China's one child policy and 24 million "bare branches"
15-Jan-2010
(Photo credit: Allianz SE) The Chinese Academy of Sciences published
a report this week estimating that there will be 24 million “bare branches” –
men in China unable to find a wife – by 2020.
This has its roots in the one child policy introduced 30 years ago, to
curb soaring birth rates resulting from Mao’s population policy. However, in the 1980s ultrasound technology permitted
gender-specific abortion, leading to the current imbalance (120 boys were born
for every 100 girls in 2006 – despite gender screening now being illegal,
except for medical reasons).
In the rural areas, only men can inherit land, and they are also
responsible to care for their elderly parents; daughters become part of their
husband’s family. So customs regarding
welfare and inheritance greatly favour the birth of boys. The distortions this has caused are multiple:
a couple’s only child is pampered and spoiled; one child may have to care for
two parents and four grandparents; girls are frequently abducted and trafficked
to areas with large gender imbalances; prostitution is soaring, to say nothing
of the injustice of millions of unborn children being killed purely because of
their gender. Much of this stems from a policy
decision that was made solely on economic grounds (to stem population growth),
but failed to consider the relational implications of the policy.