Chinese Women Putting off the Family Way

THE number of women who give birth after the age of 35 is growing fast in urban China, sparking hot debate over the pros and cons of late birth. “In the 1990s those having children later in life accounted for merely 2 percent of mothers,” said Prof. Wang Liang, chief of the Gynecology Department of the People’s Hospital of Zhejiang Province, who has studied the issue over a long period. “By 2006 the rate had doubled, and was running as high as 7 percent in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.”

Though some foreign scientists argue that 35 is the best age for women to give first birth, many Chinese people, including those in medical circles, hold fast to the conception that 27 to 30 is the prime maternal age. Clinical cases provide solid evidence that first-time mothers of 35 or older, and their babies, are more susceptible to health problems.

This has not stopped a growing number of women putting off having a baby as long as possible. In a 2008 survey by , one of the most visited websites in China, 39.7 percent of female respondents said they would consider having a baby at 35, compared with 32 percent who said they would not. And another 28.3 percent thought age is not a big issue when it comes to having children.

Celebrities are offering strong examples in this regard. Japanese crown princess Masako gave birth to her only daughter at the age of 38. Taiwan actress Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia became a mother at 42. Hong Kong news anchor Wu Xiaoli Sally had her first child at 35 and popular singer Mao Amin at 41. “Today people pay more attention to nutrition and fitness than previous generations, and therefore enjoy better health. With good incomes, a wholesome way of life and qualified doctors and nurses, I see no problem in having a child at the age of 40,” says 33-year-old Cheng Ruhong, an executive in a joint-venture project. She will not think about having a child until the project concludes in three years. “Now I cannot provide a stable life for my baby,” she explains.

The majority of older new moms are graduates of higher education, have better incomes and hold senior white-collar posts. This is why the average first-time birth age in Haidian District in north Beijing, the hub of the city’s IT and hi-tech industries, is the highest in the city. “Of every ten expectant mothers we receive, two to three are over 35,” said Zhao Tianwei, a doctor with Haidian Gynecology and Obstetrics Hospital.

Zeng Yi, a professor at Peking University and a demographer, attributes the phenomenon to industrialization. “With the end of traditional modes of production based on family units, people need longer schooling, and after that start on the lowest rungs of business before they have the financial means to start families. Nowadays child bearing and rearing demand an exorbitant input, while the returns are diminishing.”

Another Peking University professor, Tong Xin, sees a correlation between late childbirth and women’s improving social status. “With better education, woman are no longer tools of reproduction, and don’t have to entrench their position in their husband’s family by procreating, since the traditional concept of extending the family line is disappearing. Increasing independence and flexibility in life entitle women to a full range of choices.”

“People are living for themselves. That’s a trend,” says Lu Di, a foreign company manager who had her first child at 26. She now regrets she became a mother too early, wishing she had more career achievements and life’s enjoyments to look back on.

Late childbearing has aroused concerns among doctors and demographers. Wang Liang, chief of the Gynecology Department of the People’s Hospital of Zhejiang Province, noticed that in cases in which the first pregnancy fails, women who conceive at an older age are less likely to make repeat attempts than younger women. As childbearing is postponed, the fertility rate drops. According to studies by Zeng Yi, the national fertility rate dropped 0.23 percent between 1996 and 1999. “The impact of later first births on the fertility rate was ignored in the years when the population was growing fast. It is different now,” says Zeng.

Attitude Towards Childbearing in Rural Areas

As more rural Chinese leave their hometowns for job opportunities in the cities, the attitude toward childbearing is also changing in the countryside, the stronghold of tradition.

According to a study by Zheng Zhenzhen, a demographer with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, rural women with experience of working in towns and cities are prone to get married later, have less children, and wait longer before having a second child.

“Generally employment will prompt female migrant workers to put off marriage, and consequently childbearing,” says Ms. Zheng. “Our statistics show rural women who work in cities before having their first children give birth at an older age than their peers. For rural women with two children, the interval between the two births is also longer for those with work experience in cities.”

Ms. Zheng and her team also found that rural women with work experience in cities show a stronger desire tohave only one child. For those of the same age group, education and income level, exposure to urban life and values proves to be a key factor in their conception of the ideal number of children.

After three decades of opening-up and reform, farmers seeking jobs in cities is no longer only men’s business. The fifth national census in 2000 discovered that among the 15.065 million rural laborers from other provinces working in Guangdong, more than 7.7 million, or 51.13 percent, were female. “The percentage has been rising over the past few years. There are more women among migrant workers in the province compared with five or ten years ago,” said an official with the provincial government.

Employment brings rural women wages, which is vital for agrarian families, and what’s more, frees them to some extent from the control and binds of patriarchal social structures, enabling them to participate in more public activities.

“A rural woman’s financial contribution to her family is the basis of any analysis of her place in the family,” concluded Chen Lei, a demographer who has long researched rural population structures.

Back in the mid-1980s, Mr. Chen monitored a small village in Sichuan Province, one of the largest labor exporters in China. Many women in the village, married or not, worked outside the area, and played the role of breadwinners in their families. “They sent back at least one third of their salaries. Some would spend a minimum on themselves and remit all the rest to their parents. This money was crucial to their families, as farming can barely yield any cash returns,” says Chen Lei. “Some people with several daughters said they felt they were sitting on gold mines, while those with sons could not see a penny coming from them, and instead have to build houses for them and pay for their weddings. When girls’ economic value is recognized, they gain a higher status and have a bigger say in their families.”

Once away from home and part of city life, rural girls have to learn self-dependence and manage inter-personal relations themselves. Freed from home chores, they find more time to become involved in group activities with people their age, and therefore make more friends. This expands their horizons and ignites independent thinking, as well as building confidence. Gradually their attitude towards many issues begins to change.

Some scholars predicted that fast industrialization and urbanization in China would lead to explosive population growth. The reality is the attitude toward childbearing is more diversified, and an increasing number of people are not ardent about having children at all.