China’s three-child policy: how to get women on board

Merely allowing three children won’t be enough. To boost births, China will have to offer financial incentives, significantly expand its childcare capacity, and promote women-friendly policies and equality

Lijia Zhang

Published: 3:30am, 9 Jun 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

The sky was not alight with fireworks when China announced last week that it would allow all married couples to have three children. Instead, the government’s latest attempt to reverse the trend of declining fertility was met with cynicism and indignation. “Where could we get the money to raise three children?” was a common response.

Back in 2016, when the authorities ended the decades-long one-child-policy to allow couples to have two children, they expected many Chinese to bite. But they didn’t.

The new announcement marked an important policy shift from limiting births to encouraging births. It came after the once-in-a-decade census released in May showed China’s population was growing at the slowest rate of any decade since the first census in 1953. However, relaxing restrictions alone isn’t enough to stimulate growth.

Why aren’t young people keen on having children these days? First, living costs – and child-rearing costs – are high. Although the state offers nine years of compulsory education, urban parents are all vying to sign up their children for extra lessons and extracurricular activities, from English to piano.

The availability of childcare services in China is another headache. Young couples often have to rely on their parents or hire child minders, which only adds to the cost.

Furthermore, many educated professional women hesitate to have children due to the prevalence of sexual discrimination in the job marketplace.

03:49

How much does it cost to raise a child in China?

Some companies refuse to hire women of child-bearing age or sack them if they become pregnant. I have heard stories of women being required to promise not to have children as a precondition for employment.

To deal with the issue, Chinese government agencies even issued a notice in 2019, forbidding prospective employers from asking female job candidates whether they were married or have children. While well intentioned, such a move was weak, to say the least.

For the women who have worked their way up to managerial positions, there is the worry that motherhood may send them back down the career ladder. The unfriendly environment for working mothers has deterred many women from having babies.

It is worth noting that people’s attitude towards procreation has changed dramatically. Having a child used to be an act of filial piety. There is that old saying of Mencius: “Of the three things which are unfilial, the worst is to have no posterity.” Yet, few among today’s young people, many of whom are self-centred only children, would regard parenthood as a duty to their elders.

China ‘gets old before getting rich’, leaving retirement dreams in the air

Following the Politburo’s announcement of the birth policy change, Xinhua conducted an online poll asking if people were ready for the three-child policy; 90 per cent of about 31,000 respondents said they would not consider having three children. The survey was later taken down.

But the message from the public was clear: merely allowing three children won’t be enough. Without giving specifics, the Politburo did promise support to families: lower education costs, improved maternity care and tax breaks.

These are all steps in the right direction. China will have to offer young couples financial incentives; it will have to significantly expand its childcare capacity. Equally importantly, it should promote women-friendly policies and push more vigorously for gender equality.

Evidence suggests that equality is good for fertility. Look at Europe as an example. France and Scandinavia have higher birth rates than southern European countries such as Italy , Spain and Portugal, which have less gender equality and more rigid family norms, and where new mothers are expected to stay at home.

In contrast, France and the Nordic countries have a relaxed attitude to family norms. Their governments offer equal support to families that come in different forms: married couples, unwed couples, same-sex couples and single parents.

The Chinese government should allow single women to have children, should they wish, and grant equal rights to their children.

The current fertility rate in China is 1.3, while last year, Chinese women on average were willing to have 1.8 children, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. So, if China plays its cards right, there should be room for growth.

Lijia Zhang is a rocket-factory worker turned social commentator, and the author of a novel, Lotus