Effect of Family Planning on Women's Lives. The Case of The People's Republic of China

摘要

Fertility has declined precipitously in China over the past three decades, so there are generations of Chinese women alive today who have been affected very differently by family planning. Chinas total fertility rate (TFR) fell from more than six children in the 1950s to around two in 1992; virtually all couples in urban areas now have one child and most couples in rural areas have two children. In 1979, China adopted a population policy advocating one child per couple (soon thereafter, some exceptions were made, particularly in rural areas for daughter-only couples). The policy has come into conflict with a culture that has valued males over females. The legal position of women has improved, as has womens status as measured by education and employment statistics. However, attitudes and behavior toward women suggest that gender norms and roles are slow to change. The Chinese government recognizes that the family planning program has had many beneficial effects on Chinese society but also acknowledges the programs negative effects. While the State Family Planning Commission (SFPC) still has fertility goals and contraceptive use targets, the program is now committed to providing better quality services to clients. Most studies have looked at the status of women and the role that various factors in a woman's life play in determining her use or non-use of family planning. More recently, Family Health International (FHI), primarily with funding for the Womens Studies Project (WSP), from the U.S. Agency for International Development, and in the case of this study, through the Rockefeller Foundation, has conducted research in a number of countries that aims instead to understand how contraceptive use and reproductive health may have affected women's lives in terms of family relations, education, employment, and quality of life.