China’s 1-child policy creating population that is too male, too few, too old: Pulitzer winner

China’s one child policy might have done more harm than good, said Mei Fong, Pulitzer winning journalist and author of One Child, at the Times Litfest 2017 on Friday.
“The policy is creating a population which is too male, too few and too old. There aren’t enough young people to take care of the old population... Having one child also pressured students to succeed and it has created an imbalance and creating an unhappy population,” she said in conversation with journalist and activist Ruchira Gupta during a session that drew parallels between China and India’s fight against population explosion.
The skewed sex ratio appears to be further hampering society. “The sale of sex dolls that can be customized has spiked in in China due to the skewed sex ratio. Today, there is an app that allows you rent a sex doll. This will destroy how men treat women. In a patriarchal society, if there are fewer women, they will be objectified. They will be valuable but not valued,” said Fong.
Reflecting on the situation in India, Gupta said poor sex ratio in states such as Haryana has led to trafficking of brides from other parts of the country. “Women are either cheap labour or are expected to produce cheap labour,” she said.
Instead of strict policies, building space for women could help fight population explosion.
“The problem is the tendency to connect the one child policy to population explosion. One is different than the other. The best way to reduce population is to give women choices—let them go to school, let them have their choices with reproduction. Not only will the population go down but they will be productive contributors to economic growth,” said Fong.
Gupta added, “In countries where there has been more equality among men and women, rich and poor, and castes, you will see the population has come by the rational choices people make.”