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Aine Mills
Cassandra DAlessio
UWRT 1102-023
2 February 2016
Womens Reproductive Rights and Chinas One-Child Policy
I only know a basic amount about Chinas one-child policy; that the government put into
effect a law barring families from having more than one child, and that they have gone to drastic
measures to make sure the law is followed. This law greatly infringes on a womans reproductive
rights, and therefore falls into my groups research category of this infringement around the
world. I have a small amount of information on the subject from reading an article or two about
it a couple years ago that I found while researching for a school assignment. It ended up as an
anecdote in my paper, but I never went back to do any more in-depth research into it, despite
how shocked I was to find a law like this to exist. I had heard that it had been changed recently
but I wasnt sure on the specifics.
What interests me most about the topic is the infringement on the peoples rights,
womens reproductive rights in particular. I remember that when I had first heard about this law,
I was shocked and appalled that it existed, and that it could be practiced and enforced in the first
place. I suppose that as an American, personal rights are very important to me, so to see that they
were being completely breached was a big shock. The cultural changes alone from having only
single children families is interesting as well, and I hope to find out how this has affected
generations who have lived through it. I also hope to see what activists groups within China have
spoken for or against it and how they have fared.

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The most important questions I want to find answers to include: Has the law been
repealed completely? Or has it been replaced? And if so, by what? Have the restrictions merely
been relaxed? What kind of repercussions did people face from having more than one child?
Did the government take preventative measures to stop women from having children? If so
what? Forced abortions or sterilization? What are the psychological repercussions of this? Were
male children prioritized over females? What have feminists groups in America said or done
about this topic? How have Chinese feminist groups reacted? These are the initial questions I
hope to find answers to, but as I progress in research for the final paper and presentation I expect
to change some of my original questions as well as come up with more.
To find answers to the proposed questions, I plan to look into various documentaries done
on the subject of Chinas one-child policy. These will hopefully provide insightful testimonials
from people who have actually lived through this policy in China and had it directly affect
themselves and their family. If they showcase activist groups fighting against the measures, even
better. I also hope to look into articles and books published on the subject between the years
2000-2016, and see what information I can glean from that. Finally, I would like to research any
scientific studies done on the favoritism of male children over female, to see if this has caused a
gender gap in the younger generations.
If the results from my research end up being too broad, I will attempt to narrow in on a
smaller topic. While still being under the umbrella of the one child policy in China, I could
attempt to focus more on the recent changes and developments with the law. What it has been
changed to, how activists groups and the general public have reacted to it, the reporting on it, and
the effects it may have already had. In this way, I would be focusing in on a much more specific
and recent topic, narrowing down my topic and pools of information.

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If the results of my research end up being too narrow, I will extend the scope of my topic,
branching it off to research sub categories to fill it out. Besides just focusing on the one child
law, I could also look into other laws that have been put into effect surrounding and pertaining to
the law. For example addendums added to cover more specific circumstances that have come up
since the laws inception. I could also research into any other restrictive laws that breach womens
reproductive rights that have been put into effect, such as ones that ensure a women can only
have one child. These could include financial fines put into place, mandatory medical
procedures, and other general penalties that would come with having more than one child.