Balilik' Oy Bazaar, Balasiz Oy Mazar

"Balilik' Oy Bazaar, Balasiz Oy Mazar"
(A home with children is like a bazaar, while one without is like a graveyard. - Uyghur Proverb)

China's child policies have contributed to women's low position and influence within the Uyghur community in Xinjiang. The policies were secured in order to unify all the ethnic minority groups (or minzu) so a nation that was dedicated to China and nationalism could be established.¹⁶ These policies were further created to first benefit citizens, and then the government and economy.¹⁷ The outcome, however, has been negative on the Uyghurs and even more so on the women. Prior to these laws, Uyghurs had large families in order to help out with the farms, for security (as parents age), because Islam stressed the importance of family and also because there was a high infant mortality rate.¹⁸ It did not take long for these policies to have an affect on the Uyghurs as their birth rate drastically fell from 20.91% in 1975 to 9.63% in 1985.¹⁹ So what exactly does all of this mean? Is it good that Uyghur women are having fewer kids or has it been detrimental to their status?



A positive result that one may calculate has been the reduction in childcare women have to perform since there are fewer children. More importantly, the introduction of contraceptives has increased women's rights in that they can decide to not have more kids. For example, Xamxinur, a doctor, wanted to have more children but his wife refused and so he “could not changer her mind.”²⁰ However, this is only apparent within urban parts of Xinjiang and in rural areas, the fertility rate is higher than it is in urban locations.²¹ Women in rural regions do not have much say when it comes to bearing children. Since there are limited amount of economic opportunities for the Uyghurs, they must stick to agriculture and this ultimately pressures women to have a large family, but more eminently, a son to inherit everything.²² The child policies become significant in this matter for it could ultimately have a negative impact on the women. If they do not bear a son and reach the maximum number of kids the state has constituted, they could be scorned by their family, or even worse, ridiculed if left by their husband.²³ The tension put on women to bear sons has reduced their status for they are considered to be responsible for the outcome of birth, which inevitably is out of their hands but the blame is still placed on them. The women's needs, desires, rights and health is placed secondary to the requisite of an heir.



Additionally, if a son is not born, it places tension on the family for there is no one to provide economic, social, etc security for them as they age; hence, the child policies become a restriction on the Uyghurs' culture. The precedence of family in Islamic culture is also important to further research on. If Islam places a sacred and significant value on having many children, how have these state plans affected the Uyghurs? As we will note later on, the Uyghur stress that actions need to be taken against the larger Han population, in order to safeguard the permanence of their ethnicity and culture in Xinjiang. As the Uyghur populations decrease due to the government's family plans, one can see how these policies are only damaging this community as it limits the number of children they can have. Moreover, the child policies have curtailed Uyghur women's status as infanticide, abortion or adoption of “unwanted or excess girls” is often committed in Xinjiang.²⁴ These actions portray the ugly picture of daughters being less valued than men and being seen as a burden on the family, rather than an asset like sons, who are the sole caregivers for parents.


(Uyghur girl wearing a doppa)

The culture's need for an heir has not been the only factor to contribute in decreasing women's condition within Xinjiang for the Chinese state also has an influence because of the child policies. While the government asserts its protocols are first and foremost advantageous for citizens, there is evidence that suggests otherwise. The state has become strict with these plans to the point where if one gives birth without their permission, they may lose their job for “an unauthorized birth.”²⁵ For the sake of nationalism and economics, the state is increasingly controlling the decisions of Uyghur women, as well as their body. Family planning is private and many hold various outlooks on it (i.e. life fulfillment) so it should not be managed by the government. Furthermore, the introduction of contraceptives can be viewed as liberating for women, yet it has become a tool that strictly regulates women's bodies -that is also personal and private- in China. If a woman does not follow the guidelines of the government and exceed the limit of children, they are forced to have an abortion; for instance, Dora, a 43 year old lawyer moved to Turkey because of China's birth control policy that ultimately had her “forced abortion twice.”²⁶ As a result of the child policies, both the Uyghur culture and the Chinese state have lowered the status of women as they have stripped them of their rights when it comes to the decisions on bearing children.