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

Running head: TWO-CHILD POLICY OF CHINA
TWO-CHILD POLICY OF CHINA
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TWO-CHILD POLICY OF CHINA
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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TWO-CHILD POLICY OF CHINA
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