Mao Zedong, one of the most influential leaders in Chinese history, once said that, “Of all the things in the world, people are the most precious.” One of the biggest problems that he faced was the growing population of China. At first, he discouraged birth control, but when the growth rate was growing astronomically, Mao introduced “Late, Long and Few.” When even this was not slowing down the population growth, China implemented a one-child policy. It allowed for the Chinese population to have one child, and was far more harmful than beneficial to China. Therefore, the one-child policy was not good for China and its people because it was unnecessary and was unfair to women. To begin with, the one-child policy now seems unnecessary. As seen …show more content…
As seen in Greenhalgh’s and Winckler’s book, the one-child policy resulted in many single daughters, who received all the attention from their parents and while it may have been a blessing to some, many of the “hottest and best paying jobs… are open exclusively to young women with good looks and sex appeal,” (Doc D). This statement portrays that women are thought of as objects, with prospective employers only looking at their physical appearance, not caring for their education of inner self. However, this also portrays the gender inequality exhibited by China, and shows that women in China only receive jobs because of how they look. This compares to Fitzpatrick’s article, as the practice of female infanticide, killing female infants, also became common practice in some area’s after the one-child policy was put into use (Doc E). It had long been known in China, that boys were more valuable than girls, and this practice further goes to show the chasm, between boys and girls in Chinese society. One final example from Fitzpatrick’s article, that shows the unequal treatment of women was that when “ultrasound tests (which allowed parents to see their child in the womb) and abortions,” became more and more common and easier to find, many parents resorted to these methods to kill their child. In essence, women were being killed because they were not as good as men and had to pay a price. In general, the one-child policy marginalized women throughout