World Population Day is celebrated on July 11th every year. It focuses attention on population issues that become more serious every year. In the last 20 years, this day has received global attention, since 179 governments recognized that reproductive health and gender equality are essential for achieving sustainable development.
2 One-child policy
Read the text about one-child policy in China. Match the headings and the pieces of text.
In 1979 the Republic of China introduced a population policy named one-child policy.
It was part of a birth planning program designed to control the size of its population that was growing
rapidly.
It was completely different from family planning policies of most other countries.
It allowed only one child per family and it was the most severe example of population planning ever
introduced.
The policy was slightly modified in the mid-80s allowing rural parents a second child if the first was a daughter.
Modification was made only for rural areas because the cities were already crowded. It also applied to ethnic minorities.
To ensure obedience, governments in China required the use of contraception, sterilization and abortions and the fines were enormous.
Also, families with one child were awarded 5 yuan per month.
The results of such a policy led to many adoptions and abandonment of children who were left by their parents.
Parents who had more than one child or those who wanted a son but had a daughter, started giving up the child for adoption.
It was a kind of strategy to avoid penalties under one-child restrictions.
Many families also kept their illegal children hidden so they would not be punished by the government for breaking the rules.
This led to abandonment of some two million Chinese children, mostly girls, who ended in orphanages or were adopted by parents from different parts of the world.
Ironically, one-child policy affected the role of women positively.
Women started investing in education and got better and higher paid jobs.
Also, traditional concepts of gender roles between men and women have weakened and the data has shown that the number of women attending college became higher than that of men.
This also applied to the secondary school. Women started being equal to their male colleagues from an early age.
Improvements in the healthcare of women were also visible and all of this was related to the time women started spending on themselves and their well-being.
During this time, many human rights were questioned especially the one that says that everyone should be able to determine the size of one’s family.
Restrictions, abortions, abandonment or even physical force were not uncommon during the existence of one-child policy in China and it all resulted in further violation of human rights.
The policy was eliminated at the end of 2016.
3 Vocabulary
Read the definitions and select the correct word.
4 Reading comprehension I
One child policy China
Finish the sentences. Use expressions from the text.
5 Reading comprehension II
Read the statements and decide if they are True or False.
6 Procjena usvojenosti ishoda jedinice
6.1 World Population Day Facts
Watch the video covering interesting facts about the World Population Day. How many facts are there in the video? Select the correct answer.
6.2. Read and select
Read the statements about the World Population Day and select the correct answer.
6.3. Fill in
Fill in what is needed to answer the questions about the World Population Day.
