Cash incentive to give mother’s name
Print Edition
PARENTS are being offered cash rewards to give their newborn children the mother’s last name, a report said yesterday, in an unusual attempt to address the traditional preference for sons.
Women who marry in China keep their own surnames, but their children almost invariably take the father’s name and ensure its continuation into the next generation.
Now officials in Changfeng County in east China’s Anhui Province are giving 1,000 yuan (US$162) to couples who take part in the “surname reform” plan, Jianghuai Morning Post reported.
They hope the move will help to gradually change the common perception that giving birth to a son is preferable to having a daughter, it said, and nearly 30 couples have already volunteered.
China suffers from a gender imbalance as a result of sex-selective abortions and the strict family-planning law known as the one-child policy. Female infanticide and the abandoning of baby girls have also been reported.
In most countries, males slightly outnumber females, with between 103 and 107 boys born for every 100 girls, but China had nearly 118 male births for every 100 females in 2012.
In Changfeng, that ratio has reached nearly 130 boys for every 100 girls, according to the newspaper.
“Our goal is to promote an idea — for families to give their newborn child the surname of whoever they want,” said Gong Cunbing, deputy director of the county population and family planning committee.
China has tens of millions more men than women, experts say. Many of them are now unable to find Chinese brides.
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