Becoming a Mother in Taiwan: Policy, Choice, Fertility Rate

This is a translation from the original 高房價是低生育率元凶嗎？ by Chiang Ping-lun (江昺崙), a Tainan based activist. Originally published by Voice Tank. Translation by Jessica Wu.

According to a recent CIA report, Taiwan has the lowest fertility rate in the world. This finding sparked a lot of debate in Taiwan, with many commentators pointing to high housing costs as the number one cause. But can lowering the price of housing encourage young people to have children?

The matter is not so simple. First of all, the low fertility rate should be analyzed in two different ways: on a national security level and on the front of personal choice.

In terms of national security, a low fertility rate will cause issues in Taiwan’s demographic structure, which will lead to a shortage of social safety net funding (i.e., national labor and health insurance) and a loss of tax revenue in the future. A surplus of teaching positions will surface as fewer children are born to take part in basic education; the increasing proportion of elderly people is also a serious challenge for social welfare in the future.

Simply put, the low fertility rate affects overall social stability.

And do high housing prices affect fertility rates? Yes, but not alone — long working hours, low wages, workplace conditions, transportation infrastructure, and even gender friendliness of the society all influence young people’s consideration of getting married and having children. In particular, due to long working hours and low wages, young people are choosing to marry later, delay childbirth, or even choose not to have children. They are worried they either will not be able to afford childcare or have to work so much that they will have no time for the children. Therefore, “unequal social distribution” is definitely one of the key factors to a low fertility rate.

However, we cannot ignore the fact that the overall attitude of the society on young people also plays a certain role. Take Tainan as an example: the city lacks pedestrian-friendly infrastructure which makes it very dangerous for children or infants in strollers to walk around the city. Therefore, even though it is cheaper to buy a house in Tainan compared to Taipei, parents in Tainan must additionally buy a car for transporting their children. Therefore, outside of Taipei, a car has become one of the material possessions necessary for raising children.

This shows that the lack of infrastructure, even as something seemingly as minor as the lack of sidewalks, will reduce the willingness of young couples to raise children. Therefore, a low fertility rate is not something that can be dealt with by simply focusing on the price of housing. Focusing too much on the price of housing can even create undue pressure on potential parents: “now you have housing, why aren’t you having children yet?”

In the 1960s, fearing a population explosion, Taiwan began to promote family planning policies. The government even introduced the newly invented Lippes loop contraceptive device invented in the United States to “guide” middle and lower-income women to have the device installed in their uterus. From 1964 to 1969, the government “helped” over six hundred thousand women install IUDs. According to a survey, as many as 47% of the women who were fitted with IUDs felt that they had side effects that caused discomfort. However, because the device was cheap and convenient, it became a perfect tool for the state to control female fertility.

Fast forward to today, because of national security concerns, the public opinion (coming mostly from men) has reversed itself and now wants women to “birth more children for the sake of the country”, as if the female body is nothing but a tool that can be turned on and off depending on the “national interest.”

In the author’s opinion, the state can only improve the overall social distribution, create a gender-friendly society, and encourage and assist women who do decide to have children, but should not mandate women to have children, nor link childbirth to a single social variable, as if individual reproductive choices and receiving welfare policies can be bartered. Despite having a home, a car, and benefits, women can still choose not to have children.

This then gets into the second layer of the issue: personal choice.

I believe many people still consider having children as one of their goals in life, as it is a very challenging but rewarding experience. For example, the famous blogger “The Lins’ Kids,” a husband-wife duo, considers having children as a very happy activity. They have six kids together and the mother is happy with their choices.

Of course, we enjoy freedoms in modern society. There are many women and their significant others who, out of personal choice, choose not to have children.

The decision not to have children is not always influenced by practical considerations. For example, the well-known obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Wu En-Chi (who has long advocated for proper muscle training for pregnant women), decided not to have children herself after consulting with her husband. Her husband is also a doctor, and both are of high socioeconomic status, so it was definitely not due to a lack of means that led to their decision to not have children.

For Dr. Wu, not having children is her personal choice as a woman. It is her own planned path in life. As long as her spouse is supportive, she does not need to let traditional values or the opinions of others affect her negatively.

As time progresses and with Taiwanese society becoming more diverse and open-minded, more women are beginning to explore their meaning in life. They are creating a sense of ownership over their bodies. These women realize that “giving birth” is only one of many choices in life and it is not to be done out of obligation. So, some choose not to have children.

However, at the same time, the concept of gender equality has not caught up, especially for heterosexual men, creating a difference of values on matters related to women and their roles in society. For example, values of traditional marriage have women stuck when it comes to the “daughter-in-law and mother-in-law” relationship. The professional world can be discriminatory towards pregnant women and young parents. These factors create the second level “personal choice” that is part of why a low fertility rate exists.

For example, the rants on PTT and other online gossip forums regarding fertility rates probably turned more women off the idea of having children. For example, some people talk about the concept of “compulsory pregnancy service,” (alluding to the compulsory military service for men) to be required for women, which probably made the idea of childbearing more repulsive for many women. Then there is Du Zichen, a well-known commentator, putting the blame on young people for not working even harder to raise children; having an old man nagging at young people certainly does not encourage anything. There are those who take advantage of the opportunity to make this issue political, thinking that if only young people buy more houses, the birthrate will magically go up. This transactional mentality of “give you a house, hurry up and have a baby” will not work. These conservative social concepts are, in fact, one of the reasons for the low fertility rate.

Simply put, personal choice is a result of the fact that women’s consciousness of themselves has progressed in Taiwan, but society as a whole has not kept up This has led women to act in response to a society that is lagging behind in gender consciousness. This also explains why other countries that are less economically advanced than Taiwan and have lower average national income have higher fertility rates.

Therefore, our society should give as much support to women raising children as we can, but also be accepting of each woman’s personal choice. Each woman is free and has the right to decide whether or not to raise children based on her own trajectory and personal preferences. She should have full control over her own body even after marriage. Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the value of every woman who chooses to be or not to be a mother. You are brave for making your own decisions.

(Feature photo by kevin liang on Unsplash)