Call for China to support single women over 30 to give birth to one child as country’s population ages
- Single women face serious discrimination in China when giving birth and do not receive any of the benefits given to married parents
- China’s birth rate dropped by 14.9 per cent in 2020, with demographers predicting negative population growth soon
A delegate at China’s top political advisory body has suggested allowing single women over 30 to give birth to one child, as the country’s birth rate declines.
Hua Yawei, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s leadership to be more tolerant towards unmarried mothers and to give equal treatment to the children born to single women, the People’s Daily reports.
At present, single women on the mainland are “theoretically” not eligible to have babies as they can not obtain a “birth permission certificate” issued by the government based on a marriage certificate.
Even so, single women can give birth at health institutions across the country, but they are not entitled to the same benefits their married counterparts, such as paid maternity leave and medical reimbursements during pregnancy.
To register a permanent residency for their children in order to receive benefits, hukou as it is called on the mainland, unmarried mothers need to pay a ‘social child-raising raising fee”, which varies depending on the economic development of the region in which they apply.
