Ancient China One Child Policy Essay

454 Words2 Pages
Who do you think runs your family, your mother or father? Amazingly, in ancient China, the father had total control over his wife and children. Families were considered to be the most important and greatly changed China’s culture to develop the country it is today. In China, the family structure belief was important to the culture because of gender roles, marriage, and the one-child policy. In ancient China, women were undesirable and upheld less value. For example, women had to obey and respect their husband at all times. If she did something wrong or incorrect, she would bring shame upon her family. Even baby girls were often killed because they were considered worthless (“Ancient Chinese Daily Life”). Instead of giving no value to women, women should be appreciated and recognized because they carry an equal amount of importance as men. Women additionally should not be underestimated or excluded of a situation. In other words, the unwanted Chinese women were later needed in marriage. The Chinese attach great importance to marriage in ancient China. For instance, marriages were arranged by parents and elders. However…show more content…
Due to the one-child policy, male firstborns were preferred. As men would inherit the family name, property, and the responsibility for the care of elders. When families were restricted to one child, having a female became extremely unwanted and intensified the number of female children placed in orphanages, abandoned, or even killed (“One-Child Policy”). Ultimately, the unwanted women for many years created the biggest gender gap at birth in the world (“China From The Inside”). Killing a baby is heartbreaking, unspeakable, and a crime. Due to the lack of value women held, the one-child policy added more stress and hatred to both women and girls. In effect, the one-child policy showed severe dislike to women and created a major gap in gender

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