After
decades of forced population control in China, the Chinese Communist Party has
announced it will now allow couples to have up to three children amid worries
that the number of working-age people in the world’s most populous country is
falling too fast.
“The
news follows census data that showed China's working-age population shrank over
the past decade while the number of people older than 65 rose, adding strain on
the economy and society… posing a major threat to China’s ambitious economic
goals, experts have warned” according
to Xinhau News.
Brutally
enforcing birth limits since 1980, the Communist Party has forced mothers to have abortions or be sterilized, parents to lose
jobs, and families to face exorbitant fines for violations. The policies also caused baby smuggling, kidnapping, and a dangerous gender
imbalance, detailed in The
Challenges of Teaching Gender Equality in a World of Gendercide,
6 Regent J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 1 (2014).
Whether
a change of direction now will rescue the demographic nightmare facing China remains
to be seen, but even if for national economic reasons, this is at least an initial step toward family restoration.
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