Power Relations in Reproductive Decisions Under the Transforming Family Planning Policy in China

2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2110355
Author(s):  
Yang Shen ◽  
Lai Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Reproductive Decisions ◽  
Relational Dynamics ◽  
Family Planning Policy ◽  
Second Child ◽  
Planning Policy ◽  
Population Policies ◽  
Child Policy ◽  
Policy Transformation ◽  
Patriarchal Power

China’s family planning policy has had a profound influence on individuals and families for the past 30 years. The universal two-child policy implemented in 2016 is its most relaxed form. The consequences of the policy transitions are worthwhile to explore . By interviewing 26 middle class mothers who gave birth to a second child during the policy transformation, we consider women’s accounts of their reproductive decisions-making processes. We found that the participants exerted strong agency in their reproductive decisions, but meanwhile they were reproducers and embodiments of traditional culture, population policies and patriarchal power. They internalised various modes of power that dictate how women should regulate their bodies, reflecting the mechanisms of self-governance. Self-governance functions as a subtle technique of conflict avoidance through which explicit conflicts are dissolved and transformed into intrapersonal self-adjustment and personal struggle. Our research broadens the conceptualisation of self-governance by incorporating relational dynamics using evidence from China.

scholarly journals THE INFLUENCE OF THE UNIVERSAL TWO-CHILD POLICY ON CHINA’S FUTURE AGING AND POPULATION

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S706-S706
Author(s):  
Can Jia ◽  
Handong li
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Leslie Matrix ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Growth Trend ◽  
Family Planning Policy ◽  
Registration System ◽  
Planning Policy ◽  
Child Policy ◽  
The Impact

Abstract China’s aging situation is becoming more and more prominent, and both the people and the government are facing unprecedented pressure of providing for the aged. For this reason, the Chinese government began implementing a new family planning policy for couples to have two children since 2016 (referred to as “universal two-child policy”). In order to explore the impact of the newly released policy, our research is based on the sixth census of China. And first, we use the cohort-component method and a Leslie matrix to construct the population prediction model. Considering some certain unique factors in China, such as the significant urban-rural dual structure and the household registration system and so on, we divide the total fertility rate into urban and rural areas which fully reflects the characteristics of China’s family planning policy. Then we predict and analyze the number and structure of China population between 2011 and 2050 based on the three scenarios of high, medium and low. And the results show that the Chinese population will present an inverted pyramid structure, and the population structure will continue to deteriorate. Besides, we adapt three indicators to analyze the aging trend in China, namely, the old-age coefficient, the population aging index, and the social dependency ratio. And the three indicators of China will continue to grow under the universal two-child policy with different changing rate, which means, the newly released policy will not change China’s aging population growth trend and the severity of China’s aging.

scholarly journals Evaluating Family Planning Organizations Under China’s Two-Child Policy in Shandong Province

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 2121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizheng Xu ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Jingjie Sun ◽  
Stephen Nicholas ◽  
Jian Wang
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Family Planning ◽  
Shandong Province ◽  
Family Planning Policy ◽  
Management Structure ◽  
Planning Policy ◽  
New Family ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Child Policy ◽  
Before And After

Background: The 2015 two-child policy was the most important institutional change in China’s family planning since the 1978 one-child policy. To implement the two-child policy, China merged the former health departments and family planning departments into the new Health and Family Planning Commission organization. We collected and analyzed funding and expenditure data, providing a novel approach to assessing the family planning outcomes under China’s two-child policy. The paper shows how the management structure and funding levels and streams shifted with the new two-child policy and assesses the new management structure in terms of the ability to carry out tasks under the new family planning policy. Methods: We collected data on the funding, structure of expenditure and social compensation fee in Shandong province from 2011 to 2016, to evaluate how resources were allocated to family planning before and after the organizational change. We also collected interview data from family planning administrators. Results: While total family planning government financing was reduced after the organizational change, expenditures were shifted away from management to family planning work. Funding (80%) was allocated to the grass-root county and township levels, where family planning services were provided. The overlapping work practices, bureaucracy, and inefficiencies were curbed and information flows were improved. Conclusions: The new Health and Family Planning Commissions shifted resources to carry out the new family planning policy. The aims of the two-child policy to reduce inefficiencies, overlapping authorities and excessive management were achieved and expenditures on family planning work was enhanced and made more efficient.

scholarly journals Birth and birth-related obstetrical characteristics in southwestern China associated with the current adjustment of family planning policy: a 7-year retrospective study

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiyao Liu ◽  
Dongni Huang ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Yuwen Gao ◽  
Miaomiao Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Caesarean Section Rate ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Multivariable Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Tertiary Care Centre ◽  
Family Planning Policy ◽  
Planning Policy ◽  
Child Policy ◽  
Large Tertiary Care

Abstract In China, the adjustment of the family planning policy was expected to increase the number of births and trigger a change in the demographic and obstetrical background of pregnant women. The policy itself, and corresponding background variations of the pregnant mothers, might have various influences on certain birth-related characteristics. Moreover, the adaption of the medical system to the policy needs to be demonstrated. To address these issues, over 50,000 individual records from January 2012 to December 2018 were collected from a large tertiary care centre of southwest China as a representative. The monthly numbers of deliveries and births showed stabilized patterns after remarkable upward trends. Policy-sensitive women, among whom older age and multiparity were typical features, contributed considerably to the remarkable additional births. Indeed, multivariable logistic regression analysis identified the child policy and these two background characteristics as factors influencing CS (caesarean section) rate and certain pregnancy complications or adverse outcomes. After the implementation of the two-child policy, a care provider was faced with fewer but more difficult cases. Briefly speaking, more individual-based studies on family planning policy and more efforts to improve obstetrical service are needed to better guide clinical practice in the new era.

Wall Slogans: the Communication of China's Family Planning Policy in Rural Areas

Rural History ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
GUOYAN WANG
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Policy Advocacy ◽  
Family Planning Policy ◽  
Planning Policy ◽  
Child Policy ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Times ◽  
The One ◽  
Rural Policy

Abstract:The one-child era, which lasted thirty-five years (1980–2015), was a unique period in Chinese (and even world) history. With the introduction of the universal two-child policy in 2016, China put an end to the age of the one-child policy. Since the policy change has come into effect, China's rural areas, which contain approximately 800 million people, have experienced a very particular historical phenomenon. Due to the changes in China's family planning policy, slogans painted on walls have evolved in terms of the messages they carry to grassroots rural areas. Once conveying China's family planning policy propaganda with, at times, a shocking and controversial tone, the wall slogans in rural areas have evolved with the wider changes to the country's family planning policy. However, this dying, unique way of communication between the government and rural areas is being consigned to the memory of the times of rural policy advocacy in China.

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