Does China’s Fertility Policy Induce Employment Discrimination Against Women? Evidence from a Nationwide Correspondence Experiment

We apply a two-wave nationwide correspondence experiment to assess the effects of the two-child and three-child policies in China. Using 13,751 observations collected through this experiment, we find that the announcement of the two-child policy led to a 4.9% decrease in total interview callbacks overall, and decreases of 4.3%, 5.7%, and 5.6% for single women, those married with no children, and those married with one child, respectively. The implementation of the three-child policy led to a 10.4% decrease, but only for married women with two children. The discrimination broadly affected all women, whether they disclose marriage and fertility status information or not, as we find their callback rates decreased by 4.5% under the universal two-child policy and 6.6% after the three-child policy.

Epidemiological Characteristics and Risk Factors of Obstetric Infection After the Universal Two-child Policy in North China: A 5-year Retrospective Study Based on 268, 311 Cases

PurposeObstetrical infection is one of the causes of maternal death and a difficult problem for many clinicians. Changes in the demographic and obstetric background of pregnant women following the Universal Two-Child Policy may have an impact on some fertility phenomena. Therefore, more studies based on the change of fertility policy are needed. We try to analyze the epidemiological characteristics and risk factors of obstetric infection before and after the Universal Two-Child Policy, with a view to providing reference for the prevention and control of obstetric infection in regions after the change of fertility policy. MethodsThe subjects of the survey were 268,311 pregnant women from Hebei Province Maternal Near Miss Surveillance System (HBMNMSS) of Hebei Women and Children's Health Center from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017. We analyzed the region , time and population distribution characteristics of obstetric infection, compared the epidemiological factors of obstetric infection before and after the Universal Two-Child Policy , and analyzed the relevant risk factors of obstetric infection. ResultsThe incidence of obstetric infection increased nearly twice after the Universal Two-Child Policy. The incidence of obstetric infection was highest in Chengde(1.9%), a city with a northward geographical distribution, Baoding (1.6%), Cangzhou (1.5%) followed; The higher the hospital grade, the higher the incidence; The incidence of obstetric infections in hospitals at all levels has increased; The age of onset before the Universal Two-Child Policy was (27.82±5.047) years old, and the age after the Universal Two-Child Policy was (28.97±4.880) years old; The incidence of obstetric infections is higher in winter. The rate of abortion-related infection (increased from 0.61% to 1.65%) and the rate of pregnant women with high school education (increased from 0.35% to 0.74%) increased significantly. The results of multivariate Logistic regression analysis after the Universal Two-Child Policy showed that anemia (OR=1.249, 95%CI: 1.071-1.458), chronic hypertension (OR=1.934, 95%CI: 1.375-2.722), mild preeclampsia (OR=2.103, 95%CI: 1.323-3.344) and severe preeclampsia (OR=2.228, 95%CI: 1.703-2.916) were independent risk factors for obstetric infection. Gestational age ≥37 weeks was a protective factor. ConclusionsAfter the Universal Two-Child Policy, the prevention and control of obstetric infections should be strengthened, especially for abortion-related infections and elderly maternal with obstetric complications and complication in high-grade hospitals in winter. Educational background is also one of the factors that should be considered in the prevention of obstetric sensation. Prolonging gestational age is helpful to reduce the incidence of obstetric infection.

Women’s Vulnerability and State Responsibility in China’s Family-planning Policy

Reproductive vulnerability is a pervasive social issue that requires efforts from multiple government departments and social groups to solve. However, China has traditionally focused on the reproduction function of the family and marginalized women's reproductive autonomy and related rights. Based on the overview of the existing literature, we have a better understanding of the fertility experience of Chinese women when facing the fertility policy, focusing on their continued harm, neglect and vulnerability during the process of changes in the fertility policy. Through research, we can not only analyze the work-family dilemma that women have been in for a long time but also an in-depth analysis of low fertility intentions of Chinese women under the pronatalism policy. The vulnerability of Chinese women to childbearing is caused by the following factors: women’s socio-economic status, the concept of marriage and childbirth in society, the control of the national fertility policy, and the availability of fertility support system arrangements. We suggest the amendment of the family-planning policy should be accompanied by a series of arrangements for family support, such as establishing a reproduction-friendly environment, promoting social gender consciousness in all aspects, reducing women's household burden, and actively eliminating gender discrimination in the workplace. Then, women's reproductive vulnerability can be mitigated, and the gender structure can be balanced.

Forecasting China’s food grain demand 2021-2050 with attention to balanced dietary and fertility policies

The estimation of China's future food grain demand has become vital input for designing grain security measures. Addressing the population's age-gender and urban-rural structures under three fertility policies scenarios together with concerns for balanced diets, we established a multi-factor driven model to forecast China's food grain demand (including staple food grain and feed grain) during 2021-2050. The three scenarios are as follows; the two-child fertility policy for couples when either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family (scenario 1); universal two-child policy (scenario 2), and no limitations on the number of children (scenario 3). The results show that in scenario 3, China's food grain demand would peak in 2030 at about 329.3 million tons, about 3.7 million tons higher than that in scenario 2, and 104.7 million tons lower than that estimated with the traditional per capita method. These findings indicate that the demographic transition for fertility policy adjustment is not the main impacting factor of China's food grain security from 2021 to 2050. We might overestimate food grain demand by about 15 percent if we ignored each age-gender and urban-rural structure of the population. Then it may lead to an oversupply of grain and accumulation of stocks, which would generate about 1 billion RMB annual inventory cost burden. An important complement to the demographic strategy would come from the adoption of the proposed Dietary Guideline for Chinese Residents (2019). It can make people much healthier and save about 7.5 percent of China's food grain consumption, reducing the pressure scarce supplies of water and land in the country.

Socio-demographic characteristics and outcomes of pregnant women who delivered prior to and after the termination of the one-child policy in China: a comparative study

Background The new Chinese fertility policy has recently received widespread public attention. However, there are few studies available on the comprehensive epidemiology of maternal and infant health with respect to the characteristic changes of childbearing women. In the study, we compared the maternal characteristics and pregnancy outcomes at different time points according to policy adjustments, accessed the possible relationship among these factors, and evaluated the impacts of these policies for medical and policy assistance. Methods This was a retrospective study. Data were collected from three representative hospitals in Zhejiang Province using stratified random sampling. The annual number of births, and maternal and child healthcare levels were the determining factors of sampling. Women who gave birth in November of 2012, 2014, and 2016 were recruited in accordance with the time of the change in the fertility policy, and we explored the differences in maternal socio-demographic characteristics, delivery mode and pregnancy outcomes. Results A total of 11,718 women were recruited, including 3480, 4044, and 4194 in November of 2012, 2014, and 2016, respectively. The proportions of multiparous women, women who aged ≥35 years, who received higher education, who had previous cesarean sections (CS), and who delivered in a high level hospital increased over time. In 2016, multipara accounted for 49.12, 14.47% were aged ≥35 years, nearly half of women had previous CS and delivered in a provincial hospital, 41.73% gave birth by CS, and 31.62% suffered pregnancy complications. The results of multiple logistic regression mode showed CS risk decreased significantly in 2014 (ORadj = 0.62; 95% CI, 0.55–0.67) relative to 2012, and risks of pregnancy complications (ORadj = 2.30; 95% CI, 1.86–2.83) and multiple births (ORadj = 3.25; 95% CI, 2.19–4.83) only increased in 2016 compared to 2012. Conclusions Some pregnancy outcomes increased as several key characteristics of childbearing women changed after China ended its “one-child” policy. This suggests that policy providers and medical staff need to strengthen healthcare in a consistent fashion regarding changes in birth policy.