Feb 28, 2021, 17:29
Shanxi-based expert Wu Xiuming has sparked a heated public debate by proposing that the large number of single men in rural areas be encouraged to "pair with" single women in urban areas. The gender imbalance in urban and rural areas has become a social and demographic problem.
Marriage is a matter of choice for many women
That China has a serious gender imbalance is evident from the latest official data released in early 2020, which show that in 2019, there were more than 715 million men compared with 684 million women in the country.
But to suggest that the gender imbalance problem can be addressed by "pairing" the single men in rural areas with single women in urban areas is unrealistic, because there is little similarity in the two groups' attitude toward life and thought process. Most of the single men in the countryside lack the quality and educational qualification to appeal to urban women, mainly because many of the single women in cities are well educated and hold well-paying jobs, and have not married because they couldn't find "Mr Right". For these women, marriage is a choice, not a necessity.
Wu's suggestion, however, reflects a kind of anxiety for the relatively low marriage and birth rates in China. The whole society needs to pay more attention to the issue.
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, China's marriage rate has dropped from 0.9 percent in 2015 to 0.66 percent in 2019.
Yet the low marriage rate is not a big problem in itself, because to be single is a personal choice in today's society. It is more important, however, that the authorities take measures to ensure pregnant women get equal and proper treatment at the workplace, not least because it is not uncommon to see women being asked, during job interviews, whether they plan to have babies anytime soon. Worse, once a woman gets pregnant, she faces greater job and career pressure.
This hidden discrimination prevents many women professionals from giving birth, in order to protect their career. And this sordid trend seems to be on the rise, because when forced to combine work with motherhood, some women forgo the latter given the huge time and energy both demand.
Using the loopholes in the law to protect women against gender inequality, many companies force pregnant women to resign voluntarily, rather than firing them, for example, by cutting their pay or transferring them from their original position to some trivial post.
Such tricks used by some companies run counter to gender equality, and the loopholes in the law should be plugged and supervision strengthened to ensure justice for women.
Yes, I dont think the marriage would last very long if urban women were encouraged to marry men from the countryside, partly because as the article says, they are looking for well educated men and partly because an urban girl will not want to do hard manual labour in the fields - she has got used to not doing that even if she originally came from the countryside.
So, how can we make the men from the countryside more attractive as mates for urban women?
Maybe the problem is a larger one and encompasses multiple layers of challenges, not least of which is the general migration from countryside to city to find a higher wage.
However, you cannot educate people better and NOT expect them to want a better life for themselves and their family. Urban authorities are now finding ways to send those who come from the countryside back to the countryside, which adds inflation to the economy since you have to pay the ones who stay in the cities more in wages.
I am sure it is a big headache for the government! and I dont envy their position. Every solution has an up-side and a down-side too.
Every company will try to find ways to save money where maternity leave is concerned, so, as others have said, it depends on the courts to hand out proper judgements and punishments which make it NOT worthwhile for them to get rid of women who are or are going to get, pregnant.
RE: "what will all of those millions of men do if they can't find brides?"
My guess is that they stay SINGLE since I left my Christal sphere at home... The new Census data is that the U.S. marriage rate hit an all-time low in 2019. For every 1,000 unmarried adults in 2019, only 33 got married. This number was 35 a decade ago in 2010 and 86 in 1970.
According to the UN, the country with the highest divorce rate in the world is the Maldives with 10.97 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants per year. This is followed by the Belarus with 4.63 and the United States wih 4.34.
The divorce rate in China has soared from around 0.96 divorces per 1,000 people in 2000 to 3.36 divorces in 2019.
Can't find a bride among Chinese women? Look beyond the border to foreign brides; many Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Myanmar brides to choose from! These foreign women are more than happy to be married to rural men in the world's second largest economy, with all the prospects of a good life, since now then is no poverty in China!!
"Shanxi-based expert Wu Xiuming has sparked a heated public debate by proposing that the large number of single men in rural areas be encouraged to "pair with" single women in urban areas. The gender imbalance in urban and rural areas has become a social and demographic problem."
Social engineering in the making!
"Such tricks used by some companies run counter to gender equality, and the loopholes in the law should be plugged and supervision strengthened to ensure justice for women."
If my info is correct, there are already laws to protect pregnant women from discrimination by employers! What is needed is not more laws but strict enforcement of existing ones!
Ask Prof Wu whether he would himself pair with a rural woman! He should practice what he preaches! The answer is obviously No, he won't do it because of the wide disparity between urban men and rural women mentality; and same applies the other way round, rural men with urban women! If Prof Wu had his way, there would bound to be social problems arising from such ill-conceived scheme for expediency! Divorce figures, already very high, would mount even further! Strange that the professor couldn't think outside the box, when it is so obvious his proposal would end up with mismatches, resulting in broken marriages and with many children of broken marriages, already a huge social problem in China!
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