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After more than thirty years of enforcement, China’s one-child policy was entirely replaced by a universal two-child policy, which allowed all Chinese couples to have two children. (Zeng & Hesketh, 2016). The adjustment of policy has caused the heated discussion of the society and the attention of the media (Guo, 2016, p.2).

Since women group has been most directly affected, media also keep an eye on female rights and opportunities affected by the policy (Guo, 2016, p.2).

The roles of women in the news coverages are normally defined by the government according to its needs and national ideology (Wallis, 2006, p.94). With the improvement of women's social status in modern society and the alleviation of gender discrimination in China, the mediated representation of women has become more diversified and less subordinated (Wallis, 2006, p.95).

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Traditional understanding of Chinese women should be passive and dependent (Guo, 2016, p.31).
Micro level (language use and discourse):

Separate Chinese men and women into two groups by using “Them vs. Us” pattern, in order to show inequality between two sexes when it comes to employment and promotion in China.

Macro level (Power, dominance and inequality):

Reports have been made on issues related to the protection of women's rights and potential risks under the two-child policy, such as birth preference, employment discrimination and gender discrimination:

Reports show that women's employment rights were greatly affected by the universal two-child policy.  Women’s weak position in the workplace has been emphasised in order to call for gender equality and the elimination of discrimination (Guo, 2016, p.32).

Reports express support for women’s right to decide about child birth, which helps to construct images of independent women.

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How women are portrayed in the news coverage of family planning policy in Chinese news media?

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The traditional understanding of Chinese female characters has been challenged by showing concern about employment discrimination and gender discrimination against women. The idea of equality between two sexes has been reinforced, thereby improving the social status of women. Female images become more independent and pluralistic.
This study focuses on the groups of women affected by the family planning policy, such as women in the workplace, married women. However, the overall image of Chinese women cannot be simply represented by this part of women. Further research needs to be conducted on other female images to see whether female stereotype and gender bias still exist.

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1. Huijgen, C. (2016). The abolition of the one-child policy. [Master’s thesis, Leiden

University]. https://core.ac.uk/reader/82995550

2. Van Dijk, T. A. (1993). Principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse & society, 4(2),

249-283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926593004002006

3. Wallis, C. (2006). Chinese Women in the Official Chinese Press: Discursive Constructions

of Gender in Service to the State. Westminster Papers in Communication &

Culture, 3(1), 94-108. https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.19

4. Zeng, Y., & Hesketh, T. (2016). The effects of China's universal two-child policy. The

Lancet, 388(10054), 1930-1938. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31405-2

5. Guo, Q. (2016). Female image present and change in the coverage of family planning

policy – In the People’s Daliy, for example. [Master’s thesis, Shanxi University].

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Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was applied to answer the research question.

CDA is an approach largely concerned with the relations of discourse, power, dominance and inequality (Van Dijk, 1993, p.249). Through this analysis, how language is used in constructing women, and how female stereotypes, unequal status and gender ideology are sustained and challenged in the news coverage of can be understood in depth.

Purposive sampling 4 articles on China Daily website from 2013-2016, including keywords “women” or “female” and “family planning policy” or “two-child policy”.