Gender Bias Discrimination and the Violation of Women in China
Nine months pregnant, she is running looking for a place to hide. She finds a spot
in the trees, it is nighttime so they will not find her. Back home the police question her
sister, “where is she” they shouted, “if you do not tell us you will be arrested.” They take
her sister away and place her in jail. Every few hours they question her, slapping her in
her face and pulling out patches of her hair, but she would not tell them where her sister
was hiding. A few days passed, after hiding in the woods she knew they would not let
her sister out of jail unless she came forward. She turns herself into the authorities
knowing she will be punished and her baby will be aborted. She leaves the woods to
accept what is awaiting her; they will take her away and kill her baby. This is just one of
the many stories reported on the radio program NPR (National Public Radio) in October
of 2005. In some regions of China the human rights of women are being violated in order
to maintain and control the population.
Although the intention of China’s one child policy is to save resources and land,
the exertion of power through the enforcement of the policy is wrong. Power is exerted
in many forms, and the government exercises its power over citizens in the form of policy
and laws. Gender power, for example is the power men exert over women. The gender
gap is intertwined in an inequality gap that encourages the further creation of separate
spheres.
This paper will examine China’s one child policy from its origin to its recent
form, the consequences of the policy upon women, children, and the overall population,
the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, U.S. involvement with
human rights violations in China and U.S. participation in the United Nations Population
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Convention