An Overall Declining Fertility Rate: Global Rising Feminism

“No babies” is a slogan for many women all around the world, including China. China used to have a constantly growing population, so China was famous for its One-Child Policy, a policy to keep the fertility rate low. However, the story reverses recently. With the rising of feminism, more Chinese women reject motherhood, and even more, marriage. As a result, the fertility rate plummets and the Chinese population declines. An aging society is impending. According to the data, in 2021, each woman only has 1.69 babies, which cannot offset the mortality rate, resulting in an aging society (MacroTrends).

China is not the only country that suffers from an extremely low fertility rate. It happens all around the world. In other words, the world is having less population and a more aging society. For instance, in South Korea, women are rejecting traditional marriage and having babies. “‘Marriage is the root cause of patriarchy in South Korea’”, according to the article (Yi). To offset the demographic crisis, the South Korean government imposes policies such as subsidizing single mothers. However, this policy does not work well. In South Korea, single mothers are greatly stigmatized, so these women probably abort their “surprise children” if they are not married. Even for married women, the rising feminism pushes them against having babies. Specifically, pregnancy is a tragedy for a woman’s career, especially for Asian women. Therefore, with feminism, women want to pursue career success, so they have to abandon pregnancy to protect their career. The government, therefore, finds a way to address this problem. The government imposes a policy regarding child care, in which parents with children less than eight years old can have one less hour at work per week. Thus, parents can have more time to take care of their babies without ruining their performance at work. I think the Chinese government can learn from it and relieve young parents more by giving them more time to take care of the family, especially for young mothers.

The rejection of motherhood is similar both in China and Japan. Japan, however, deals with the declining fertility rate with an effective measure, which China can benefit from. Similarly, the Japanese government focuses on child care. The government promises financial support for child care. More importantly, the government imposes an extended parental leave, which is a great relief for pregnant mothers: they can leave to have babies without worrying about losing jobs (The Economist Intelligence Unit). I think this is the most essential way that China should learn about: provide legal protection for pregnant mothers so that they are not afraid of losing jobs during pregnancy.

Reference

“China Fertility Rate 1950–2021.” MacroTrends, www.macrotrends.net/countries/CHN/china/fertility-rate.

Yi, Beh Lih. “No Sex, No Babies: South Korea’s Emerging Feminists Reject Marriage.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 20 Jan. 2020, www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-women-rights-idUSKBN1ZJ02Z.

“Fertile Ground How Can Japan Raise Its Fertility Rate?” The Economist Intelligence Unit, www.eiu.com/graphics/marketing/pdf/Fertility-in-Japan-EIU.pdf.