Repeat after me: “Children are our most precious treasures.” Did it feel good? Repeat another three times, and I’m sure you’ll feel an impulse to have a baby. This is, after all, the slogan that won the NT$1 million (US$31,231) award in the Ministry of the Interior’s competition for a slogan to encourage population growth, so how could it not have that effect?
An aging population and decreasing birth rates are general trends in developed societies, and Taiwan is no exception. Given that Taiwan’s birth rate is now the world’s lowest, how serious is the problem? According to the Ministry of Education, the number of new first-grade students will drop by 15,000 this year, eliminating 500 classes around the nation. This number is expected to increase by another 2,000 students annually.
To solve this situation, the Ministry of the Interior, the ministry responsible for population policies, organized an online competition with a NT$1 million award for the person who came up with the best slogan to promote child birth. Despite strong criticism, the ministry could not be stopped. Now the slogan is upon us, so reciting it aloud or quietly repeating it to yourself will surely make you want to have a baby. However, even if our young men and women really were excited by the slogan, the hard facts of reality would pour cold water on their desire. The fact is that even the woman who wrote the slogan says that after having thought the issue over a hundred times, she would not dare have a child.
Today, double-income families are the norm. What will happen with work and family income during the pregnancy? Who will look after the child? Businesses ignore the maternity leave promised by the government. The cost of education, living expenses, upbringing and medical care is huge, the childcare system is insufficient and the cost of babysitters is high, so family expenses will increase. The economy is slow, unemployment high, salaries are falling, housing prices are going up, the divorce rate is soaring, the environment is deteriorating, social order is worsening and people are pessimistic about Taiwan’s future — too many concrete practical problems must be resolved, and another slogan won’t do it.
The different ministries and government agencies have already pushed out a host of policies to encourage child birth, such as child birth subsidies, childcare subsidies, maternity leave, family subsidies for young families and so on. Despite these policies, Taiwan’s birth rate has dropped to become the world’s lowest. The reason is that many of these policies are not enforced, that they lack support in business circles and that society is not ready to fully accept them. Take maternity leave, for example: Although legislation has been promulgated, businesses do not comply and pregnant women worry that they will lose their jobs, and so do not apply for maternity leave. The result is that the policy has become merely decorative, a policy to make the government look good. If even legislation is ignored, what use is another slogan?
The ministry’s attempt to use a slogan to improve the low birth rate is a perfect illustration of how President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his government are implementing a new style of government: Rule by slogan. They are trying to avoid having to solve real problems by diverting the public’s attention with catchy slogans and soaring rhetoric. The government should instead find the source of the problem and the reason why people are so worried about having children, then take action to remove these obstacles. That would be much more effective than coming up with yet another slogan.
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