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- Volume 17, Issue 2, 2002
Asia-Pacific Population Journal - Volume 17, Issue 2, 2002
Volume 17, Issue 2, 2002
Issued quarterly, this journal is an invaluable resource containing opinions and analysis by experts on critical issues related to population. It provides a medium for the international exchange of knowledge, experience, ideas, technical information and data on all aspects of population.
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Gender, family and fertility in Asia: An introduction
Authors: Angelique Chan and Brenda S. A. YeohFertility decline has characterized the Asian population transition over the latter part of the last century. Beginning with the initiation of Japan’s transition in the 1930s, fertility declines in other Asian countries soon followed, with levels in Hong Kong, China; Singapore and Taiwan Province of China, beginning to fall by the 1960s. The latter part of the 1960s and the 1970s heralded the beginning of transitions in the major Chinese and the Republic of China cities, as well as the Chinese populations in South-East Asia (Hirschman and Guest, 1990; Westley, 2002). The total fertility rate for Asia as a whole, dropped from approximately 6 children per woman in the period 1950-1955 to approximately 2.7 children per woman by 1995-2000. Although there are regional variations in the total fertility rate, the current average level of fertility in Asia is slightly below the world average of 2.8 (Gubhaju and Durand, 2002). Currently, 14 countries and areas in Asia including Hong Kong, China; the Republic of Korea; Singapore; Taiwan Province of China, have fertility that is below replacement level (Gubhaju and Durand, 2002; McDonald, 2002; Tsay, 2002). At the same time, life expectancy has increased dramatically in Asia.
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Fertility decline, family size and female discrimination: A study of reproductive management in East and South Asia
Author: Elisabeth J. CrollContrary to demographic expectations and in defiance of historical experience elsewhere, widespread and continuing son preference in much of Asia has not proved to be an impediment to progressive or rapid fertility decline. Indeed, one of the most significant features of the twentieth century has been the dramatic decline in fertility and explicit preference for smaller families in much of East and South Asia which, far from reducing, has exacerbated son preference leading to increased discrimination against daughters. An examination of the masculinity rates, sex ratios at birth and gender-disaggregated infant and child mortality rates, all point to excess female mortality in most East and South Asian societies. A study of demographic narratives for each country suggests that, region-wide, there is an increasing tension or conflict between preferred family size and preferred family-sex composition which is only resolved by intensified reproductive management, technological intervention and excess female mortality. Simultaneously, ethnographic studies in villages and cities across the region suggest that beliefs and behaviours associated with the management of reproduction are rooted in notions of gender difference, complementarity and unsubstimtability. Within the new and now preferred smaller families, daughters, rarely able to substitute for sons, are subject to new trade-offs with daughters more than ever before “taking the place of’ or “limiting opportunities for” sons. This paper summarizes demographic trends in and patterns of female discrimination associated with fertility decline and smaller family size in East and South Asia, before turning to ethnographic voices in China and India to investigate and identify the premises or rationales underlying family management of reproduction. Combined demographic and anthropological approaches suggest that there is a demographic, development and gendered coherence in East and South Asia combining rapid or progressive fertility decline, rising and sometimes rapid economic development and common cultures of gender which have all contributed to an intensification of daughter discrimination.
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Gender and fertility strategy in a Yi community
Author: Zhihong BaiStudies of Chinese ethnic minorities, especially of women’s experiences, are few and it would appear to be worth probing what is behind the “voluntary” nature of birth control. Demographic literature tends to emphasize macro policy-making and management of birth control, but the subjects (or objects depending on the perspective one holds) of birth control policies — the experiences of husbands and wives — are often ignored. This paper intends to explore reproductive dynamics in a Yi village at a particular point in time (two decades after the two-child policy) by demonstrating how people respond to and deal with birth control policies, and how micro-level fertility in individual households is affected.
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Reproducing the Asian family across the generations: “Tradition”, gender and expectations in Singapore
Authors: Elspeth Graham, Peggy Teo, Brenda S. A. Yeoh and Susan LevyThroughout the developed world, with declining fertility and historically high divorce rates, the role of the family in society is changing (Sardon, 2000; Allan and others, 2001; Time International, 2001). In Britain, for example, there is an ongoing debate about the future of the family and politicians periodically reaffirm the importance of a stable union between a man and a woman as the best setting for raising children. In Singapore, similar concerns are evident, despite lower rates of births outside marriage and apparently different conceptions of the nature of the family. With fertility now below replacement level among the majority Chinese population and lowest among university graduates, the Government is clearly worried about the implications of low fertility and its correlate,“the declining family”. In particular, the family as a setting for the care of the elderly has become a major focus of concern. Moreover, for more than a decade, the Singapore Government has been proactive in its attempt to halt fertility decline by offering inducements, such as tax incentives, to have “three or more if you can afford it” (Drakakis-Smith and others, 1993; Graham, 1995). The introduction of the Baby Bonus Scheme in April 2001 is merely the latest in a series of measures designed to persuade Singaporean women to tailor their reproduction to the perceived needs of the State (Pyle, 1997).
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The effect of social interaction on fertility goals and behaviour among women in Bangladesh
Author: Lisa MartenUntil recently, much of the literature concerning population issues in Bangladesh has stressed the presence of conditions that would inhibit a fertility transition — limited opportunities for women in the job market, son preference (Lindenbaum, 1975), the value of children for ameliorating risk (Cain, 1986) and providing familial labour (Caldwell, 1982), the poorly managed national family planning programme (Hartman, 1987), and high infant mortality. Bangladesh is still largely impoverished and agricultural, infant mortality is still high, education levels among women of reproductive age remain low and traditional cultural institutions strong. Yet in this unlikely setting, the total fertility rate has declined from around seven in the late 1970s to well under four in 1994. The fertility transition in Bangladesh was achieved almost exclusively through the use of birth control methods (modem and traditional), with use increasing dramatically from 8 per cent in 1975 to 45 per cent in 1994. Since that time, fertility has remained constant, while contraceptive use has increased to 53 per cent. (Razzaque and others, 2002).
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Patrilines, patrilocality and fertility decline in Viet Nam
Author: John BryantThe 90 per cent or so of the Vietnamese population who belong to the Kinh ethnic group (Vietnam, 1991: volume 1, table 1.4) have a patrilineal, patrilocal family system. To conform to the rules of this system, a couple must have at least one biological or adopted son, Viet Nam’s dramatic fertility decline has, however, entailed a rise in the proportion of parents unable to fulfil this condition. What does this imply about the strength of Viet Nam’s patrilineal, patrilocal norms, now and in the future?
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Volumes & issues
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Volume 32
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Volume 31
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Volume 30
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Volume 28
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Volume 24
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Volume 22
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Volume 17
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