A version of this story appeared in CNN's Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country's rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.
Hong Kong (CNN)Faced with a worrying demographic crisis of its own making, China is encouraging couples to have more children.
There's just one problem: women aren't too keen on the idea.
For more than 35 years, the ruling Communist Party strictly enforced a one-child policy, as the country tried to address overpopulation and alleviate poverty. But as the economy boomed, China found its population aging and its labor force shrinking.
In a bid to mitigate the economic risks posed by falling birthrates, the party announced in 2015 that it would allow married couples to have two children. But after a brief uptick in 2016, the national birth rate has been falling year-on-year — prompting the party to loosen the policy even further to three children.
Still, the public doesn't appear convinced. The formal passing of the country's new three-child policy into law on Friday was met with widespread skepticism and criticism on Chinese social media, with many women expressing anxiety over the rising cost of living and entrenched gender inequality in the workplace.
Many argued that raising three children would be prohibitively expensive, and out of reach for most urban couples, many of whom face stagnating wages, fewer job opportunities, and grueling hours at work.
"I don't even want to have one child, let alone three," said one comment on Weibo, China's heavily censored Twitter-like platform, which garnered more than 51,000 likes.
Though wealth inequality and overwork are problems seen around the world, in China they are exacerbated by entrenched gender roles that often place the bulk of housework and childcare on women.
"Will men have paternity leave for their three children, then?" one person wrote pointedly on Weibo, with more than 67,000 likes. There is currently no national law that provides paternity leave in China.
That imbalance in parental responsibility means it's difficult for women to balance work with motherhood. Ever since the proposal for the three-child policy was announced earlier this year, much of the debate has centered around fears that it could ultimately worsen conditions for working women.
In recent years, many Chinese women have reported facing job discrimination based on their marital or parental status, with employers who are often reluctant to pay maternity leave. A report by Human Rights Watch earlier this year, which drew on studies, social media reports, news coverage, court documents, and interviews, found that women in some companies are told to wait their turn to take maternity leave; if they become pregnant ahead of "schedule," they can be fired or punished.
Unsurprisingly, many younger career-minded women in China have become increasingly disillusioned with traditions and institutions like marriage and childbirth.
"As a woman, I feel like I am on a narrower and narrower path, and there is no turning back," posted a women's rights group on Weibo on Thursday, in response to the new policy.
The Communist Party has acknowledged these issues and pledged to address them. The new amendment promises to protect women's right to employment, and says the government will work with the private sector to set up childcare facilities in public areas and workplaces, said state-run news agency Xinhua.
The government will also "roll out more supportive measures in terms of finance, taxation, insurance, education, housing and employment, to ease the burden on families," Xinhua added.
The text of the amended family planning law isn't publicly available yet. Articles by Xinhua and other state-run media don't provide further specifics on how those protective measures will be implemented, such as whether there will be harsher penalties for employers who discriminate against mothers.
Though a number of cities and provinces already provide some of the measures activists have called for — Shanghai offers 10 days of paternity leave, for instance — they are still too limited, and a far cry from the nationwide reform needed to lift the birth rate, some experts say.
In 2019, the national birth rate hit its lowest level in 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China; the following year, the number of newborns dropped another 18%.
That means the country — the world's most populous, with 1.4 billion residents — has seen its fertility rate sink from more than five births per woman to less than two, in just 40 years. That's one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, on par with Japan and South Korea, both of which are also facing looming demographic crises.
"If the country can't protect women's rights, but only encourage childbirth, it doesn't matter if the maternity leave is 98 days or three years — it is equivalent to taking away their career," said Xu Chao, a doctor in Shandong.
For women in China, who have struggled for so long in the workplace and who now enjoy relatively independent lives, having more children requires tremendous sacrifice — and it will take much more than a simple revision of the law to encourage a baby boom.
US Vice President takes aim at China
US Vice President Kamala Harris accused China of threatening "the sovereignty of nations" with its actions in the South China Sea during a speech Tuesday on the second full day of her visit to Southeast Asia.
"Beijing continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea," Harris said in the speech in Singapore. "The United States stands with our allies and partners in the face of these threats."
China claims almost all of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory. In recent years, Beijing has moved to militarize a number of manmade islands throughout the vast waterway in an effort to consolidate its claims, which overlap with several other nations, including the Philippines and Vietnam. The US regularly challenges these claims, by conducting freedom of navigation operations in the area.
Harris is touring Singapore and Vietnam as part of a four-day trip, becoming the most senior US official to visit Southeast Asia since President Joe Biden took office in January. Both the US and China have jostled for influence in the region and in her speech Tuesday, Harris touted America's commitment to Southeast Asia.
However, Harris's trip has been overshadowed by the US government's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, and on Monday the US Vice President was forced to defend Washington's international reputation after being deluged with questions on the evacuations.
"The reason I'm here is because the United States is a global leader, and we take that role seriously, understanding that we have many interests and priorities around the world," Harris said Monday.
--By Ben Westcott
Going for gold
Xuemei Zhang, representing China in women's wheelchair basketball, faces off against a member of the Algerian team during the opening day of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. The Games kicked off with an opening ceremony on Tuesday night, and will run through September 5 with more than 4,000 athletes expected to compete.
Chinese tech firms donate to charity as Xi touts need for 'common prosperity'
Big Chinese tech firms are donating billions of dollars to social causes as the government vows to protect people from being exploited by private enterprise.
E-commerce firm Pinduoduo on Tuesday pledged to donate its profits from the most recent quarter — some $372 million — toward the development of China's agricultural sector and rural areas. In total, it expects to donate 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) toward such causes.
"This is an important and challenging task, which we will invest in patiently," said Chen Lei, chairman and CEO of Pinduoduo, adding in a statement that he would personally oversee the project.
The decision is significant for the Nasdaq-listed company, which just posted a profit for the first time as a public company in the April-to-June period. It also follows a similar charitable pledge that internet company Tencent made last week, when it announced it would put 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) toward achieving Beijing's goal of "common prosperity" for all people.
That phrase is a historically significant one in China, and was used recently by President Xi Jinping as he pledged to redistribute wealth in the country. Xi's edict has piled even more pressure on the country's richest citizens and businesses, which are facing tougher scrutiny and regulations as Beijing reigns in the power of the private sector.
Pinduoduo's announcement also comes as the Chinese government continues to expand its probe of the private sector, most recently in relation to how businesses interact with local governments. The country's top anti-graft watchdog this week announced that its division in Hangzhou — where tech giant Alibaba is based — would crack down on problems involving business-government relations in the city.
--By Laura He
Around Asia
- US Vice President Kamala Harris' departure for Vietnam was delayed by several hours due to a possible incident of Havana syndrome, which has sickened hundreds of US officials in recent years.
- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he will run for the vice presidency in next year's elections, a move criticized by opponents as a ploy for him to maintain his grip on power.
- Taiwan launched the rollout of Medigen, the island's homegrown Covid-19 vaccine. It has yet to complete phase 3 clinical trials and no efficacy data is available.
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