in China, telephone campaigns to encourage women to have children

Birth figures are in free fall in the country. The communist regime decreed general mobilization to encourage Chinese couples to have more children. Telephone call campaigns are organized by the authorities and they are not always well received by some young Chinese women.

China is facing a worrying aging of its population and the pressure is increasing, particularly on women of childbearing age. Authorities have launched massive phone call campaigns to encourage Chinese couples to have more children.

In the district of Miyun, in the distant suburbs of Beijing, the appeal campaign started several months ago. The authorities telephone, several times if necessary, always with the same question, as recounted by a teacher who already has two children: “The head of the village birth service called me and told me that state policy and subsidies were better today for young parents. And then she asked me if I wanted to have a another child. I replied that I didn't want to have any more children.”

“I received this kind of call twice. And maybe more, because the other times, seeing unknown numbers, I did not answer.”

Chinese teacher, mother of two children

at franceinfo

Immediately married and immediately called. This was the case for Alice: “I got several calls from the local women's federation, and when I got married they called me saying, 'We know you're married, if you get pregnant you can now get vitamin B9 free of charge for the proper development of the fetus.'”

Very insistent calls which put pressure on couples. Many do not agree with these kinds of methods. “I refuse these kinds of phone callsexplains a man. When someone calls me, I hang up, because it's my wife's business. I don't want to be forced. I already have pressure from my parents. I don't want strangers to intervene too.” “I don't want the neighborhood committee to call me that. If he does it I'll tell him to stop, I think it's really a way of forcing people to have a baby.”continues his companion.

This district of Beijing is not an isolated case. On social media, many Chinese women across the country are telling the same story and some are not hiding their anger. “Please respect my personal choice and don't call like that to pressureexplains a woman on a social network. It is not you, the neighborhood committee, who will suffer the pain during childbirth, who will help me feed the baby day and night, or even, after the pregnancy, will face all the expenses. Stop talking about this topic.”

The authorities assume. In Miyun district, family planning announces that nearly 5% of couples have received no fewer than six phone calls. 500 agents are mobilized in the district to promote “the culture of marriage and parenthood”.