Exploring women’s decisions about childbearing after the lifting of the one-child policy

Dados Bibliográficos

ID15098683
AutoresEileen Wang (0000-0003-3939-4134, Zhejiang University, autor correspondente), Therese Hesketh (0000-0002-7564-9221, Zhejiang University)
Ano2018
Volume20
Fascículo11
Páginas1230-1243
Data de publicação2018-11-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCulture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691058.2018.1424352
PMID29381117
OpenAlexW2790022687
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas11
Referências citadas36

In 2016, China officially ended the 'one-child' policy permitting all couples to have two children for the first time since 1979. While the policy was relaxed due to demographic concerns, it simultaneously provided many women with a new reproductive opportunity. The goal of this study was to qualitatively understand the childbearing decision process in the new era of the two-child policy. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 45 postpartum women at two hospitals in Zhejiang Province, China. The interviews explored women's views on the two-child policy and reproductive decisions and how they decided to have their first or second child. Most women approved of the lifting of the one-child policy; however, many were hesitant or uncertain about their own decisions to have second children. Many felt pressured to have two children for the good of, or as an obligation to, the family. However, they also felt that caring for two children was burdensome, and that they would have to sacrifice a lot in terms of freedom, energy and money. Their responses to the new reproductive opportunity highlight the complexity of childbearing decision-making in modern Chinese society, against a background of persisting traditional values

China · Economic growth · Economics · Family planning · Family planning policy · Geography · Obligation · One-child policy · Political science · Population · Research methodology · Sacrifice · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Law · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies