One Child Policy in China: Negative and Positive Aspects

Abstract

The One Child Policy in China was implemented in 1979, and lasted until 2016 when it was changed into Two Child Policy. The goal of the policy was to reduce the population growth in order to maintain an economic growth, natural resources, and stability in Chinese society. The restriction on family size; one birth per couple, has resulted in a significant drop in China's population growth rate during the last three decades, but the policy has been often widely criticized for its negative impact on the Chinese people. The policy violated their freedom of choice on family size through fines, forced sterilizations and abortions, that resulted in an increasing imbalance of sex-ratio, and accelerating ageing of the population. Regardless of its nature, the policy had a positive effect on gender equality and quite surprisingly improving the lives of women in China. This essay examines the development of the policy and its negative effects, such as the skewed sex-ratio and social problems caused by the sex-ratio imbalance, the problem of an ageing population, and the often overlooked policy's positive effects which improved women's lives.