“No society treats its women as well as its men.” - UN Human Development Report, 1997.
The Chinese have long held a traditional preference for sons, treating them with favour often at the expense of their female siblings or counterparts. Males will carry on their family name and give the family a greater status while brides must 'marry-in' to the male's family. Therefore, females are viewed in the eyes of their parents as a waste, something that will not reciprocate the investment parents put into their life. These are some of the multitude of reasons why female infanticide, sex-selective abortions and the resultant gender imbalance were common following the implementation of the One Child Policy (OCP). The result: an estimated missing 35 million girls from the population, representing the frightening disregard of human life and the severe loss of opportunity for this demographic group.
Before we can begin looking at the perpetuation of stereotypes against women in detail, we must first address that the policy itself contained issues that maintained these stereotypes. Rural families were allowed a second child only if the first was a girl, seemingly emphasising that females are the inferior sex, weaker and therefore more useless on the field. Coupled with the Chinese patriarchal society and gender-biased mindsets, this gave rise to the imbalance in gender ratios whose undoubtedly pernicious effects have become increasingly conspicuous in recent years.
As such, the government has implemented a set of interventions to reduce the gender imbalance, female infanticide, sex-selective abortions and other ramifications of the OCP. Despite their presumably good intentions, these new policies seem to capitalise on gender norms and stereotypes, for instance the common conception of the ideal traditional female as feminine and caring. While propagating the view that girls are more caring and will therefore be a more filial child may increase sympathy towards girls in the short term, ultimately this serves to reinforce gender stereotypes. Social and economic incentives are partially based on the assumption that having a female child is a liability and that those with daughters require extra help from subsidies or from having a second child. In fact, the change in policy from the OCP to the two-child policy (TCP) to mitigate the impacts of a now ageing population has used media and information and communications technology (ICT) to stress with renewed vigour the importance of reproduction, even going as far to hint at the legalisation of surrogates on national television which resulted in backlash against the government for objectifying women as nothing more than an empty vault to carry a child.
The barrier to developing an egalitarian society that remains is China's retention of its fundamental traditional roots where males are viewed as stronger, more competent and therefore more desirable than females. Despite the recent changes in the OCP and the resultant changes in society, such as factories that have been hiring large numbers of women, these changes hold basis in that women are 'more careful and less troublesome'. This may seem to be good for female empowerment through emancipation and employment but it still has its roots that stress on feminine qualities, again perpetuating gender stereotypes. While this allows more women to establish independence and economic contribution to the household, it is based on the perception that women are less troublesome. Therefore, does this mean that women will be prevented from progressing into positions of power, for example, a manager or a businesswoman, who will have to be strong characters in order to be in these leadership decisions. If the stereotypes that women should be hired only because they are easier to manage, then a women who disagrees with the norms or the views of a male college in a higher position would automatically be considered 'troublesome'. Does this then mean that women will have to agree to anything a male counterpart or superior says if not risk being fired for having their own views and being 'troublesome'? Thus, this could create a generation of women in China who are afraid to speak out in order to avoid conflict. In turn, if this proliferates to society as a whole and continues to occur on a wide scale, this creates an outward semblance of there being improvements in equality in the workforce despite the reality of underlying oppression where women are unable to contribute their opinions and ideas without having to worry. This remaining marginalisation means that even if a woman has a good idea, this may be disregarded for the sole reason of their genders' perceived inferiority.
This cycle of not speaking out and not wanting to contradict male authority may encourage the complicity of women in their societies, where they are unintentionally but undeniably contributing to the continuation of poor treatment of women. By refusing to speak up out of fear, they continue to perpetuate the view that it is alright for women to be treated in such a way and viewed as useful because of their feminine and consequently submissive nature. Furthermore, this often happens on the periphery and is an underlying issue in workplaces that is subtle and hence unaddressed by the government. It could therefore be that these issues are not taken notice of until the mindset that females are inferior has been so ingrained into the minds of the population that it is too late to change. This is what makes the subtlety of this inequality so dangerous. As a result of this facade of increasing quality due to increasing employment and inclusion of women in the workforce, the government may then withdraw their encouragement and interventions that promote more equality for females (despite its misguided basis).
Ultimately, the Chinese government seems to have implemented this propaganda and promotion of equality out of pure necessity - the gender imbalance leaves men without wives and therefore increases the chance of sexual violence, illegal brides amongst other complications. Even though this is progress towards gender equality, people's fundamental mindsets must undergo a shift, otherwise gender stereotypes will continue to prevail albeit in a more subtle, and arguably more dangerous, way.
Nevertheless, every story can be argued in more than one way and this is no different - some women, feminists in particular, believe that the OCP has actually contributed to the image of the "emancipated Chinese woman". An article (which, interestingly, has now been deleted) posted on Chinese forum Weibo titled "The One-Child Policy's Three Major Contributions to Chinese Women's Status" stresses on how the widely and vigorously propagated slogans during the OCP had bettered women's status in China. For instance, the slogans "Giving birth to a boy and girl is the same thing" (生男生女都一样) and "Daughters can also carry on the family line" (女儿也是传后人) seem to portray a governmental effort in emphasising gender equality. Explicitly stating that girls can also carry on the family line implies their equal importance and role to play in the future of China, which seems to have improved the status of women. Daughters came to hold a more equal role to their male counterparts and families were less discriminatory in the provision of education and opportunities. Families with one daughter therefore were obliged to invest more in her education and healthcare, which potentially resulted in the rise in pride these families felt towards their daughters. In addition, this therefore heightened the focus also on pre and post natal healthcare for females, reducing maternal mortality rates considerably.
While the OCP was still in motion, 64% of Chinese women were in the labour force, a high percentage of whom in management positions (Catalyst, 2016), the introduction of the TCP has renewed calls for women to return home and be good mothers. This has the potential to harm the progress women have made in the economy, setting them back again to their traditional roles that necessitate them to stay home and be good mothers by re-instigating the need for a rise in birth rates. Additionally, the OCP encouraged later marriages and later child-births, enforcing this by raising the legal marriage age while the TCP seems to be doing exactly the opposite. By removing the 30 day paid leave benefit of having a child after age 25 at the same time as introducing the TCP, the government is effectively encouraging women to start having children earlier on, even while they are still completing their studies. Whereas furthering female education was a benefit of the OCP, this has been obliterated by the potential negative influence reverting back to old mindsets (e.g. earlier childbirths, women's role in the home) may have on their futures and independence, therefore setting back female emancipation.
Therefore, in this larger perspective, it is vividly clear that the OCP has improved women's status in China, but only at the high cost of years of inhumane treatment the Chinese population had to suffer. Further, whether the gender equality established as a result of the breach of human rights is justified remains to be seen - the TCP has the potential to expunge the consequential good of the original policy, leaving only the ramifications as its legacy.