural areas. Traditionally, female fetuses are not as precious as male fetuses. Now since the couples are allowed to have only one child and the gender of unborn fetuses can be known with technologies like ultrasound, sex-selective abortions are no longer rare.
Also, there was a reported increase in female infanticide, especially in rural China(BBC 2000). Besides, even the policy itself allows couples in rural areas to try for another child in hopes of having a boy if the first one is a girl. All of these shows that the son preference is still exists no matter how modernized the country is.
On the other hand, the traditional role of women as "caretakers" is unchanged. Typically, in a traditional Chinese society, women are usually the "caretakers" in a family, playing both the role of a wife and a mother. Although, in recent years, because of One-Child Policy women can have fewer children so that they are able to spend more time on their career...