There are two main cultural ideals that have become particularly apparent since the implementation of the One Child Policy. Despite any implementation of policy, Chinese society already valued families with one child and still sees men as more valuable than women even at birth.
Lionel Jensen, a professor of East Asian Languages and Culture at Notre Dame, told New York Times "China has succeeded in creating a single-child culture," pointing out that many couples nowadays are often likely to abort their second child or simply not tell their parents another child is on the way. Jensen says the value of having one child "is patriotic, definitively Chinese, and economically rational," even there is clear economic drawbacks.
And along with the continuation of the one child culture, the cultural pull to have a baby boy still exists. Even before the one child policy, the Chinese culture was largely male-dominated society (Sudbeck,"Significance for Chinese Women(2012)", p.43).
No matter the gender of the child, that child is going to be expected to support three or possibly more people throughout their lives- the child themselves and the child's two parents and possibly the child's family. The cultural and family pressures to support families come early in life along with the pressures to obtain good grades and find a stable job and success early. With the One Child Policy, parents manage their child's time from early on to set them up for such success. With the additional stress and structure placed upon the only child by their parents, it is not unsurprising that a fall in birth-rates amongst One Child Policy babies has become a trend- they simply do not have time to start families, and consequently there is a lower marriage rate. Often times, men are seen as being more able to accomplish the expectations that their parent's set for the only child. And in many cases, women have no desire to get married and start families "The reason young urban women in China these days are putting off marriage—working longer than they might have in the past, and earning more—is because they can." It is not the only child's first ambition to marry or even to have children anymore, as they may be more focused on supporting the family they have had since childhood, or on their own professional or personal goals instead.
Other journalists and scholars have pointed out that the gender balance may have indirectly empowered women, while studies have also shown that the gender imbalance impacts men more ways than just finding a partner, as there is a strong correlation within areas with dangerous working conditions (Wei and Zhang, 2011) and a high gender imbalance, demonstrated via overall sex ratio.
