Women in China are increasingly asserting control over their reproductive choices, a significant development in a nation where personal decisions about family size have long been dictated by the state. This growing autonomy emerges amidst the complex and often painful legacy of the one-child policy, which enforced strict birth limits for decades, and new government efforts to encourage more pregnancies to counter a declining birth rate.
From the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, women's bodies were considered a matter of state control. In the 1950s, even women's menstrual cycles were factored into the organisation of labour within state-controlled work units. This evolved into the draconian one-child policy, implemented between 1980 and 2016, which saw widespread forced abortions, sterilisations, and heavy fines for couples having more than one child. These measures were enforced with severe brutality in many regions, leaving lasting scars on countless families.
Today, with the one-child policy abandoned a decade ago, the government's focus has shifted dramatically. China is now grappling with a falling birth rate and is actively pressuring women to devote themselves to childbearing. However, many women, particularly younger generations, are resisting these new pressures and making independent choices about their bodies and families, a level of defiance that was not widely possible in the past.
The devastating impact of the one-child policy continues to resonate throughout Chinese society. In Shen county, Shandong province, an area known for rigorously enforcing central government directives, the scars are particularly evident. Ms Li, now in her 60s, recounted being forcibly sterilised in 1991 following the birth of her son. This occurred during a period known as the “childless 100 days”, a policy in Shen that mandated no children be born for 100 days from 1st May 1991, leading locals to refer to it as “the slaughtering of the lambs”. While Ms Li’s son survived after she went into labour early, she was fined 6,500 yuan – equivalent to several years of income for a farmer at the time – and subjected to a tubal ligation.
Human rights activist Yang Jianli, originally from Shandong, described the “childless 100 days” as among the most extreme examples of the one-child policy’s excesses. The Guardian's analysis of the changing status of women in Chinese society highlights how they are navigating these historical traumas and contemporary pressures, reshaping expectations around family and personal freedom in profound ways.