Two-Child Policy of China: An Analysis and Alternative Policy Recommendations

This paper analyzes China's two-child policy and proposes an alternative policy framework. It discusses the limitations of the two-child policy and the implications for women. The paper also contextualizes the policy within the larger discourse of population politics in China.

Running head: TWO-CHILD POLICY OF CHINA
TWO-CHILD POLICY OF CHINA
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Introduction of the policy and the change I would recommend on that policy
China has decided to repeal its much controversial one-child policy and instead introduce
the two—child policy. According to the Chinese government, the one-child policy in China has
led to a major demographic imbalance (Liu 2014). According to a recent survey, 33 per cent of
the Chinese women had to experience pay-cut after giving birth to a child and around 36 per cent
of the women were demoted in their workplace (Time 2018). This policy of baby boom is being
predicted to be beneficial for the hospitals and healthcare sector. The shift to this two-child
policy is believed to have positive impact on the population especially in a situation when the
Chinese population is drastically ageing. This paper strives to contextualize China’s two-child
policy be reflecting on the one-child policy and arguing the reasons for opposing the two-child
policy. The next sections of the paper brings out my alternative policy framework, limitations of
the proposed policy and the theorization of the population politics in China through Foucault’s
notion of bio power and biopolitics.
Discussion
Policy Recommendations must: outline one policy of the Chinese Communist Party
I would aim to repeal China’s two-child policy that has been propounded by the Chinese
government after ending its one-child policy. Chinese population is at the peak of reaching 1.45
billion by the end of 2030 and it is expected that the population will remain 1.4 billion till the
middle of the twenty first century. To understand the two-child policy of China, there needs to be
an understanding about the on-child policy of China that shook the world during its inception
and implementation.

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In the second half of the twentieth century, in the face of controlling the teeming
population, China decided to implement the one-child policy with a belief that it would curb the
population. China decided to launch a stringent birth control policy under the slogan of Late,
Long and Few and this policy was successful in curtailing the population between the year 1970
and 1976 (Lee 2012). However, despite this strict measure the nation that has reported to have
the highest population was facing acute shortage of food and the apprehension of the destructive
effects of famine that was responsible for wiping away 30 million people in 1962 (Hesketh, Zhou
and Wang 2015). All these factors led to the onset of the China’s government’s exhortation for
the one-child policy for the ethnic Han community in China. This policy legitimatized the
Chinese couple to impose fines on couples who had more than one-child. The Chinese
government rendered the couples who complied with this policy a Certificate of Honor for single
child parents (Whyte, Feng and Cai 2015). However, there has been a change in the policy and
now it stand s to the two-child policy. This new policy would allow couples to have two
children. However, according to the views of the scholars the two-child policy of China is going
to be a setback for the female population of the country (Gong 2012). This is because having two
children would exert greater pressure on Chinese women to return home and invest in greater
effort in raising the children. This would exacerbate their double day labour and pose
impediments in their work-life balance (Feng, Gu and Cai 2016). This new policy is being
predicted to widen the gender inequality in the patriarchal Chinese society. The Chinese
government has no provisions for providing any childcare subsidies that would make it difficult
for working women to raise two children. More than one children indicates that women need to
take longer maternity leaves. This would lead to women to the decline in autonomy and
economic position of women as they will have to invest longer time in the household. Women

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with children have found to opt out of employment. Since a large number of women in China do
not have the adequate health resources, the maternal health of women will be at stake and
increase the rise in maternal mortality rates. For a large section of the Chinese women, these
sporadic decisions of the government of China on the policy of children are an encroachment of
the rights and agency of Chinese women over their bodies.
(ii) Identification of an alternative policy and the justification of that policy
Considering the number of limitations of the two-child policy and the range of criticisms
that have emerged against the two-child policy from the feminist scholars and healthcare
activists, I would propose for no imposition on the number of children for a couple. I feel that
restricting couples regarding the number of children is an intrusion of privacy and manifestation
of the totalitarian nature of the government. My policy would be woven around providing
rewards, incentives and social and healthcare benefits to the couples who have one children. This
will encourage other couples to voluntarily engage in family planning with the hope of receiving
the desired benefits. Couples with a single child will be provided waiver in the tuition fees in
higher education and this would be applicable for girl children or in case of communities that has
reported poor sex ratio (Scharping 2013). This will also curb the incidence of sex-selective
abortion and create a culture where female children are valued.
(iii) Problems and limitations of recommendation
I feel that that given the rising population in China and the history of famine in the
country, a policy with no restriction on the number of children for a couple might add burden to
the Chinese government. Secondly, the provision of incentives and benefits to couples with a
single child indirectly reinforces the notion about single child being the most desirable family

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planning outcome. Thirdly, the provision of these benefits may not actually address the real
problem and couples will continue to reproduce children without proper family planning.
This discussion about the one-child policy and two-child policy within the larger
discourse of population can be understood through the framework of Michel Foucault’s concept
of the biopolitics. The notion of biopolitics is enmeshed in the notion of biopower (Wallenstein
and Nilsson 2013). In this case it is the power of the government to control the population and
make decisions on the birth, death, number of children one can have or the major decisions one
can make on the population. Biopolitics is related to the concept of anatamo politics that
underlines on the atomization of the collectivity, in this case the Chinese population for the
objective of governance met through instrumental rationality. Therefore, this one-child and two-
child policy of China needs to be understood as both as a political and scientific project for the
government that considers the population as problematic and in the exercise of the state.
Conclusion
Feminist scholars have identified certain problems with the present two-child policy and
they espouse for the one-child policy as it was considered to be in favour of women.
Implementation of the two-child policy would mean that that women will lose their autonomy
they will have to spend longer time in raising the children therefore, curbing their opportunities
to succeed in their professional career. Therefore, it can be said that there is a need to reflect and
analyse the implications of the two-child policy in China and develop a more astute approach to
address the population problem in China.

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References and bibliography
Feng, W., Gu, B. and Cai, Y., 2016. The End of China's One‐Child Policy. Studies in family
planning, 47(1), pp.83-86.
Feng, W., Cai, Y. and Gu, B., 2013. Population, Policy, and Politics: How Will History Judge
China's One‐Child Policy?. PoPulation and develoPment review, 38(s1), pp.115-129.
Gong, P., Liang, S., Carlton, E.J., Jiang, Q., Wu, J., Wang, L. and Remais, J.V., 2012.
Urbanisation and health in China. The Lancet, 379(9818), pp.843-852.
Hesketh, T., Zhou, X. and Wang, Y., 2015. The end of the one-child policy: lasting implications
for China. Jama, 314(24), pp.2619-2620.
Lee, M.H., 2012. The one-child policy and gender equality in education in China: Evidence from
household data. Journal of family and economic issues, 33(1), pp.41-52.
Liu, H., 2014. The quality–quantity trade-off: evidence from the relaxation of China’s one-child
policy. Journal of Population Economics, 27(2), pp.565-602.
Scharping, T., 2013. Birth Control in China 1949-2000: Population policy and demographic
development. Routledge.
Time. (2018). Here's How China's One-Child Policy Started in the First Place. [online] Available
at: http://time.com/4092689/china-one-child-policy-history/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].
Wallenstein, S.O. and Nilsson, J., 2013. Foucault, biopolitics, and governmentality. Södertörns
högskola.

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Whyte, M.K., Feng, W. and Cai, Y., 2015. Challenging myths about China’s one-child
policy. The China Journal, (74), pp.144-159.
Zeng, Y. and Hesketh, T., 2016. The effects of China's universal two-child policy. The
Lancet, 388(10054), pp.1930-1938.