Gender Equity and Fertility Intentions after the One-Child Policy

            Reflection Journal       Student Name Department, University Course Number and Name Instructor Name Due Date
Reflection Journal The Dual Demands: Gender Equity and Fertility Intentions after the One-Child Policy             In this article, Zhou (2019) starts a critical conversation that cannot be avoided in China after the government ended the one-child rule in the nation. This change occurred after the country went through a highly questioned period where the Chinese Communist Party enacted a policy barring anyone from exceeding one child. The 1980 approach was termed intrusive into the family life while creating an optimal population for a robust economy. Unfortunately, this technique saw China’s fertility rate become so minimal that the need for rescinding this rule became fundamental. The primary concern about the changing perceptions after the recent regulations by the government is that people would be treated differently due to the status quo within workplaces and other social spheres. Unfortunately, just like the introduction of the rule triggered diverse challenges, the lifting has brought various social issues affecting both men and women differently.             A reader interacting with this article can quickly identify the emerging problems in China’s post-one-child era. They include discriminatory work practices, disadvantaging the labor market, and financial burden. As a social studies student, these events reflect similar ones occurring in other developed nations that covertly promoted comparable policies with China. Once people and institutions became used to fewer work-related interruptions due to birth-related expenses such as extended maternity and paternity leaves, re-introducing these elements triggered diverse challenges. This understanding explains why both men and women highlight that they feel they do not have both finances and time for embracing the second birth. The scenario is even more concerning for the women because they have to grapple with hiring practices that systematically discriminate against them as employers plot to escape the costs and disruptions associated with multiple childbirths. This aspect contributes to the more extensive gender debate about the issues facing women in the labor market. It raises concerns that governments have not done enough to facilitate women in navigating the multiple births and career journey seamlessly without being victimized.  Challenging Myths About China’s: One-Child Policy             Whyte et al. (2015) challenge various myths related to the one-child regulation in China. The authors acknowledge that the population debate in the country has remained one of the leading divisive and controversial topics for decades. Its projected impacts have caused its replication beyond its borders as the global communities joined in this discourse. For years, different researchers have disseminated conflicting arguments about the rise of the policy, its effects, and other related aspects. Continued examination of this issue has triggered misinformation and myths that the authors flag and underscore the need for clarifying them. They include the role of Mao Zedong in objecting to any population limits, the association of the one-child policy with the nation’s fertility rate decline, and the 400 million prevented births by the policy. Their concerns about the ongoing misinformation demonstrate how dynamic the discussions about this topic have been both in China and globally, leading to the perpetuation of misleading details while facts are ignored and diminished.             Similar to other highly controversial global topics, the one-child policy debate might remain divisive for years. However, it is compelling how Whyte et al. (2015) deconstructs the misleading arguments by past researchers to shed light on this issue. For instance, the authors demonstrate that Zedong was a significant contributor to the shift from voluntary to coercive birth control before enacting the policy in the 1970s, leading to the sharp decline in the fertility rate. As a result, they expose the direct link of the diminished fertility rate of the country to the one-child policy as misinformation and misleading. Moreover, Whyte and his colleagues illustrate that this rule was unnecessary as the government would have continued to check its population even without the draconian law. It is disappointing that the economic development and education in the country have been undervalued for their significant contribution in reducing the fertility rate as people keep associating it with the policy. The truth is such claims remain misle...