تلخيص كتاب تحرير المرأة
لقاسم امين
خريف 2006
يعد كتاب تحرير المرأة لكاتبه قاسم امين من اشهر واكثر الكتب اثارة للجدل في وقت اصداره في القرن التاسع عشر والى حد وقتنا هذا. صدر ونشر كتاب تحرير المرأة عام 1899 حيث تناول قضية تحرير المراة من الظلم الواقع عليها في وقت كانت المرأة في حال التخلف والرجعية فكان هذا الكتاب بمثابة الثورة التي اثارت العقول وجعلتها تفكر بمكانة المرأة المتردية وكيفية ايجاد الحلول لهذا الوضع في ذلك الوقت .
قسم كتاب تحرير المراة الى عدة محاور وكل محور يناقش قضية تخص تحرير المرأة ووضعها التي كانت عليه انذاك. المحاور التي تناوله الكتاب هي تربية المراة وحجابها و الامة والعائلة والزواج وتعدد الزوجات والطلاق .
تناول القسم الاول من الكتاب تحليل لواقع المراة التي كانت تعيش عليه انذاك حيث بين كيف انها كانت تتجرع المر ابتداءا بابيها ثم اخيها الاكبر ثم زوجها وابنها الاكبر حيث كانت لعبة بين يدي الرجال وليس لديها اي الحق للاعتراض على هذا كله. لقد كانت المراة لاتعرف كيف تدير اعمالها وامورها وذلك بسبب التربية التي تربت عليها وهو الاعتماد على الرجل وليس لديها الحق بالاعتماد علة نفسها لانه لايجوز ولذلك كان الرجل هو المسيطر حتى بالاشياء التي قد تستطيع المراة تحمل مسؤوليته كادارة اموالها .ايضا تناول الكتاب كيف ان الله خلق الذكر والانثى كلا مكمل للاخر ومن هنا اتت تسمية النصف الاخر وان الله خلق حواء من ضلع ادم اي ان كلا منهم يعتمد على الاخر وليس هناك اي فرق بينهم.
عن محورتربية المرأة تحدث قاسم امين عن كيفية تربية المرأة وما مدى تأثيره عليها بعد ذلك في تربية اولادها في المستقبل وكيف ان على الاهل تربية بناتهم التربية الصحيحة المبنية على حرية التعبير وابداء الرأي وتلقي العلم والتعليم مثل مايتلقى الاولاد تعليمهم وحصولهم على كامل حقوقه . ربط قاسم امين في كتابه بين تربية المراة والتعليم وكيف انها تربت على ان لديها عدة واجبات عليها القيام بها مثل تهيئة الجو العام والجميل والمقنع لزوجها ومراقبة الخدم في العمل وادارة مصروفات البيت واهم كل هذه الاعمال هي تربية الاطفال وكل هذا يحتاج الى عقل راجح متعلم وهذا مالايتوافر عند المرأة الجاهلة وهذا كله ياتي بسبب جهل الاهل باهمية التعليم للمرأة الذي يفيدها عند الكبر . يؤثر ايضا التعليم عند المرأة حيث ان الطفل يتصف بصفات ابويه فاذا كانت الام جاهلة فهذا يؤثر على الطقل وعندئذ يتصف الطفل بصفات امه الجاهلة وانها تتركه ليفعل كل شيء هو يريده حيث يتعلم كل الاشياء الغير صحيحة لانه لم يعلم ماهو صح وخطأ. ذكر الكتاب سبب عدم رغبة الرجال بتثقيف وتعليم المراة الى انه يزيد من قابليتها على الاحتيال والنصب والفساد ولكن العكس هو الصحيح في ان التعليم يعلي من شأن المرأة ويجعلها قادرة على ادارة اعمالها. طالب ايضا قاسم امين الاهتمام بتعليم النفوس وليس فقط التعليم والعلم حيث اننا يجب علينا تربية نفوسنا وعقولنا حتى نستطيع التفتح للعالم والتعامل مع الامور بجدية ورجاحة عقل وهذا ينطبق على النساء والرجال.
اما بالنسبة لمحور حجاب المرأة فان الكتاب بين مدى مساعدة هذا الحجاب الحالي على تخلف ورجعية المرأة وكيف انه عائق امامها لتأدية مهامها في المجتمع. يبين قاسم امين ايضا انه ليس ضد الحجاب الشرعي الذي يطالب بستر المرأة واحتشامها ولكنه ضد المغالاة فيه حيث انه لايوجد نص بوجوب الحجاب االسائد الان ولكنه مجرد مغالاة في الدين.ويرى قاسم امين ان الحجاب قد يعيق ويبعد اامرأة عن الدنيا ويجعلها غير قادرة على التواصل مع العالم الخارجي وهذا بسبب تصور الرجال انه بمجرد عزل امرأته عن الرجال الاخرين انه يحميها من نفسها وشهواتها ولا يقتنع ان المراة تستطيع حماية نفسها وشهواتها اذا كانت متواصلة ومختلطة مع الرجال وليست معزولة لاتراهم ابدا.ان الحجاب يأتي من سوء التربية وهذا يدل على وجود علاقة وثيقة بين تربية المرأة والحجاب .قد يؤدي الحجاب الى انتشار الفساد بدل من الاقلال منه وذلك بسبب الكبت الذي قد يتكون عند المرأة المحجوبة عن الناس وبذلك نكون قد زدنا الامر سوءا وافضل مثال على ذلك هو النساء الاوروبيات والاخص الامريكيات الاتي معروف عنهن الحرية حيث صدر استفتاء قيل انهن اكثر النساء عفة وذلك لانهن متعلمات ومختلطات بالرجال منذ الصغر فيعرفن الصح من الخطأ.
ودعى قاسم امين في ختام كلامه عن باب حجاب المراة الى عدم التخلي عن الحجاب نهائيا في زمننا هذا ولكن التمسك بان تكون المرأة محررة واهل للثقة والاختلاط مع الرجال بالحدود المشروعة وتحت مراقبة الاهل.المحور الاخرالذي تناوله الكتاب هو محور المرأة والامة والذي يدور حول تأثر الامة بتعليم وثقافة المرأة وكيف ان المجتمع هو نفسه رجعي وقام البعض بارجاع هذا الشيء الى ان الاسلام هو دين التخلف على عكس الاصل الذي هو ان الاسلام دين التقدم والتفتح ولكن السبب الرئيسي هو الدين الخطأ الذي يسير عليه البعض والعادات التي اضيفت لللاسلام. بين ايضا ان الامة هي جسد واحد فاذا احد اعضاء الجسد متخلف فاذن الامة كلها متخلفة ورجعية وهذا هو حال المراة حيث انها غير متعلمة ومتخلفة فاذن مجتمعنا هو متخلف وهذا كله اثر على المجتمع وتقدمه.
اما عن محور العائلة ومايتضمنه من امور الزواج والطلاق وتعدد الزوجات فجاء فيه:
اولا: ان الزواج هو رباط مقدس يربط بين اثنين متحابين وليس فقط عقد بين رجل وامرأة والقصد منه اشباع الرغبة واللذة وكما ان للرجل الحق في اختيار شريكة الحياة فعلى المرأة ان تختار شريك حياتها .كل هذه افتراضيات كان يفترضها قاسم امين في كتابه لان الحقيقة كانت عكس هذا كله فالمراة ليس من حقها حتى ابداء رأيها بالرجل الذي سترتبط به وعليها الطاعة فقط ولهذا فهو يدعو للتفتح واعطاء المرأة الحق لابداء الرأي واختيار الشيء المناسب لها.يبين ايضا ان اذا ليس هناك اي ارتباط عاطفي بين الزوجين فان حياتهما ستكون غير مترابطة ويلجأ كلا منهم الى اماكن اخرى للتزود بالعطف والحنان والمودة فعلى كل اثنين متزوجين ان يزرعوا المحبة والحب بينهم حتى يتعايشوا بحب وامان .
ثانيا: عن موضوع تعدد الزوجات فذكر في الكتاب انه ذكر في القران الكريم احلال للرجل الزواج باربع نساء ولكن لسبب ليس لمتعة او اشباع رغبة فالزواج هو وثيقة حب ومحبة بين اثنين متحابين وان المرأة ليست بسلعة يشتريها الرجل ليستمتع بها ويتركها بعد ان ينفذ منها. وبين ان اذا كان هناك اي مبرر لزواج الرجل من امرأة اخرى بسبب عقر امرأته او مرض فعلى الرجل احترام ذلك كما تحترم هذا الشيء اذا كان السبب من الرجل وعلى الاثنين تحمل الاخر والبحث على راحة الاخر. ان الزواج بامرأة واحدة تحافظ على اطفالها وبيتها هو افضل من رجل يتزوج اكثر من امرأة وبيته يسوده الفوضى والغيرة.
ثالثا: بخصوص موضوع الطلاق فبين الكتاب كيف ان جميع الشرائع السماوية احلت الطلاق على الرغم من تحفظ البعض من الطلاق _المسيحيون والغرب_ الان ان الجميع اعترف باهمية الطلاق اذا كانت العشرة بين الزوجين غير مناسبة او مريحة. ايضا بين ان للطلاق اسباب معينة وليست خاضعة فقط لمزاجيات الرجل.اشار الكتاب ايضا الى عدة بنود او قوانين على اي رجل يريد تطليق زوجته اللجوء اليها وهي ان يشترط ان يكون الطلاق على يد القاضي المأذون وعليه نصحهم باذن ابغض الحلال عنذ الله الطلاق ويجب وجود شهود على ذلك. يمكننا ان نستشف من ذلك على ان الطلاق مباح وضروري بظروف معينة.
اختتم قاسم امين كلامه عن هذا الموضوع بخاتمة يطالب فيها الناس بالتثقف والتطور مع المحافظة على عاداتنا وتقاليدنا المناسبة للقرن الذي نعيش فيه.دعى ايضا لتكوين جمعيه تهتم بحقوق المرأة المغتصبة في مصر وعلى الناس الدخول بها لاتاحة الفرصة للنصف الاخر في المجتمع باسترداد حقوقهم المسلوبة.
رأي ونقد لكتاب تحرير المرأة لقاسم امين
بعد قرائتي لكتاب تحرير المرأة الذي كتب منذ سنين عدة وجدت فيه مايلم بأمور المرأة وحقوقها التي قد تكون مسلوبة لحد وقتنا هذا.فقد وجدت كلاما منطقيا وتحليلا دقيقا لحال المرأة في ذلك الوقت ولم يكتف الكتاب ببيان حال المرأة فقط بل البحث عن حلول وطرق لحل هذه المشكلة.ايضا لفت انتباهي استشهاد الكاتب بالقران الكريم والسنة والشريعة وانه ملم بالموضوع من جوانب مختلفة و على الرغم من الهجوم الشرس الذي واجهه قاسم امين وكتابه الا انه ظل صامدا وذلك لقوة حججه وادلته وهذا يدل على ثقافة وفكر الكاتب الواسعة واكبر دليل على شهرة هذا الكتاب انه يتم الاستشهاد به لحد هذا الوقت كاول كتاب يتناول هذا الموضوع بدقة. اما بخصوص الافكار المثارة بالكتاب فاراها منطقية وصحيحة وعلينا التلفت لها.وماوجدته من فوائد في هذا الكتاب انه اتاح الفرصة للناس للتنبه لاشياء كانوا غافلين عنها الا وهي حقوق المرأة المسلوبة واني اظن انه كتاب ممتاز لما يتناول من موضوع شائك قد يهم الكثير من الناس. اعتقد اننا في زمننا هذا نحتاج لاكثر من قاسم امين لتناول هذا الموضوع لاننا في زمن النظر الى الماضي وليس التطلع للمستقبل فعلينا اعطاء الفرصة لعقولنا ان تتنور وتتفتح على العالم وليس فقط التقوقع حول افكار بالية...
Saturday 23 January 2010
Who am I?
Who am I?!
Who am I is an important question that we should all think about. I will try to answer this question frankly and honestly to help myself to be a better person and know other people too. My name is Rua Ghanim Alsheikh. I am Iraqi and I was born in Iraq from Iraqi father and mother. I am the youngest in my family. I have two lovely sisters and two lovely brothers. I have a great mother and a great father that I am proud to be their daughter. My father is a doctor and my mother is a history expert.My two brothers are doctors and my sister as well while I and my other sister went in different direction that she decided to go to computer science and I would like to study Mass communication and Sociology because we don’t like medicine as my older sister and two brothers. I am interested in those two subjects as since I was a kid, I used to write stories and write about social issue. In addition, I would love to defend women’s rights because women suffer a lot from patriarchy societies. Qasim Amin has influenced me a lot about women’s rights. If Qasim Amin succeeded in librating women in the 1880s, nowadays 2010, we still in my opinion need another Qasim Amin to liberate women in some societies.
Back to personal life, I was brought up in a democratic, free and comfortable environment that affects my personality positively. My family is everything to me. I love my family very much and cannot resist anything which may harm them. I like my friends which I made in Iraq and Egypt. About my hobbies, I like listening to music, especially Arab songs. When I was little, I used to draw and design dresses for girls but I stopped drawing now because of lack of time and studying. I write some poetry in Arabic and I published some of them in a site in the internet of my favorite singer.
About my personality, My biggest fear in life is to lose people I love. This is really difficult to me and also I hate failing in everything and when I want to do anything, I love doing it perfectly. Moreover, I hate cheating and don’t like some students who say that cheating is cooperation; this is not true and they just want to have an excuse to what they are doing. In addition, I don’t like lying to people or people lie to me .Lying is a bad habit that everybody should be a way from. I also like cats and feel they are really cute. I wish I could someday have one in the future.
The other important thing in my life is my country. I love my country very much and I considerate as my son that is really dear to my heart. I have been away from Iraq for more than 6 years. I wish I could visit my country soon because really I miss everything there I had a great time in Iraq although since I was born I witnessed four wars and one economic sanction. I had beautiful moments on the beach and having fun with my family and friends. Also, I love my country because you feel that everyone can understand you and feel that you are in your home not a stranger.
I would like to visit many places in the world although I hate planes but I would like to visit France, Tunisia, Italy, Spain and many other countries. One day I wished that I can see Egypt and my wish came true.
Finally, I wish I can be an important person in the future and doing well in my future career. I also wish my country will be safe soon and I’ll be able to visit and live in again. I wish all people I love to feel and live a good and steady life.
Who am I is an important question that we should all think about. I will try to answer this question frankly and honestly to help myself to be a better person and know other people too. My name is Rua Ghanim Alsheikh. I am Iraqi and I was born in Iraq from Iraqi father and mother. I am the youngest in my family. I have two lovely sisters and two lovely brothers. I have a great mother and a great father that I am proud to be their daughter. My father is a doctor and my mother is a history expert.My two brothers are doctors and my sister as well while I and my other sister went in different direction that she decided to go to computer science and I would like to study Mass communication and Sociology because we don’t like medicine as my older sister and two brothers. I am interested in those two subjects as since I was a kid, I used to write stories and write about social issue. In addition, I would love to defend women’s rights because women suffer a lot from patriarchy societies. Qasim Amin has influenced me a lot about women’s rights. If Qasim Amin succeeded in librating women in the 1880s, nowadays 2010, we still in my opinion need another Qasim Amin to liberate women in some societies.
Back to personal life, I was brought up in a democratic, free and comfortable environment that affects my personality positively. My family is everything to me. I love my family very much and cannot resist anything which may harm them. I like my friends which I made in Iraq and Egypt. About my hobbies, I like listening to music, especially Arab songs. When I was little, I used to draw and design dresses for girls but I stopped drawing now because of lack of time and studying. I write some poetry in Arabic and I published some of them in a site in the internet of my favorite singer.
About my personality, My biggest fear in life is to lose people I love. This is really difficult to me and also I hate failing in everything and when I want to do anything, I love doing it perfectly. Moreover, I hate cheating and don’t like some students who say that cheating is cooperation; this is not true and they just want to have an excuse to what they are doing. In addition, I don’t like lying to people or people lie to me .Lying is a bad habit that everybody should be a way from. I also like cats and feel they are really cute. I wish I could someday have one in the future.
The other important thing in my life is my country. I love my country very much and I considerate as my son that is really dear to my heart. I have been away from Iraq for more than 6 years. I wish I could visit my country soon because really I miss everything there I had a great time in Iraq although since I was born I witnessed four wars and one economic sanction. I had beautiful moments on the beach and having fun with my family and friends. Also, I love my country because you feel that everyone can understand you and feel that you are in your home not a stranger.
I would like to visit many places in the world although I hate planes but I would like to visit France, Tunisia, Italy, Spain and many other countries. One day I wished that I can see Egypt and my wish came true.
Finally, I wish I can be an important person in the future and doing well in my future career. I also wish my country will be safe soon and I’ll be able to visit and live in again. I wish all people I love to feel and live a good and steady life.
Five social probelms in the Middle East
Five social problems in the Middle East
Dec.2008
In this paper, I am going to discuss five social problems that exist in the Middle East. As I am studying in the American University in Cairo, in this research paper, I am going to focus on the problems exist in Egypt. Every society has its own social problems. Everyone in any society should pay attention to social problems because they have direct effects on people. One problem can cause another social problem because society is connected and one component affects the other component. A definition of every social problem should be mentioned. Another important point that should be discussed is reasons and consequences of every social problem. In addition, sociological theories should be mentioned as to view the scientific explanation for every social problem. Finally, solutions for every social problem should be mentioned to stabilize any society.
Five social problems that would be discussed in this paper are high rate of crimes in the Egyptian society, housing problem, unemployment in Egypt, public transportation and smoking. Those are the five social problems that would be discussed in this paper. Reasons, consequences, statistics, real examples and solutions for every problem would be mentioned. In addition, sociological theories of every social problem would be discussed to explain every problem theoretically. By pointing the problem out and discussing it theoretically, we can propose possible solutions for the problem if possible.
The first social problem that would be discussed is the high rate of crimes in the Egyptian society. First of all the definition of crime should be mentioned. Crime is the violation of the laws of the state and the state can apply sanction for this violation (‘Mooney, Knox and Schacht’). The Egyptian society nowadays is experiencing a high rate of crimes of its different types; Street, family and group crimes are very common in the Egyptian society these days.
Examples of crimes in the Egyptian society are several especially in recent years. For example, at the end of 2008, the rate of crimes has raised to the extent of reading two or more details of crimes in the media especially newspapers and TV.
The first example of crime is the child, Islam Amr Badr eleven years old, who was killed by his teacher in Alexandria. Haitham Nabil is a Mathematics teacher in Islam’s school twenty three years old, who kicked Islam to death because he did not finish part of the homework (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). Islam was sent to the hospital because he fainted after he was hit then he died after hours because of heart failure (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). The police caught the teacher to ask and start investigation about the murdering of eleven years old child. The teacher defended himself by saying he did not mean to kill the child but just to punish him for not doing the homework. This accident raises the issue of hitting children in Egyptian schools. Any type of hitting in the Egyptian schools is illegal according to the Egyptian laws. However, many are violating the rules and hit children in schools. Pupils in Egyptian public schools are suffering from hitting and no one punishes the teachers. The case of the pupil, Islam, has taken the huge coverage from the Media and government because the pupil was killed from hitting. Previous cases of hitting pupils did not take this care and coverage as children whether afraid of reporting as they will be fired from school or the pupils are just hit without being killed. This phenomenon is very common nowadays as it is not about hitting children but killing them as well. “I did not expect that when I sent my child to school would return home as a dead body”, the father of Islam said (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). This shows that parents nowadays are afraid of sending their children to school because they might be killed as the case of Islam. This accident raises another important point which is the change of schools image in parents and children mind from a place to receive education to a death place. Schools have become the place where hitting, killing and bad things are common. Schools are not for educating and teaching students how to behave properly and a safe place to send children to anymore. The image of schools has changed to a scary image. For example, also in Alexandria a student who is 16 years old was injured in his neck and brain when he tried to jump from the second floor to run and escape from school (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). This indicates how children hate school and scared from teachers and everything related to school. Furthermore, the image of teachers has been changed and they are viewed as criminals even if the teacher who killed Islam is innocent. As the teacher who is accused of killing Islam was sent to jail until the court decide what punishment he deserves. Islam’s parents and everyone are waiting for the court judgment until now. In my opinion, this teacher even if he did not mean to kill the child, he should be punished because he violated the laws by kicking this child to death. Also, he should be punished so other teachers would not think of hitting children and to learn a lesson of what happened to Islam.
The second example of crime is the act of murdering of two girls in the 6th of October city. Heba AlAkkad and Nadine were the victims of this awful crime. Heba AlAkkad is the daughter of the famous Moroccan singer, Laila Ghufran. The police immediately have started an investigation to find the murderer. After few days of investigating, the police caught Mahmud Sayed 20 years old who is suspected to be the murderer of the two girls. After checking the available evidence, the suspect admitted that he committed the murdering of the two girls (‘Ahmed’). Until these days, the parents of two victims suspect that this boy, Mahmud, did it as he looks weak. Victim’s parents especially Heba’s parents think that there is another one who did it or may be someone paid for Mahmud to commit murdering of Heba and Nadine. (‘Ahmed’). The reason that was raised behind killing the two girls is to steal money as the murderer needs money. However, the killer did not steal anything except the mobile and some cash which might raise suspect that the murderer wanted to kill not to steal (‘Ahmed’). This crime shows how some people might feel they are unsafe in their own home. Some residents of some gated communities such as the 6th of October especially Sheikh Zayed city feel they are unsafe although security is supposed to be strict in these small cities. Also, this crime raises another point which is the carelessness of people as no one helped the two girls and listened to their screams. The carelessness of the Egyptians nowadays is really a big problem that should be discussed to find solutions for this phenomenon.
The third crime is the murdering of the Lebanese singer, Suzan Tameem in August 2008. The two suspects of killing her are the famous businessman and a member in the Egyptian Perelman, Hesham Talaat, and Mohsen AlSukkari. This case has taken big coverage from the media because Hesham Talaat is a public figure that people would like to follow up the investigation and the trial (‘Abo Alez’). The investigation has shown that Hesham Talaat asked AlSukari to kill Suzan Tameem for 1 million dollars (‘Abo Alez’). Also, some rumors have declared that Hesham talaat is the husaband of Suzan Tameem and asked AlSukkari to kill her for personal purposes. The trail is keep going and no clear punishment has been declared yet as the police is still asking the suspects and investigating. This crime shows how famous businessmen and public figures can be involved in such crimes for personal reasons. In addition, the image of public figures would be changed. Furthermore, this crime might indicate the rate of corruption in the Egyptian government.
The reasons behind the rate of crimes in the Egyptian society are several. One of the reasons is the media and the violence in movies, series, internet and video games. According to an interview with Dr. Azza Kareem a sociologist on Nile TV for news on the 5th of December 2008, violence scenes in the Egyptian movies or series would raise the aggression, especially within the youth. As a result, those young people would try to be like what they see on TV and be criminals or aggressive. Also, at the same program, Sahar Abd Alrahman, a journalist, mentioned carelessness of people is increased nowadays as there are no strict laws to protect people’s lives. Crimes and violence have become normal in the Egyptian society, Mrs. Abd Alrahman added.
Sociological theories explain crimes in a theoretical and scientific way. According to the structural functionalist theory, crime is functional for society as people would learn that everybody would violate laws would be punished and this strengthens the solidarity of society. Also, crime can lead to a social change. Robert Merton developed strain theory. This theory explains the reasons of committing crimes as there is inconsistency between the legal goals (for example money) and the legitimate means to reach these goals (getting a job). There are five different concepts of strain theory that explains people behavior and why there are some people who violate laws and commit crimes. Conformity is the first concept when people accept the legitimate goals and means while Innovation is the second concept when people accept the legitimate goals but refuse the legitimate means to achieve goals. Ritualism is the third concept and occurs when people accept specific lifestyle but reject the cultural goal. Retreatism is the fourth concept and happens when people reject both the legitimate means and goals. Rebellion is the final concept when people reject both legitimate goals and means and create new goals and means (‘Mooney, Knox and Schacht’).
The third example of crime mentioned above of the man who killed two girls to steal shows that this person takes the innovation concept to reach the goal of getting money but with illegal means which is killing.
Also, conflict theory explains that the gap between low and high class is widening which can result in committing crimes. The third example of committing a crime of killing two girls from high class demonstrates that the conflict theory is right.
One of the solutions to address the issue of high rate of crimes is to raise the awareness of people about violence. Also, families should educate their children how to respect the others and avoid watching violent movies. In addition, government should put strict laws so people would be afraid to violate laws fearing of rigid punishment.
The second social problem that would be discussed is housing problem in Egypt. Egypt has experienced housing problem since the 1950s as the population growth has rapidly increased (‘Feiler’). Evidence shows that growth in Egypt doubled in the period of 1897 to1947 and again doubled in 1947 to 1976 (‘Feiler’). Overpopulation has led to housing problem as many people are concentrated in Cairo especially in the Nile and Delta area (‘Feiler’). The total land area is roughly one million square kms. However, only 38,500 km2 invested in the area along the Nile River and its Delta (‘Feiler’). The pressure on Cairo and other urban areas has led to housing problem (‘Stewart’). Emigration from rural areas to urban areas seeking better jobs opportunities and better lifestyles is another reason of overpopulation and pressure on Cairo (‘Stewart’). Egypt population is almost 80 millions nowadays and can be increased (‘Stewart’). Almost one million live in informal housing such as slums (‘Stewart’). Slums are random housing that people randomly live in. These slums do not receive the essential services such as sewage, electricity and water services (‘Stewart’). Also one of the results of housing problem in Cairo is that nearly one million live in rooftops of buildings (‘Stewart’). Moreover, evidence shows that almost one million live in graveyards where dead people are buried and sometimes it is called “city of deads” (‘Stewart’). All these informal housings do not offer proper services because the government does not authorize people to live in but some people can not offer living in other proper places. Consequently, people have to find alternatives to live in as the government is not able to offer proper housing for them (‘Stewart’). Another consequence of housing problem is that those informal and random places might be the source of producing criminals and drug users (‘Stewart’). Final consequence is that lack of housing can delay the youth getting married. As a result, phenomenon such as sexual harassment would be increased in such communities.
The government is trying to solve housing problem by constructing new cities which are located in the desert. Examples of new cities are as 6th of October, Alobor, Sadat city and 10th of Ramadan city. The main goal of building those cities is to attract businessmen to invest in these areas especially the desert. Also, another goal is to attract people to live in those areas as a solution for housing problem and to reduce housing pressure on Cairo (‘Stewart’). Although these cities have attracted some people to live and invest, high class and businessmen tend to go and live in those new cities; the reason for that is the high cost for middle and low class to go and live in those city. Another reason is that most these cities are owned by private companies not the government. As a result, the costs would be high for low class to buy in those cities (‘Stewart’).
The sociological theories such as conflict theory explain some of the reasons for housing problem. Conflict theorists concentrate how the competition for wealth, power and prestige can create a gap between different classes. As we can see that the government does not control the housing business but private companies do. This can lead to low class can not offer buying or investing in new cities. Consequently, people would live in informal housing such as slums. During the regime of president Naser, he adopted what is called “Arab Socialism” which favored lowered income people and redirecting some resources from the higher income groups to lower groups (‘Stewart’). This resulted in a reducing the gap between classes. However, president Saddat regime in 1970s promoted the private sector and high class (‘Stewart’). All these examples support what conflict theory has explained about different classes and competition for prestige and wealth (‘Mooney, Knox and Schacht’).
A solution that might be applied to address housing problem is that government should care more about offering proper housing to people seeking housing. Also, government should control housing business by reducing costs of new cities and help the youth finding houses to live in. Wages people from low classes and middle class get should be raised. Moreover, a temporary solution is to provide people who live in slums and informal housing essential services of sewage, electricity and water.
The third social problem is unemployment in Egypt. Unemployment is a sever problem that Egypt has experienced since the 1970s (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). Egypt is not the only country which has experienced unemployment but most MENA, the Middle East and North Africa, have experienced this problem. 12.2 percent of unemployed people are from MENA countries (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). Most of those unemployed people are young people (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). According to the World Employment Report 2004-2005, job opportunities are not enough for seekers jobs in the Middle East and North Africa (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). This shows that the reason for unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa is the lack of job opportunities. What also causes unemployment is the high growth rate especially in Egypt and also rapid demand on labor force (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). Women participate more nowadays on labor force than before which causes pressure on labor force. Unemployment is more common among women as they are not that favored. Also, the rate of unemployment these days in Egypt is higher among people with high level of education than lower education (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). 55 percent of unemployed people in Egypt are the ones with intermediate education (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). This shows that education is not a key anymore for guaranteed job after graduation. Many graduated people from engineering and medical schools can not find jobs after graduation (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). The Egyptian government has tried to solve unemployment problem by promoting family planning and offering job opportunities (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’).
Sociological theories have explained reasons and facts about unemployment problem. The structural functionalists explain how work is essential of everyone in society. Work is important because it provides people with essential needs. Consequently, when people can not find jobs to provide these basic needs, people would be affected badly. Plus, without meeting the basic needs for individuals, people can not move to another step which seeking wealth and other secondary needs.
There might be solutions for unemployment problem and can reach them step by step. The first step should be taken is to control population by imposing strict population policy to control population. By reducing population, main reason causing unemployment would be addressed and solved. Offering job opportunities should be offered to young people. Also, the government should pay more attention to educated people and also the quality of education people get. . Egypt should also attract its people to invest their skills in Egypt not migrating. However, with offering good job opportunities, people would not think of migration to other countries such as Gulf areas or the West. To conclude, solving unemployment is like a cycle that we should start from one side and move to the other one.
The fourth social problem is public transportation services in Egypt. Public transportation of taxis, buses, and trains is problematic in the Egyptian street. The quality of these transportations is not good as to compare to other developed countries. Bad public transportation can have consequences such as the high rate of accidents in private cars and public transportation as well. First of all, the Egyptian traffic has always labeled as “chaotic” (‘Gregory’). The traffic behavior reflects the social interaction between people (‘Gregory’). Egyptian people just get used to the chaos in the street and have become part of their culture (‘Gregory’). One reason for this chaos in the Egyptian street is overpopulation (‘Gregory’). Overpopulation has caused many problems in the Egyptian society and chaos in the Egyptian traffic; public transportation is one of these consequences.
To understand the problem of public transportation problem, consequences of bad public transportation should be addressed. The first example is when five people were killed in the high way of Kafr Alsheikh city (‘Abdullah’). The reason of this accident was the unlimited speed that drivers drive. This unlimited speed has caused death of many people in the Eid holiday. Actually four accidents happened at the same days. One accident was the accident of a bus for tourists as a result of the rain; one girl was killed in this accident and 8 were injured (‘Abdullah’) .This accident can affect the tourism business in Egypt. Egypt’s income depends on tourism. As a result, such accidents can reduce the rate of tourists who visit Egypt. Consequently, the economy of Egypt can be affected negatively as well. The second accident was the accident of the crash of two cars and one person was killed and 6 people were injured (‘Abdullah’). The third accident is the crash of one car and motorcycle and one person was killed. The final accident was when one taxi driver hit one child when she was trying to cross the street to celebrate the Eid (‘Abdullah’). Another accident was the death of 14 people as a bus crashed in its way from Al Menia to Alexandria (‘AlHussieny’).
All these accidents show the high rate of carelessness of people. Also, this shows how the Egyptian street is not safe and chaotic. In addition, some of these accidents demonstrate that the quality of public transportation is not efficient so people would use it easily. As a result, people have to use their private transportation such as cars to reach their university or to do shopping.
The government has tried to solve this problem by providing new taxis which is called “City Cab”. City Cab is very good service and there is specific fees to pay for any journey unlike the normal taxis. In the beginning of hosting this service, the service was very good and efficient. However, the quality of City Cab service has become bad recently and turns to be as bad as the normal taxis. The problem is there are no strict laws that punish everyone who violate traffic laws.
The sociological theories explain some of the reasons for traffic and transportation problem. Symbolic internationalist perspective focuses on how meanings and labels can control people’s interaction and personalities. The case of the Egyptian street supports this theory. People in Egypt are labeled as chaotic; as a result, people would follow what’s norm in the street. For example, if you have driving rules in your mind, you can not follow the rules because you might be hurt. This is the case of Egypt because it is chaotic and you should be like others.
Solutions for this transportation problem are several; one of these solutions is imposing strict laws in the Egyptian laws which can protect people’s right of driving safely. Also, anyone who violates these laws should be punished or pay fines for this violation. As a result, people would follow the rules and then people feel safe walking and driving in the Egyptian street. Moreover, public transportation services of taxis, buses and trains should be improved. Consequently people would use these services. This also can reduce pollution which is another big problem Egypt has experienced since years. To conclude, laws should be imposed so people would feel safe that there is laws in the country could protect them. It is the responsibility of the Egyptian government to improve the public transportation. On the other hand, if the government is unable of improve public services, the government can hand this mission to private companies hoping to improve these services. In addition, another solution is to reduce the exportation of cars and limit people to have specific cars.
The final social problem is smoking. Smoking rate is very high in the Middle East. Young people are the most common groups who smoke. Smoking is supposed to be a freedom of expression. However, smoking not only harms the person who smokes but harms other people that surrounded this smoker as well; this is called negative smoking. For example, I do not smoke but some people in the university, street and public places smoke. This can affect my health and also can violate my freedom as I do not want to smoke but others smoke in public spaces. As a result, some developed countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom forbidden smoking in public and close places (‘Day’). Anyone who smokes in public places such as buses, trains and buildings would have to pay fines for that. For example, in the United Kingdom, anyone who smokes in trains would pay one thousand pound (‘Day’). This shows that there is strict laws that punish everyone violates the rules. People would not follow the rules unless there are rigid and strict laws. These sever laws protect the smoker and non smoker rights (‘Day’). The problem in the Arab countries is that there are no strict laws that forbidden smoking anywhere. Some places ban smoking but not all people follow this ban as there are no fines for violating laws (‘Day’). As we all know smoking has harmful effects on people’s health whether smokers or non smokers (‘Key’). Children are the ones who are most affected by smoking habit especially if the mother is a smoker (‘Key’). Smoking of the mother during pregnancy period can affect the mother’s health and later the baby’s health (‘Key’). Smoking can lead to sever health problems such as lungs cancer, heart disease and other diseases (‘Key’). Smoking not only cause health problem but can also worsen other diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure (‘Key’). In Egypt, most males smoke and unfortunately start smoking from a very young age. Most taxi drivers are smokers and this is against the human rights as non smokers should enjoy not smoking everywhere.
Sociological theories addresses smoking problem. Symbolic internationalists concentrate on how labels and meaning can enforce people to act in a specific way. For example, there is an important question that should be asked and it is why do young people tend to smoke? According to the symbolic internationalist perspective, smokers are labeled to be strong and tough men. As a result, young people who would like to prove they are strong and prove to adults they are important try to smoke to be labeled as strong. Furthermore, young people are affected easily by their peers in schools and university and they would not like to be different from their peers. As a result, they choose to smoke to be like their peers. Also sometimes teenagers would like to try everything new so they would try smoking and later could not give up. Sometimes children can be affected by their family if one of the adults in family smoke, they would like to do as adults do.
Many solutions can be mentioned to solve smoking problem. Solutions can be the responsibility of the government, family and media. The first solution is on the hand of the Egyptian and government. First the government in Egypt should impose strict laws that ban smoking in public places as many countries are trying to limit smoking to specific places. For example, taxi drivers should not smoke during their shift and if the police catch any taxi drivers who smoke fine should be paid. Those laws need control and follow up from the government not just imposing laws without any control; if so people would follow the laws for specific time then will violate those laws later. The second solution is on the hand of family. Family should watch their children and prevent them from smoking because it is harmful for their health. Children are not responsible for their behavior so parents should watch and teach them what’s wrong and right. Media has the third role in solving smoking problem. Advertising of smoking on TV should be banned even if there is a warning of the bad effects of smoking. Also, campaigns on TV should be held to teach people that smoking is not a good habit. Moreover, some movies especially in the Arab world include smoking scenes that can promote audiences to smoke. As a result, these scenes should be reduced on TV series and movies.
Works Cited
Abdullah, Alaa. "5 people killed and 14 injured in a traffic accident in Kafr Alsheikh." AlAhram newspaper 10 Dec 2008: 19.
Abo Alez, Khalid. "First trial of Hesham Talaat and AlSukari." AlAhram newspaper 16 Nov 2008: 32
Abo Shal, Nabeel , and Nasir AlSharkawy. "A teaher killed a pupil in Alexandria because of homework." AlMasry Alyoum 28 Oct 2008: 1
Ahmed, Mussa ,"3 evidence prove who the killer is." AlAhram newspaper 6 Dec 2008: 7.
AlHussieny , Hajaj. "funeral of victims of the bus accident in al Menia." AlAhram newspaper 10 Dec 2008: 19.
Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin, and Ismihan N. Kilicarslan. "An Analysis of the Unemployment in Selected Mena Countries and Turkey." Journal of Third World Studies 25.2 (2008): 189-205..
Day, Business. "South Africa; Smokers would Pay to Puff on Planes." Africa News January 3 2008.
Feiler, Gil. "Housing Policy in Egypt." Middle Eastern Studies 28.2 (1992): 295-312..
Gregory, Stanford W.,Jr. "Auto Traffic in Egypt as a Verdant Grammar." Social psychology quarterly 48.4 (1985): 337-48..
Key, Alexandra P. F., et al. "Smoking during Pregnancy Affects Speech-Processing Ability in Newborn Infants." Environmental health perspectives 115.4 (2007): 623-9..
Mooney, Linda, and David Knox, Caroline Schacht. “Understanding Social Problems”. 6th Edition. East Carolina University, 2007.
Shoman, Mohammed. "killing of Laila Ghofran's daughter and her Egyptian friend." AlAhram newspaper 29 Nov 2008: 7.
Stewart, Dona J. "Cities in the Desert: The Egyptian New-Town Program." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 86.3 (1996): 459-80..
Dec.2008
In this paper, I am going to discuss five social problems that exist in the Middle East. As I am studying in the American University in Cairo, in this research paper, I am going to focus on the problems exist in Egypt. Every society has its own social problems. Everyone in any society should pay attention to social problems because they have direct effects on people. One problem can cause another social problem because society is connected and one component affects the other component. A definition of every social problem should be mentioned. Another important point that should be discussed is reasons and consequences of every social problem. In addition, sociological theories should be mentioned as to view the scientific explanation for every social problem. Finally, solutions for every social problem should be mentioned to stabilize any society.
Five social problems that would be discussed in this paper are high rate of crimes in the Egyptian society, housing problem, unemployment in Egypt, public transportation and smoking. Those are the five social problems that would be discussed in this paper. Reasons, consequences, statistics, real examples and solutions for every problem would be mentioned. In addition, sociological theories of every social problem would be discussed to explain every problem theoretically. By pointing the problem out and discussing it theoretically, we can propose possible solutions for the problem if possible.
The first social problem that would be discussed is the high rate of crimes in the Egyptian society. First of all the definition of crime should be mentioned. Crime is the violation of the laws of the state and the state can apply sanction for this violation (‘Mooney, Knox and Schacht’). The Egyptian society nowadays is experiencing a high rate of crimes of its different types; Street, family and group crimes are very common in the Egyptian society these days.
Examples of crimes in the Egyptian society are several especially in recent years. For example, at the end of 2008, the rate of crimes has raised to the extent of reading two or more details of crimes in the media especially newspapers and TV.
The first example of crime is the child, Islam Amr Badr eleven years old, who was killed by his teacher in Alexandria. Haitham Nabil is a Mathematics teacher in Islam’s school twenty three years old, who kicked Islam to death because he did not finish part of the homework (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). Islam was sent to the hospital because he fainted after he was hit then he died after hours because of heart failure (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). The police caught the teacher to ask and start investigation about the murdering of eleven years old child. The teacher defended himself by saying he did not mean to kill the child but just to punish him for not doing the homework. This accident raises the issue of hitting children in Egyptian schools. Any type of hitting in the Egyptian schools is illegal according to the Egyptian laws. However, many are violating the rules and hit children in schools. Pupils in Egyptian public schools are suffering from hitting and no one punishes the teachers. The case of the pupil, Islam, has taken the huge coverage from the Media and government because the pupil was killed from hitting. Previous cases of hitting pupils did not take this care and coverage as children whether afraid of reporting as they will be fired from school or the pupils are just hit without being killed. This phenomenon is very common nowadays as it is not about hitting children but killing them as well. “I did not expect that when I sent my child to school would return home as a dead body”, the father of Islam said (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). This shows that parents nowadays are afraid of sending their children to school because they might be killed as the case of Islam. This accident raises another important point which is the change of schools image in parents and children mind from a place to receive education to a death place. Schools have become the place where hitting, killing and bad things are common. Schools are not for educating and teaching students how to behave properly and a safe place to send children to anymore. The image of schools has changed to a scary image. For example, also in Alexandria a student who is 16 years old was injured in his neck and brain when he tried to jump from the second floor to run and escape from school (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). This indicates how children hate school and scared from teachers and everything related to school. Furthermore, the image of teachers has been changed and they are viewed as criminals even if the teacher who killed Islam is innocent. As the teacher who is accused of killing Islam was sent to jail until the court decide what punishment he deserves. Islam’s parents and everyone are waiting for the court judgment until now. In my opinion, this teacher even if he did not mean to kill the child, he should be punished because he violated the laws by kicking this child to death. Also, he should be punished so other teachers would not think of hitting children and to learn a lesson of what happened to Islam.
The second example of crime is the act of murdering of two girls in the 6th of October city. Heba AlAkkad and Nadine were the victims of this awful crime. Heba AlAkkad is the daughter of the famous Moroccan singer, Laila Ghufran. The police immediately have started an investigation to find the murderer. After few days of investigating, the police caught Mahmud Sayed 20 years old who is suspected to be the murderer of the two girls. After checking the available evidence, the suspect admitted that he committed the murdering of the two girls (‘Ahmed’). Until these days, the parents of two victims suspect that this boy, Mahmud, did it as he looks weak. Victim’s parents especially Heba’s parents think that there is another one who did it or may be someone paid for Mahmud to commit murdering of Heba and Nadine. (‘Ahmed’). The reason that was raised behind killing the two girls is to steal money as the murderer needs money. However, the killer did not steal anything except the mobile and some cash which might raise suspect that the murderer wanted to kill not to steal (‘Ahmed’). This crime shows how some people might feel they are unsafe in their own home. Some residents of some gated communities such as the 6th of October especially Sheikh Zayed city feel they are unsafe although security is supposed to be strict in these small cities. Also, this crime raises another point which is the carelessness of people as no one helped the two girls and listened to their screams. The carelessness of the Egyptians nowadays is really a big problem that should be discussed to find solutions for this phenomenon.
The third crime is the murdering of the Lebanese singer, Suzan Tameem in August 2008. The two suspects of killing her are the famous businessman and a member in the Egyptian Perelman, Hesham Talaat, and Mohsen AlSukkari. This case has taken big coverage from the media because Hesham Talaat is a public figure that people would like to follow up the investigation and the trial (‘Abo Alez’). The investigation has shown that Hesham Talaat asked AlSukari to kill Suzan Tameem for 1 million dollars (‘Abo Alez’). Also, some rumors have declared that Hesham talaat is the husaband of Suzan Tameem and asked AlSukkari to kill her for personal purposes. The trail is keep going and no clear punishment has been declared yet as the police is still asking the suspects and investigating. This crime shows how famous businessmen and public figures can be involved in such crimes for personal reasons. In addition, the image of public figures would be changed. Furthermore, this crime might indicate the rate of corruption in the Egyptian government.
The reasons behind the rate of crimes in the Egyptian society are several. One of the reasons is the media and the violence in movies, series, internet and video games. According to an interview with Dr. Azza Kareem a sociologist on Nile TV for news on the 5th of December 2008, violence scenes in the Egyptian movies or series would raise the aggression, especially within the youth. As a result, those young people would try to be like what they see on TV and be criminals or aggressive. Also, at the same program, Sahar Abd Alrahman, a journalist, mentioned carelessness of people is increased nowadays as there are no strict laws to protect people’s lives. Crimes and violence have become normal in the Egyptian society, Mrs. Abd Alrahman added.
Sociological theories explain crimes in a theoretical and scientific way. According to the structural functionalist theory, crime is functional for society as people would learn that everybody would violate laws would be punished and this strengthens the solidarity of society. Also, crime can lead to a social change. Robert Merton developed strain theory. This theory explains the reasons of committing crimes as there is inconsistency between the legal goals (for example money) and the legitimate means to reach these goals (getting a job). There are five different concepts of strain theory that explains people behavior and why there are some people who violate laws and commit crimes. Conformity is the first concept when people accept the legitimate goals and means while Innovation is the second concept when people accept the legitimate goals but refuse the legitimate means to achieve goals. Ritualism is the third concept and occurs when people accept specific lifestyle but reject the cultural goal. Retreatism is the fourth concept and happens when people reject both the legitimate means and goals. Rebellion is the final concept when people reject both legitimate goals and means and create new goals and means (‘Mooney, Knox and Schacht’).
The third example of crime mentioned above of the man who killed two girls to steal shows that this person takes the innovation concept to reach the goal of getting money but with illegal means which is killing.
Also, conflict theory explains that the gap between low and high class is widening which can result in committing crimes. The third example of committing a crime of killing two girls from high class demonstrates that the conflict theory is right.
One of the solutions to address the issue of high rate of crimes is to raise the awareness of people about violence. Also, families should educate their children how to respect the others and avoid watching violent movies. In addition, government should put strict laws so people would be afraid to violate laws fearing of rigid punishment.
The second social problem that would be discussed is housing problem in Egypt. Egypt has experienced housing problem since the 1950s as the population growth has rapidly increased (‘Feiler’). Evidence shows that growth in Egypt doubled in the period of 1897 to1947 and again doubled in 1947 to 1976 (‘Feiler’). Overpopulation has led to housing problem as many people are concentrated in Cairo especially in the Nile and Delta area (‘Feiler’). The total land area is roughly one million square kms. However, only 38,500 km2 invested in the area along the Nile River and its Delta (‘Feiler’). The pressure on Cairo and other urban areas has led to housing problem (‘Stewart’). Emigration from rural areas to urban areas seeking better jobs opportunities and better lifestyles is another reason of overpopulation and pressure on Cairo (‘Stewart’). Egypt population is almost 80 millions nowadays and can be increased (‘Stewart’). Almost one million live in informal housing such as slums (‘Stewart’). Slums are random housing that people randomly live in. These slums do not receive the essential services such as sewage, electricity and water services (‘Stewart’). Also one of the results of housing problem in Cairo is that nearly one million live in rooftops of buildings (‘Stewart’). Moreover, evidence shows that almost one million live in graveyards where dead people are buried and sometimes it is called “city of deads” (‘Stewart’). All these informal housings do not offer proper services because the government does not authorize people to live in but some people can not offer living in other proper places. Consequently, people have to find alternatives to live in as the government is not able to offer proper housing for them (‘Stewart’). Another consequence of housing problem is that those informal and random places might be the source of producing criminals and drug users (‘Stewart’). Final consequence is that lack of housing can delay the youth getting married. As a result, phenomenon such as sexual harassment would be increased in such communities.
The government is trying to solve housing problem by constructing new cities which are located in the desert. Examples of new cities are as 6th of October, Alobor, Sadat city and 10th of Ramadan city. The main goal of building those cities is to attract businessmen to invest in these areas especially the desert. Also, another goal is to attract people to live in those areas as a solution for housing problem and to reduce housing pressure on Cairo (‘Stewart’). Although these cities have attracted some people to live and invest, high class and businessmen tend to go and live in those new cities; the reason for that is the high cost for middle and low class to go and live in those city. Another reason is that most these cities are owned by private companies not the government. As a result, the costs would be high for low class to buy in those cities (‘Stewart’).
The sociological theories such as conflict theory explain some of the reasons for housing problem. Conflict theorists concentrate how the competition for wealth, power and prestige can create a gap between different classes. As we can see that the government does not control the housing business but private companies do. This can lead to low class can not offer buying or investing in new cities. Consequently, people would live in informal housing such as slums. During the regime of president Naser, he adopted what is called “Arab Socialism” which favored lowered income people and redirecting some resources from the higher income groups to lower groups (‘Stewart’). This resulted in a reducing the gap between classes. However, president Saddat regime in 1970s promoted the private sector and high class (‘Stewart’). All these examples support what conflict theory has explained about different classes and competition for prestige and wealth (‘Mooney, Knox and Schacht’).
A solution that might be applied to address housing problem is that government should care more about offering proper housing to people seeking housing. Also, government should control housing business by reducing costs of new cities and help the youth finding houses to live in. Wages people from low classes and middle class get should be raised. Moreover, a temporary solution is to provide people who live in slums and informal housing essential services of sewage, electricity and water.
The third social problem is unemployment in Egypt. Unemployment is a sever problem that Egypt has experienced since the 1970s (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). Egypt is not the only country which has experienced unemployment but most MENA, the Middle East and North Africa, have experienced this problem. 12.2 percent of unemployed people are from MENA countries (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). Most of those unemployed people are young people (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). According to the World Employment Report 2004-2005, job opportunities are not enough for seekers jobs in the Middle East and North Africa (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). This shows that the reason for unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa is the lack of job opportunities. What also causes unemployment is the high growth rate especially in Egypt and also rapid demand on labor force (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). Women participate more nowadays on labor force than before which causes pressure on labor force. Unemployment is more common among women as they are not that favored. Also, the rate of unemployment these days in Egypt is higher among people with high level of education than lower education (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). 55 percent of unemployed people in Egypt are the ones with intermediate education (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). This shows that education is not a key anymore for guaranteed job after graduation. Many graduated people from engineering and medical schools can not find jobs after graduation (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). The Egyptian government has tried to solve unemployment problem by promoting family planning and offering job opportunities (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’).
Sociological theories have explained reasons and facts about unemployment problem. The structural functionalists explain how work is essential of everyone in society. Work is important because it provides people with essential needs. Consequently, when people can not find jobs to provide these basic needs, people would be affected badly. Plus, without meeting the basic needs for individuals, people can not move to another step which seeking wealth and other secondary needs.
There might be solutions for unemployment problem and can reach them step by step. The first step should be taken is to control population by imposing strict population policy to control population. By reducing population, main reason causing unemployment would be addressed and solved. Offering job opportunities should be offered to young people. Also, the government should pay more attention to educated people and also the quality of education people get. . Egypt should also attract its people to invest their skills in Egypt not migrating. However, with offering good job opportunities, people would not think of migration to other countries such as Gulf areas or the West. To conclude, solving unemployment is like a cycle that we should start from one side and move to the other one.
The fourth social problem is public transportation services in Egypt. Public transportation of taxis, buses, and trains is problematic in the Egyptian street. The quality of these transportations is not good as to compare to other developed countries. Bad public transportation can have consequences such as the high rate of accidents in private cars and public transportation as well. First of all, the Egyptian traffic has always labeled as “chaotic” (‘Gregory’). The traffic behavior reflects the social interaction between people (‘Gregory’). Egyptian people just get used to the chaos in the street and have become part of their culture (‘Gregory’). One reason for this chaos in the Egyptian street is overpopulation (‘Gregory’). Overpopulation has caused many problems in the Egyptian society and chaos in the Egyptian traffic; public transportation is one of these consequences.
To understand the problem of public transportation problem, consequences of bad public transportation should be addressed. The first example is when five people were killed in the high way of Kafr Alsheikh city (‘Abdullah’). The reason of this accident was the unlimited speed that drivers drive. This unlimited speed has caused death of many people in the Eid holiday. Actually four accidents happened at the same days. One accident was the accident of a bus for tourists as a result of the rain; one girl was killed in this accident and 8 were injured (‘Abdullah’) .This accident can affect the tourism business in Egypt. Egypt’s income depends on tourism. As a result, such accidents can reduce the rate of tourists who visit Egypt. Consequently, the economy of Egypt can be affected negatively as well. The second accident was the accident of the crash of two cars and one person was killed and 6 people were injured (‘Abdullah’). The third accident is the crash of one car and motorcycle and one person was killed. The final accident was when one taxi driver hit one child when she was trying to cross the street to celebrate the Eid (‘Abdullah’). Another accident was the death of 14 people as a bus crashed in its way from Al Menia to Alexandria (‘AlHussieny’).
All these accidents show the high rate of carelessness of people. Also, this shows how the Egyptian street is not safe and chaotic. In addition, some of these accidents demonstrate that the quality of public transportation is not efficient so people would use it easily. As a result, people have to use their private transportation such as cars to reach their university or to do shopping.
The government has tried to solve this problem by providing new taxis which is called “City Cab”. City Cab is very good service and there is specific fees to pay for any journey unlike the normal taxis. In the beginning of hosting this service, the service was very good and efficient. However, the quality of City Cab service has become bad recently and turns to be as bad as the normal taxis. The problem is there are no strict laws that punish everyone who violate traffic laws.
The sociological theories explain some of the reasons for traffic and transportation problem. Symbolic internationalist perspective focuses on how meanings and labels can control people’s interaction and personalities. The case of the Egyptian street supports this theory. People in Egypt are labeled as chaotic; as a result, people would follow what’s norm in the street. For example, if you have driving rules in your mind, you can not follow the rules because you might be hurt. This is the case of Egypt because it is chaotic and you should be like others.
Solutions for this transportation problem are several; one of these solutions is imposing strict laws in the Egyptian laws which can protect people’s right of driving safely. Also, anyone who violates these laws should be punished or pay fines for this violation. As a result, people would follow the rules and then people feel safe walking and driving in the Egyptian street. Moreover, public transportation services of taxis, buses and trains should be improved. Consequently people would use these services. This also can reduce pollution which is another big problem Egypt has experienced since years. To conclude, laws should be imposed so people would feel safe that there is laws in the country could protect them. It is the responsibility of the Egyptian government to improve the public transportation. On the other hand, if the government is unable of improve public services, the government can hand this mission to private companies hoping to improve these services. In addition, another solution is to reduce the exportation of cars and limit people to have specific cars.
The final social problem is smoking. Smoking rate is very high in the Middle East. Young people are the most common groups who smoke. Smoking is supposed to be a freedom of expression. However, smoking not only harms the person who smokes but harms other people that surrounded this smoker as well; this is called negative smoking. For example, I do not smoke but some people in the university, street and public places smoke. This can affect my health and also can violate my freedom as I do not want to smoke but others smoke in public spaces. As a result, some developed countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom forbidden smoking in public and close places (‘Day’). Anyone who smokes in public places such as buses, trains and buildings would have to pay fines for that. For example, in the United Kingdom, anyone who smokes in trains would pay one thousand pound (‘Day’). This shows that there is strict laws that punish everyone violates the rules. People would not follow the rules unless there are rigid and strict laws. These sever laws protect the smoker and non smoker rights (‘Day’). The problem in the Arab countries is that there are no strict laws that forbidden smoking anywhere. Some places ban smoking but not all people follow this ban as there are no fines for violating laws (‘Day’). As we all know smoking has harmful effects on people’s health whether smokers or non smokers (‘Key’). Children are the ones who are most affected by smoking habit especially if the mother is a smoker (‘Key’). Smoking of the mother during pregnancy period can affect the mother’s health and later the baby’s health (‘Key’). Smoking can lead to sever health problems such as lungs cancer, heart disease and other diseases (‘Key’). Smoking not only cause health problem but can also worsen other diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure (‘Key’). In Egypt, most males smoke and unfortunately start smoking from a very young age. Most taxi drivers are smokers and this is against the human rights as non smokers should enjoy not smoking everywhere.
Sociological theories addresses smoking problem. Symbolic internationalists concentrate on how labels and meaning can enforce people to act in a specific way. For example, there is an important question that should be asked and it is why do young people tend to smoke? According to the symbolic internationalist perspective, smokers are labeled to be strong and tough men. As a result, young people who would like to prove they are strong and prove to adults they are important try to smoke to be labeled as strong. Furthermore, young people are affected easily by their peers in schools and university and they would not like to be different from their peers. As a result, they choose to smoke to be like their peers. Also sometimes teenagers would like to try everything new so they would try smoking and later could not give up. Sometimes children can be affected by their family if one of the adults in family smoke, they would like to do as adults do.
Many solutions can be mentioned to solve smoking problem. Solutions can be the responsibility of the government, family and media. The first solution is on the hand of the Egyptian and government. First the government in Egypt should impose strict laws that ban smoking in public places as many countries are trying to limit smoking to specific places. For example, taxi drivers should not smoke during their shift and if the police catch any taxi drivers who smoke fine should be paid. Those laws need control and follow up from the government not just imposing laws without any control; if so people would follow the laws for specific time then will violate those laws later. The second solution is on the hand of family. Family should watch their children and prevent them from smoking because it is harmful for their health. Children are not responsible for their behavior so parents should watch and teach them what’s wrong and right. Media has the third role in solving smoking problem. Advertising of smoking on TV should be banned even if there is a warning of the bad effects of smoking. Also, campaigns on TV should be held to teach people that smoking is not a good habit. Moreover, some movies especially in the Arab world include smoking scenes that can promote audiences to smoke. As a result, these scenes should be reduced on TV series and movies.
Works Cited
Abdullah, Alaa. "5 people killed and 14 injured in a traffic accident in Kafr Alsheikh." AlAhram newspaper 10 Dec 2008: 19.
Abo Alez, Khalid. "First trial of Hesham Talaat and AlSukari." AlAhram newspaper 16 Nov 2008: 32
Abo Shal, Nabeel , and Nasir AlSharkawy. "A teaher killed a pupil in Alexandria because of homework." AlMasry Alyoum 28 Oct 2008: 1
Ahmed, Mussa ,"3 evidence prove who the killer is." AlAhram newspaper 6 Dec 2008: 7.
AlHussieny , Hajaj. "funeral of victims of the bus accident in al Menia." AlAhram newspaper 10 Dec 2008: 19.
Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin, and Ismihan N. Kilicarslan. "An Analysis of the Unemployment in Selected Mena Countries and Turkey." Journal of Third World Studies 25.2 (2008): 189-205.
Day, Business. "South Africa; Smokers would Pay to Puff on Planes." Africa News January 3 2008.
Feiler, Gil. "Housing Policy in Egypt." Middle Eastern Studies 28.2 (1992): 295-312.
Gregory, Stanford W.,Jr. "Auto Traffic in Egypt as a Verdant Grammar." Social psychology quarterly 48.4 (1985): 337-48.
Key, Alexandra P. F., et al. "Smoking during Pregnancy Affects Speech-Processing Ability in Newborn Infants." Environmental health perspectives 115.4 (2007): 623-9.
Mooney, Linda, and David Knox, Caroline Schacht. “Understanding Social Problems”. 6th Edition. East Carolina University, 2007.
Shoman, Mohammed. "killing of Laila Ghofran's daughter and her Egyptian friend." AlAhram newspaper 29 Nov 2008: 7.
Stewart, Dona J. "Cities in the Desert: The Egyptian New-Town Program." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 86.3 (1996): 459-80.
China and one child policy
China experience of One-child policy
Fall 2008
The main topic of this research paper is the Chinese experience in controlling population growth. The issue of controlling birth growth is both crucial and controversial. Many countries, researchers and governments are in agreement with the policy while many others are against the idea itself for various reasons. There should be a background and a rationale for China making such decision to adapt the one- child policy. First of all, I will be trying to find out whether the policy has been effective or not. In fact, many factors that I am going to discuss in detail show that the one- child policy is successful in China. Nevertheless, I am going to find out whether there are some disadvantages, of any impact in adopting this policy beside the seemingly obvious advantage of control. Also, there must be consequences in applying this policy in China. As a result, more details about these consequences would be discussed. These include aspects such as cultural, social and economic effects. Meanwhile, another important point that should be taken in consideration is the possibility of applying this policy in other countries at risk of facing major overpopulation, such as Egypt.
The main issues related to China’s birth control policy that will be discussed in this paper include history of China population growth, reasons and rationale for adopting the policy, disadvantages of the one-child policy, advantages of the policy, and possibility of applying such policy in countries other than China.
To examine the one-child policy in China, some demographic factors about population history in China is needed to look at. First of all, since its establishment as the modern People’s Republic of China in 1949, has experienced a noticeable overpopulation. In forty six years after 1949, its population was almost doubled from only 542 million in 1949 to 1200 million in 1995 (‘Shen’). This indicates that China witnessed a high and rapid population growth since that early time. Rapid population growth in China caused two main problems. During the period between 1959 and 1961, food crisis and difficulties in raising the standard of living of Chinese population was a major challenge (‘Shen’). As a result, Chinese government started to think about adapting birth control policies that can lead slowing of such growth. Chinese government tried many alternative measures and policies. However, the most effective policy was found to be the one-child policy which called China to adopt (‘Shen’). One- child policy was the most successful way of controlling population growth. China has experienced low fertility rate in 1970s when the fertility rate changed from 5.75 to 2.0 in 1992. However, in the following years after 1992, China witnessed again a rapid population growth. To monitor China population, consequent census rounds were conducted in 1953, 1964, 1982 and 1990 (‘GoodKind’). Those censuses had various outputs about China population. For example, in 1982 census, China population was 1,025 million. This shows that China population was approximately quarter of the total global population (‘Hsu’). Such a proportion is really a huge one single gathering of people in one country. This also indicates the risk that China is experiencing which could affect not just China as a country but the whole world at large.
The Chinese government attempted to control birth since the 1950s and 1960s through various ways and approaches. One of these was based on organizing awareness campaigns to encourage communities and families to control birth. Well known campaigns such as “the Great Leap Forward” in 1950 and the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s were organized by the Chinese government to discuss birth control (‘Hsu’). However, these campaigns were not clearly successful in achieving the assigned goals. Nevertheless, those campaigns were the first step in comprehensively addressing the problem of such high growth rate in China. Also, campaigns encouraged the government and other organizations to look more deeply into the problem and think seriously in finding solutions to population growth in the country. Some goals of these campaigns were formulated in the form of achieving birth control and reduction of overall population. Birth control was one of the main goals among a list of goals which were formulated for a comprehensive national plan to develop China. The other main goal was to reduce population to 0.5 percent after it was 1.2 in 1978 and then after to reach zero percent in 2000 (‘Hsu’). Also, it was envisaged that population should not exceed 1.2 billion in 2000 (‘Hsu’). Therefore, in order to achieve all these goals, there was a need to have in operation a fierce and strict policy that regulates birth growth. At same time, one of the measures that was adopted to encourage people to control birth was promoting family planning. Accordingly, the challenge was in making women more exposed to education and be aware of using contraception, especially in rural areas (‘Hsu’).
Reasons of high growth in China are various. The population growth in China was unwelcome in the periods of 1950s and 1980s. In the past, there was a high increase of fertility rate like 1950s and 1960s. This resulted in a sudden increase in the proportion of females at reproductive age group. There was almost 13 million women who are in the age of getting married (‘Hsu’). As a result, more children were born without any controls
All these factors of fast growth in population in China encouraged the Chinese government to enforce an effective way of controlling this rapid growth of population. Chinese officials warned that the Chinese population would keep growing without taking an immediate action to limit this growth. As a result, the Chinese officials decided to adopt the one-child policy in China. As a result, the one -child policy was launched in 1978 in China. The policy simply dictates that each family should have no more than one child. The anticipated impact was based on the fact that even if they allow a couple to have two children, this would significantly increase population (‘Falk’). However, in some rural areas, there is an exception for women to have one or two children (‘Falk’). There are some especial conditions that allow such women in rural areas in China to have more than one child. The special condition that a woman can take a permission of having a second child is based on notion that if the first child is a girl (‘Falk’). This matter would raise another important point or problem that China has experienced which is sex preference (‘Shen’). China as most of other Asian Eastern communities prefers male to female children (‘Shen’). This is a big problem that China has been facing until present time.
Adopting the one-child policy has immensely benefited China population. The main advantage of the policy is the resulted reduction in China population. In the beginning of adopting one-child policy in China, population was reduced gradually. For example, fertility rate was 5.75 in 1970 and then fertility rate was reduced to 2.25 in 1990 according to the national census conducted in 1990 (‘Shen’). This shows that one-child policy has affected the fertility rate step by step. Another indicator that one-child policy is effective is the resulted reduction in the number of infants. For example, in the period from 1970 to 1995, one-child policy has reduced the number of infants to 200 million (‘Shen’). This is considered as a positive achievement of one-child policy. Also, this shows that the decision the Chinese government made was the right one. Another advantage of one-child policy is that the government decided to adopt it because it is also essential for maternal care (‘Short and Fengyu’). Maternal care that family planning encourage includes the improvement of women and children health and also prenatal care (‘Short and Fengyu’). Consequently, one-child policy is considered to be a successful strategy because it encourages and improves these necessary care measures for the benefit of children and women. At the same point, the Chinese government designed this policy to encourage women to use health care to protect their health. For example, spacing between one child and another is very important to women’s health. Accordingly, one child policy is vital for women to protect their health and live healthy lives with their families. Another advantage of one-child policy is reducing the average number of children that every Chinese woman can have. For example, in 1970 every woman used to have the right to have 6 children when this was reduced after adopting one-child policy to 3 children (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). Without adopting one-child policy, China would have certainly reached population of more than 1.3 billion (‘Shen’).
In addition to the social progress that one-child policy in China has successfully led to, it has also achieved economic progress in Chinese economy. Adopting population policies such as the one-child policy has made some progress in raising the standard of living in some rural areas (‘Falk’). One-child policy has improved the standard of people’s living in rural areas because children costs have been reduced as every family has just one child. In addition, some old villages are turned to be more vital again after long negligence; some of those villages became trade centers in China (‘Falk’). Traditional costume is very important for Chinese women as many of them wear the traditional Chinese costume “ Mao Jackets” which has been changed in the latest years so that women are wearing more modern costume than before. Obviously, this is an indication of an improvement of standard of living (‘Falk’). Also, quality of food services is getting better than what was offered before in China is apparent. This shows that one-child policy was effective in improving Chinese economy and people’s standard of living (‘Falk’). Also another improvement in China’s economy is seen in the way China is protecting its lands. China’s natural resources are enough for feeding China and also probably export food to other countries. These natural resources need to be protected. As a result, one-child policy and other governmental policies are trying to protect these lands and resources for China’s benefits (‘Falk’). The last economic advantage of one-child policy is improving the tourism in one way or another. Tourism is a very important source of foreign currency. Consequently, the government should care about the tourism to improve the country’s economy. One-child policy has contributed to raising the number of tourists who visit China. For example, in 1985 after just few years after adopting the new policy of one-child, almost 200,000 American tourists visited China (‘Falk’). To conclude, one-child policy has a great effect on the economy of China. With the progress in any country’s economy, standard of living of people would be improved as well.
Talking about the problems of one-child policy, sex preference of Chinese population as mentioned in the introduction can lead to many other problems related to the policy. Those problems which are associated with one-child policy in China include health problems, underreporting of children and environmental problems.
Chinese people, especially women, are experiencing health problems as a result of adapting one-child policy. There are three major health problems namely: abortion, delayed prenatal and maternal care and finally hiding pregnancies. Although one-child policy was designed for the benefit of Chinese population and China development, it has ultimately negative consequences on population as well.
The first health problem is abortion. Women’s health in general is affected more than men’s health especially in giving birth, abortion and postpartum. Abortion has been a problem in China since many years before adopting the one-child policy (‘Shen’). However, adapting one-child policy has increased the rate of abortion cases. The main reason that many Chinese women go for abortion is sex preference (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). In most patriarchal societies where male infants are more preferred than female infants, women tend to end their pregnancy if the baby is female. In those patriarchal societies, the need for boys is desperate to work in the field as most of these societies are agricultural in nature. As a result, families need more boys than girls to work in the land (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). When women are told that the new baby is going to be a girl, they decide to go for abortion to end this pregnancy. This is because they have just one chance to have one baby so they will choose to have a male baby rather than a female baby. Ate the same point, sex preference is common in rural areas as the illiteracy rate is higher than in urban areas (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). Uneducated parents are more likely to think to have abortion and preferring boys to girls than the educated parents. Accordingly, this phenomenon can be reduced by educating women because when women are educated, they will think first about the consequences of abortion on their health and accordingly avoid it (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). Not only women who should be educated but men should also be educated to realize that there is no difference between girls and boys and avoid sex preference. Also, economic improvements are needed to improve women’s and family status. As a result, Chinese population would be more aware of the abortion problem and find alternatives to solve the problem rather than through abortion. The other alternatives that can be used to organize family size include using contraception and induced abortion. Induced abortion is another way of ending pregnancy but safer and more organized than the abortion which is risky to women’s health (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). Hazards of abortion are various. A high rate of women’s and children mortality is one of the hazards of abortion and consequences of sex preference (‘Lofstedt and Annika’).technology has contributed in increasing the rate of abortion by using Ultrasound to know the sex of the baby during pregnancy; as a result, when the result of the ultra sound is a baby girl, women choose abortion to end this pregnancy (‘Lofstedt and Annika’).
The rate of abortion was high in the 1980s when first adopting the one-child policy. Penalties for anyone who violate the rules of the new policy were very strict. Those penalties are using IUD, a small object to be injected inside a woman body to prevent any new pregnancy, for women who have one child, abortion for unauthorized pregnancies and doing operation for any couples who have two or more children which make it impossible for them to have more children in the future (‘Birth Control-IUD’). However, in 1984 the second child was permitted especially in rural areas for families that have just girls as to reduce the sex preference and abortion in these areas (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). As a result, the abortion rate among women was reduced to 9 million while in 1995 it declined to 27 per 100 pregnancies; this was because laws have become less strict than before as mentioned above.
The second health problem that Chinese people face is delay prenatal and maternity care. Most mortality cases among women are caused by the bad prenatal and maternity care, especially in developing countries. Some of the complications women experience after giving birth are poor maternal health care, child mortality, low infants weight and poor pregnancy conditions (‘Short and Fengyu’) . These complications can be getting worse if women do not receive proper health care. Some Chinese do not seek maternal care because the Chinese government punishes women who have additional babies that exceed two children per family. The problem is that government sets policies to organize family size but at the same time discourage many women to receive maternity care and prenatal care. Not all women are convinced to plan their family size by restricting it to just one child. As a result, women avoid going to the hospital to receive health care (‘Short and Fengyu’). 345 million women are in the age of reproductive period; this means those women need to receive good health care to protect women and children’s health (‘Short and Fengyu’). Even some couples know they are violating the laws and would pay fines for that, they tend not to go to hospital to receive prenatal care; this is because they are afraid of being forced or encouraged officially to end the current pregnancy (‘Short and Fengyu’) . As a result, the solution women take is avoiding going to hospital to get the necessary prenatal care. Some families might not attempt to get maternity services not just because of punishment but also for financial reasons (‘Short and Fengyu’). The major issue that the Chinese government does is offering maternity services for just those women who follow the laws of having just one child (‘Short and Fengyu’). In one hand, ethically speaking, it is unacceptable not to offer this service to all pregnant women because it is the right of every pregnant woman to receive maternity service. On the other hand, the Chinese government should restrict the laws so everyone would follow the rules. Poor maternal and prenatal care women receive is considered another essential health problem associated with adapting one-child policy in China.
The third health problem is the hiding of some pregnancies. Some women tend to hide their pregnancy to avoid paying fines and to not be punished (‘Short and Fengyu’). In addition, some pregnant women hide their pregnancy because they are afraid of not getting the permission to have another baby (‘Short and Fengyu’). Pregnant women choose to deliver their babies secretly to avoid punishment. This can cause sever post-giving birth complications for women. Moreover, some women migrate to another city to give birth there so no one would recognize and have their babies without nay restrictions; this results in delaying receiving the prenatal service for women (‘Short and Fengyu’).
In short, one-child policy in China has caused many health problems. Women are the ones who are more likely to be affected negatively than men because of giving birth complications. One-child policy not only has caused health problems but increased the problems that were existed before.
The second disadvantage of one-child policy in China is underreporting of children. Underreporting is the action that some Chinese families do by hiding some children and do not register them. Underreporting percentage was high in 2000 while it was low in previous years according to censuses conducted; underreporting percentage was 4.2 and 4.8 percent in 1982 and 1990 while it was tripled in 2000 to 7.0 and 8.0 percent (‘Goodkind’). For example, in 1983 during the first years of adopting one-child policy, 14 million children were underreported. Nevertheless, according to 2002 census, approximately 37 million Chinese children below age 10 were underreported (‘Goodkind’). This shows that parents tend to follow the rules in the early years of adopting the one-child policy. Some families underreport their children for various reasons. The main reason for underreporting is that families are afraid of penalties of violating the rules of one-child policy (‘Goodkind’). Also, family planning rules are asked Chinese families to restrict to one child. As a result, families underreport illegal children to avoid being punished (‘Goodkind’). Parents tend to underreport their children in their early age from 0-4 years; this is because penalties fall gradually after age 4 and above (‘Goodkind’). Also, some parents think that it is better for their children to be underreported in early age because they will be able to report about themselves in the age 18 to 22 years (‘Goodkind’).Some evidence shows that the percentage of underreported female children and male children is the same (‘Shen’). However, other evidences show that the percentage of female children is more than the underreporting of male children (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). For example, there are almost 12 million missing girls in China (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). This shows that girls are more likely to be underreported than boys because girls are more unwelcome than boys in the Chinese society. As a result, lots of parents keep trying to get the ‘boy’ they want but they get girls instead so those girls would be underreported. Some might assume that missing children in China is caused by the lack of having children. However, this assumption is misunderstood as the reason for missing children is no registration of all newborn children because parents are afraid of penalties of violation of one-child policy (‘Goodkind’).
Final and third disadvantage that is associated with adopting one-child policy in China is environmental problems, such as pollution. China population is over 1.3 billion (‘Wu’). Those 1.3 billion consume water, food and other resources for living. As a result, this overpopulation in China has caused environmental problems, such as pollution. China has suffered from water population since the 1970s (‘Wu’). Studies have shown that water pollutants such as acids, nitrogen and mercury are the main sources of water pollution that results in health impacts (‘Wu’). Water pollution has caused many sever diseases such as liver and stomach cancer (‘Wu’). Many Chinese people died from those two deadly diseases. All these factors lead the Chinese government to think about solution to limit and restrict this problem. One child policy was the only solution because the impacts of overpopulation on health of people are several. Beijing and other large cities in China such as Liaoning, and Jiangsu are most likely to be polluted than the small cities (‘Wu’). Many Chinese people are suffering from health problem. As a result, one-child policy has contributed in reducing the growth of Chinese population and pollution also has reduced a bit in Chinese cities. Environmental and its health problems are very important factors in affecting people’s lives. In short, one-child policy did not completely solve the environmental and health problems but at least has contributed to reduce the sever impacts of those problems.
Talking about one-child policy or any other family planning policies, there must have been some boundaries in adopting the policy for the first time. I am going to mention some of these difficulties. One of these difficulties is adopting one-child policy in rural areas (‘Hsu’). Chinese people in rural areas are conservative as it is not an easy task to adopt such policy in these areas (‘Hsu’). Consequently, one-child policy has successful achieved reducing population in urban areas more than rural areas (‘Hsu’).Furthermore, in urban cities; large cities have reduced population more than small cities (‘Hsu’). The reason why one-child policy has succeeded in urban areas is because probably many educated people live there. As a result, it is easier for educated people to follow such policies than illiterate or people with lower education levels in rural areas (‘Hsu’).
In addition, another difficulty that Chinese officials have faced first adopting one-child policy is the contradiction between the rules of this policy and Chinese culture (‘Hsu’). The Chinese culture has never experienced adopting such control birth before. As a result, imposing such policy to the Chinese culture, this will contradict with the Chinese traditions (‘Hsu’). This is the reason why some Chinese people violate the rules of one-child policy because it causes contradiction with their culture. As mentioned above, the Chinese culture is conservative and traditional one, people would not be adopted easily to this new policy (‘Hsu’).Also, the level of education is related to the ability to adopt such policy as educated people tend to understand the drawbacks of having many children; these drawbacks can be health ones for both children and mothers and economically as well (‘Hsu’).
The final point that should be mentioned is the possibility of applying this policy to other countries that are at risk of overpopulation such as Egypt. As the one-child policy has successfully achieved some of its goals of reducing Chinese population, this policy can be applied to other countries but with special conditions. For example, Egypt may face huge difficulties adopting this policy as for religious, social, cultural and political reasons ‘(El-Zeini’). This is a big argument in the Islamic societies of the ability of controlling the birth or it is not allowed in Islam. As a result, the Egyptian government would face such boundaries and many people would follow what the religion says. Also, in Egypt the rate of uneducated people is very high. As a result, it would be very difficult to convince illiterate people especially women to control birth. In addition, the Egyptian culture especially in rural areas is very traditional and people would stick to tradition of having many children. Many children think having many children would be like a support for parents. As a result, people prefer having many children to support them in the future (‘Baron’).
In conclusion, the one-child policy has been a unique experience in the world that no country has adopted such policy before except China .Although one-child policy has successfully achieved its goals of reducing population in China, it also has caused and contributed to cause alternative problems in China culturally, economically and socially. Some might argue that human rights are violated as Chinese people do not have the choice to decide how many children they wish to have. On the other hand, the Chinese government had to make a quick decision to limit the rapid population growth. I think the Chinese government made the best decision for the best of China.
Works Cited
Baron, Beth. "The Origins of Family Planning: Aziza Hussein, American Experts, and the Egyptian State." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 4.3 (2008): 31-57..
"Birth Control-IUD." 6 August 2008. Feminist Women's Health Center. 28 Nov 2008
.
El-Zeini, Laila O. "The Path to Replacement Fertility in Egypt: Acceptance, Preference, and Achievement." Studies in family planning 39.3 (2008): 161-76..
Falk, Karl. "China's Socioeconomic Progress: The Mainland Revisited shows Evidence of Advance but its Overpopulation is a Big Problem." American Journal of Economics and Sociology 47.3 (1988): 363-9..
Goodkind, Daniel M. "China's Missing Children: The 2000 Census Underreporting Surprise." Population Studies 58.3 (2004): 281-95..
"Growth and Control of Population in China: The Urban-Rural Contrast." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 75.2 (1985): 241-57..
Halbrendt, Catherine, and Conrado Gempesaw II. "A Policy Analysis of China's Wheat Economy." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 72.2 (1990): 268-78..
Hsu, Mei-Ling. "Growth and Control of Population in China: The Urban-Rural Contrast." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 75.2 (1985): 241-57..
Lofstedt, Petra, Luo Shusheng, and Annika Johansson. "Abortion Patterns and Reported Sex Ratios at Birth in Rural Yunnan, China." Reproductive health matters 12.24, Power, Money and Autonomy in National Policies and Programmes (2004): 86-95..
Shen, Jianfa. "China's Future Population and Development Challenges." The Geographical Journal 164.1 (1998): 32-40..
Short, Susan E., and Fengyu Zhang. "Use of Maternal Health Services in Rural China." Population Studies 58.1 (2004): 3-19..
Yu, Guangqian, Dianjun Sun, and Yan Zheng. "Health Effects of Exposure to Natural Arsenic in Groundwater and Coal in China: An Overview of Occurrence." Environmental health perspectives 115.4 (2007): 636-42..
Fall 2008
The main topic of this research paper is the Chinese experience in controlling population growth. The issue of controlling birth growth is both crucial and controversial. Many countries, researchers and governments are in agreement with the policy while many others are against the idea itself for various reasons. There should be a background and a rationale for China making such decision to adapt the one- child policy. First of all, I will be trying to find out whether the policy has been effective or not. In fact, many factors that I am going to discuss in detail show that the one- child policy is successful in China. Nevertheless, I am going to find out whether there are some disadvantages, of any impact in adopting this policy beside the seemingly obvious advantage of control. Also, there must be consequences in applying this policy in China. As a result, more details about these consequences would be discussed. These include aspects such as cultural, social and economic effects. Meanwhile, another important point that should be taken in consideration is the possibility of applying this policy in other countries at risk of facing major overpopulation, such as Egypt.
The main issues related to China’s birth control policy that will be discussed in this paper include history of China population growth, reasons and rationale for adopting the policy, disadvantages of the one-child policy, advantages of the policy, and possibility of applying such policy in countries other than China.
To examine the one-child policy in China, some demographic factors about population history in China is needed to look at. First of all, since its establishment as the modern People’s Republic of China in 1949, has experienced a noticeable overpopulation. In forty six years after 1949, its population was almost doubled from only 542 million in 1949 to 1200 million in 1995 (‘Shen’). This indicates that China witnessed a high and rapid population growth since that early time. Rapid population growth in China caused two main problems. During the period between 1959 and 1961, food crisis and difficulties in raising the standard of living of Chinese population was a major challenge (‘Shen’). As a result, Chinese government started to think about adapting birth control policies that can lead slowing of such growth. Chinese government tried many alternative measures and policies. However, the most effective policy was found to be the one-child policy which called China to adopt (‘Shen’). One- child policy was the most successful way of controlling population growth. China has experienced low fertility rate in 1970s when the fertility rate changed from 5.75 to 2.0 in 1992. However, in the following years after 1992, China witnessed again a rapid population growth. To monitor China population, consequent census rounds were conducted in 1953, 1964, 1982 and 1990 (‘GoodKind’). Those censuses had various outputs about China population. For example, in 1982 census, China population was 1,025 million. This shows that China population was approximately quarter of the total global population (‘Hsu’). Such a proportion is really a huge one single gathering of people in one country. This also indicates the risk that China is experiencing which could affect not just China as a country but the whole world at large.
The Chinese government attempted to control birth since the 1950s and 1960s through various ways and approaches. One of these was based on organizing awareness campaigns to encourage communities and families to control birth. Well known campaigns such as “the Great Leap Forward” in 1950 and the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s were organized by the Chinese government to discuss birth control (‘Hsu’). However, these campaigns were not clearly successful in achieving the assigned goals. Nevertheless, those campaigns were the first step in comprehensively addressing the problem of such high growth rate in China. Also, campaigns encouraged the government and other organizations to look more deeply into the problem and think seriously in finding solutions to population growth in the country. Some goals of these campaigns were formulated in the form of achieving birth control and reduction of overall population. Birth control was one of the main goals among a list of goals which were formulated for a comprehensive national plan to develop China. The other main goal was to reduce population to 0.5 percent after it was 1.2 in 1978 and then after to reach zero percent in 2000 (‘Hsu’). Also, it was envisaged that population should not exceed 1.2 billion in 2000 (‘Hsu’). Therefore, in order to achieve all these goals, there was a need to have in operation a fierce and strict policy that regulates birth growth. At same time, one of the measures that was adopted to encourage people to control birth was promoting family planning. Accordingly, the challenge was in making women more exposed to education and be aware of using contraception, especially in rural areas (‘Hsu’).
Reasons of high growth in China are various. The population growth in China was unwelcome in the periods of 1950s and 1980s. In the past, there was a high increase of fertility rate like 1950s and 1960s. This resulted in a sudden increase in the proportion of females at reproductive age group. There was almost 13 million women who are in the age of getting married (‘Hsu’). As a result, more children were born without any controls
All these factors of fast growth in population in China encouraged the Chinese government to enforce an effective way of controlling this rapid growth of population. Chinese officials warned that the Chinese population would keep growing without taking an immediate action to limit this growth. As a result, the Chinese officials decided to adopt the one-child policy in China. As a result, the one -child policy was launched in 1978 in China. The policy simply dictates that each family should have no more than one child. The anticipated impact was based on the fact that even if they allow a couple to have two children, this would significantly increase population (‘Falk’). However, in some rural areas, there is an exception for women to have one or two children (‘Falk’). There are some especial conditions that allow such women in rural areas in China to have more than one child. The special condition that a woman can take a permission of having a second child is based on notion that if the first child is a girl (‘Falk’). This matter would raise another important point or problem that China has experienced which is sex preference (‘Shen’). China as most of other Asian Eastern communities prefers male to female children (‘Shen’). This is a big problem that China has been facing until present time.
Adopting the one-child policy has immensely benefited China population. The main advantage of the policy is the resulted reduction in China population. In the beginning of adopting one-child policy in China, population was reduced gradually. For example, fertility rate was 5.75 in 1970 and then fertility rate was reduced to 2.25 in 1990 according to the national census conducted in 1990 (‘Shen’). This shows that one-child policy has affected the fertility rate step by step. Another indicator that one-child policy is effective is the resulted reduction in the number of infants. For example, in the period from 1970 to 1995, one-child policy has reduced the number of infants to 200 million (‘Shen’). This is considered as a positive achievement of one-child policy. Also, this shows that the decision the Chinese government made was the right one. Another advantage of one-child policy is that the government decided to adopt it because it is also essential for maternal care (‘Short and Fengyu’). Maternal care that family planning encourage includes the improvement of women and children health and also prenatal care (‘Short and Fengyu’). Consequently, one-child policy is considered to be a successful strategy because it encourages and improves these necessary care measures for the benefit of children and women. At the same point, the Chinese government designed this policy to encourage women to use health care to protect their health. For example, spacing between one child and another is very important to women’s health. Accordingly, one child policy is vital for women to protect their health and live healthy lives with their families. Another advantage of one-child policy is reducing the average number of children that every Chinese woman can have. For example, in 1970 every woman used to have the right to have 6 children when this was reduced after adopting one-child policy to 3 children (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). Without adopting one-child policy, China would have certainly reached population of more than 1.3 billion (‘Shen’).
In addition to the social progress that one-child policy in China has successfully led to, it has also achieved economic progress in Chinese economy. Adopting population policies such as the one-child policy has made some progress in raising the standard of living in some rural areas (‘Falk’). One-child policy has improved the standard of people’s living in rural areas because children costs have been reduced as every family has just one child. In addition, some old villages are turned to be more vital again after long negligence; some of those villages became trade centers in China (‘Falk’). Traditional costume is very important for Chinese women as many of them wear the traditional Chinese costume “ Mao Jackets” which has been changed in the latest years so that women are wearing more modern costume than before. Obviously, this is an indication of an improvement of standard of living (‘Falk’). Also, quality of food services is getting better than what was offered before in China is apparent. This shows that one-child policy was effective in improving Chinese economy and people’s standard of living (‘Falk’). Also another improvement in China’s economy is seen in the way China is protecting its lands. China’s natural resources are enough for feeding China and also probably export food to other countries. These natural resources need to be protected. As a result, one-child policy and other governmental policies are trying to protect these lands and resources for China’s benefits (‘Falk’). The last economic advantage of one-child policy is improving the tourism in one way or another. Tourism is a very important source of foreign currency. Consequently, the government should care about the tourism to improve the country’s economy. One-child policy has contributed to raising the number of tourists who visit China. For example, in 1985 after just few years after adopting the new policy of one-child, almost 200,000 American tourists visited China (‘Falk’). To conclude, one-child policy has a great effect on the economy of China. With the progress in any country’s economy, standard of living of people would be improved as well.
Talking about the problems of one-child policy, sex preference of Chinese population as mentioned in the introduction can lead to many other problems related to the policy. Those problems which are associated with one-child policy in China include health problems, underreporting of children and environmental problems.
Chinese people, especially women, are experiencing health problems as a result of adapting one-child policy. There are three major health problems namely: abortion, delayed prenatal and maternal care and finally hiding pregnancies. Although one-child policy was designed for the benefit of Chinese population and China development, it has ultimately negative consequences on population as well.
The first health problem is abortion. Women’s health in general is affected more than men’s health especially in giving birth, abortion and postpartum. Abortion has been a problem in China since many years before adopting the one-child policy (‘Shen’). However, adapting one-child policy has increased the rate of abortion cases. The main reason that many Chinese women go for abortion is sex preference (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). In most patriarchal societies where male infants are more preferred than female infants, women tend to end their pregnancy if the baby is female. In those patriarchal societies, the need for boys is desperate to work in the field as most of these societies are agricultural in nature. As a result, families need more boys than girls to work in the land (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). When women are told that the new baby is going to be a girl, they decide to go for abortion to end this pregnancy. This is because they have just one chance to have one baby so they will choose to have a male baby rather than a female baby. Ate the same point, sex preference is common in rural areas as the illiteracy rate is higher than in urban areas (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). Uneducated parents are more likely to think to have abortion and preferring boys to girls than the educated parents. Accordingly, this phenomenon can be reduced by educating women because when women are educated, they will think first about the consequences of abortion on their health and accordingly avoid it (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). Not only women who should be educated but men should also be educated to realize that there is no difference between girls and boys and avoid sex preference. Also, economic improvements are needed to improve women’s and family status. As a result, Chinese population would be more aware of the abortion problem and find alternatives to solve the problem rather than through abortion. The other alternatives that can be used to organize family size include using contraception and induced abortion. Induced abortion is another way of ending pregnancy but safer and more organized than the abortion which is risky to women’s health (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). Hazards of abortion are various. A high rate of women’s and children mortality is one of the hazards of abortion and consequences of sex preference (‘Lofstedt and Annika’).technology has contributed in increasing the rate of abortion by using Ultrasound to know the sex of the baby during pregnancy; as a result, when the result of the ultra sound is a baby girl, women choose abortion to end this pregnancy (‘Lofstedt and Annika’).
The rate of abortion was high in the 1980s when first adopting the one-child policy. Penalties for anyone who violate the rules of the new policy were very strict. Those penalties are using IUD, a small object to be injected inside a woman body to prevent any new pregnancy, for women who have one child, abortion for unauthorized pregnancies and doing operation for any couples who have two or more children which make it impossible for them to have more children in the future (‘Birth Control-IUD’). However, in 1984 the second child was permitted especially in rural areas for families that have just girls as to reduce the sex preference and abortion in these areas (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). As a result, the abortion rate among women was reduced to 9 million while in 1995 it declined to 27 per 100 pregnancies; this was because laws have become less strict than before as mentioned above.
The second health problem that Chinese people face is delay prenatal and maternity care. Most mortality cases among women are caused by the bad prenatal and maternity care, especially in developing countries. Some of the complications women experience after giving birth are poor maternal health care, child mortality, low infants weight and poor pregnancy conditions (‘Short and Fengyu’) . These complications can be getting worse if women do not receive proper health care. Some Chinese do not seek maternal care because the Chinese government punishes women who have additional babies that exceed two children per family. The problem is that government sets policies to organize family size but at the same time discourage many women to receive maternity care and prenatal care. Not all women are convinced to plan their family size by restricting it to just one child. As a result, women avoid going to the hospital to receive health care (‘Short and Fengyu’). 345 million women are in the age of reproductive period; this means those women need to receive good health care to protect women and children’s health (‘Short and Fengyu’). Even some couples know they are violating the laws and would pay fines for that, they tend not to go to hospital to receive prenatal care; this is because they are afraid of being forced or encouraged officially to end the current pregnancy (‘Short and Fengyu’) . As a result, the solution women take is avoiding going to hospital to get the necessary prenatal care. Some families might not attempt to get maternity services not just because of punishment but also for financial reasons (‘Short and Fengyu’). The major issue that the Chinese government does is offering maternity services for just those women who follow the laws of having just one child (‘Short and Fengyu’). In one hand, ethically speaking, it is unacceptable not to offer this service to all pregnant women because it is the right of every pregnant woman to receive maternity service. On the other hand, the Chinese government should restrict the laws so everyone would follow the rules. Poor maternal and prenatal care women receive is considered another essential health problem associated with adapting one-child policy in China.
The third health problem is the hiding of some pregnancies. Some women tend to hide their pregnancy to avoid paying fines and to not be punished (‘Short and Fengyu’). In addition, some pregnant women hide their pregnancy because they are afraid of not getting the permission to have another baby (‘Short and Fengyu’). Pregnant women choose to deliver their babies secretly to avoid punishment. This can cause sever post-giving birth complications for women. Moreover, some women migrate to another city to give birth there so no one would recognize and have their babies without nay restrictions; this results in delaying receiving the prenatal service for women (‘Short and Fengyu’).
In short, one-child policy in China has caused many health problems. Women are the ones who are more likely to be affected negatively than men because of giving birth complications. One-child policy not only has caused health problems but increased the problems that were existed before.
The second disadvantage of one-child policy in China is underreporting of children. Underreporting is the action that some Chinese families do by hiding some children and do not register them. Underreporting percentage was high in 2000 while it was low in previous years according to censuses conducted; underreporting percentage was 4.2 and 4.8 percent in 1982 and 1990 while it was tripled in 2000 to 7.0 and 8.0 percent (‘Goodkind’). For example, in 1983 during the first years of adopting one-child policy, 14 million children were underreported. Nevertheless, according to 2002 census, approximately 37 million Chinese children below age 10 were underreported (‘Goodkind’). This shows that parents tend to follow the rules in the early years of adopting the one-child policy. Some families underreport their children for various reasons. The main reason for underreporting is that families are afraid of penalties of violating the rules of one-child policy (‘Goodkind’). Also, family planning rules are asked Chinese families to restrict to one child. As a result, families underreport illegal children to avoid being punished (‘Goodkind’). Parents tend to underreport their children in their early age from 0-4 years; this is because penalties fall gradually after age 4 and above (‘Goodkind’). Also, some parents think that it is better for their children to be underreported in early age because they will be able to report about themselves in the age 18 to 22 years (‘Goodkind’).Some evidence shows that the percentage of underreported female children and male children is the same (‘Shen’). However, other evidences show that the percentage of female children is more than the underreporting of male children (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). For example, there are almost 12 million missing girls in China (‘Lofstedt and Annika’). This shows that girls are more likely to be underreported than boys because girls are more unwelcome than boys in the Chinese society. As a result, lots of parents keep trying to get the ‘boy’ they want but they get girls instead so those girls would be underreported. Some might assume that missing children in China is caused by the lack of having children. However, this assumption is misunderstood as the reason for missing children is no registration of all newborn children because parents are afraid of penalties of violation of one-child policy (‘Goodkind’).
Final and third disadvantage that is associated with adopting one-child policy in China is environmental problems, such as pollution. China population is over 1.3 billion (‘Wu’). Those 1.3 billion consume water, food and other resources for living. As a result, this overpopulation in China has caused environmental problems, such as pollution. China has suffered from water population since the 1970s (‘Wu’). Studies have shown that water pollutants such as acids, nitrogen and mercury are the main sources of water pollution that results in health impacts (‘Wu’). Water pollution has caused many sever diseases such as liver and stomach cancer (‘Wu’). Many Chinese people died from those two deadly diseases. All these factors lead the Chinese government to think about solution to limit and restrict this problem. One child policy was the only solution because the impacts of overpopulation on health of people are several. Beijing and other large cities in China such as Liaoning, and Jiangsu are most likely to be polluted than the small cities (‘Wu’). Many Chinese people are suffering from health problem. As a result, one-child policy has contributed in reducing the growth of Chinese population and pollution also has reduced a bit in Chinese cities. Environmental and its health problems are very important factors in affecting people’s lives. In short, one-child policy did not completely solve the environmental and health problems but at least has contributed to reduce the sever impacts of those problems.
Talking about one-child policy or any other family planning policies, there must have been some boundaries in adopting the policy for the first time. I am going to mention some of these difficulties. One of these difficulties is adopting one-child policy in rural areas (‘Hsu’). Chinese people in rural areas are conservative as it is not an easy task to adopt such policy in these areas (‘Hsu’). Consequently, one-child policy has successful achieved reducing population in urban areas more than rural areas (‘Hsu’).Furthermore, in urban cities; large cities have reduced population more than small cities (‘Hsu’). The reason why one-child policy has succeeded in urban areas is because probably many educated people live there. As a result, it is easier for educated people to follow such policies than illiterate or people with lower education levels in rural areas (‘Hsu’).
In addition, another difficulty that Chinese officials have faced first adopting one-child policy is the contradiction between the rules of this policy and Chinese culture (‘Hsu’). The Chinese culture has never experienced adopting such control birth before. As a result, imposing such policy to the Chinese culture, this will contradict with the Chinese traditions (‘Hsu’). This is the reason why some Chinese people violate the rules of one-child policy because it causes contradiction with their culture. As mentioned above, the Chinese culture is conservative and traditional one, people would not be adopted easily to this new policy (‘Hsu’).Also, the level of education is related to the ability to adopt such policy as educated people tend to understand the drawbacks of having many children; these drawbacks can be health ones for both children and mothers and economically as well (‘Hsu’).
The final point that should be mentioned is the possibility of applying this policy to other countries that are at risk of overpopulation such as Egypt. As the one-child policy has successfully achieved some of its goals of reducing Chinese population, this policy can be applied to other countries but with special conditions. For example, Egypt may face huge difficulties adopting this policy as for religious, social, cultural and political reasons ‘(El-Zeini’). This is a big argument in the Islamic societies of the ability of controlling the birth or it is not allowed in Islam. As a result, the Egyptian government would face such boundaries and many people would follow what the religion says. Also, in Egypt the rate of uneducated people is very high. As a result, it would be very difficult to convince illiterate people especially women to control birth. In addition, the Egyptian culture especially in rural areas is very traditional and people would stick to tradition of having many children. Many children think having many children would be like a support for parents. As a result, people prefer having many children to support them in the future (‘Baron’).
In conclusion, the one-child policy has been a unique experience in the world that no country has adopted such policy before except China .Although one-child policy has successfully achieved its goals of reducing population in China, it also has caused and contributed to cause alternative problems in China culturally, economically and socially. Some might argue that human rights are violated as Chinese people do not have the choice to decide how many children they wish to have. On the other hand, the Chinese government had to make a quick decision to limit the rapid population growth. I think the Chinese government made the best decision for the best of China.
Works Cited
Baron, Beth. "The Origins of Family Planning: Aziza Hussein, American Experts, and the Egyptian State." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 4.3 (2008): 31-57.
"Birth Control-IUD." 6 August 2008. Feminist Women's Health Center. 28 Nov 2008
El-Zeini, Laila O. "The Path to Replacement Fertility in Egypt: Acceptance, Preference, and Achievement." Studies in family planning 39.3 (2008): 161-76.
Falk, Karl. "China's Socioeconomic Progress: The Mainland Revisited shows Evidence of Advance but its Overpopulation is a Big Problem." American Journal of Economics and Sociology 47.3 (1988): 363-9.
Goodkind, Daniel M. "China's Missing Children: The 2000 Census Underreporting Surprise." Population Studies 58.3 (2004): 281-95.
"Growth and Control of Population in China: The Urban-Rural Contrast." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 75.2 (1985): 241-57.
Halbrendt, Catherine, and Conrado Gempesaw II. "A Policy Analysis of China's Wheat Economy." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 72.2 (1990): 268-78.
Hsu, Mei-Ling. "Growth and Control of Population in China: The Urban-Rural Contrast." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 75.2 (1985): 241-57.
Lofstedt, Petra, Luo Shusheng, and Annika Johansson. "Abortion Patterns and Reported Sex Ratios at Birth in Rural Yunnan, China." Reproductive health matters 12.24, Power, Money and Autonomy in National Policies and Programmes (2004): 86-95.
Shen, Jianfa. "China's Future Population and Development Challenges." The Geographical Journal 164.1 (1998): 32-40.
Short, Susan E., and Fengyu Zhang. "Use of Maternal Health Services in Rural China." Population Studies 58.1 (2004): 3-19.
Yu, Guangqian, Dianjun Sun, and Yan Zheng. "Health Effects of Exposure to Natural Arsenic in Groundwater and Coal in China: An Overview of Occurrence." Environmental health perspectives 115.4 (2007): 636-42.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)