New Delhi: It borders on the bizarre but is true. Several women across China are receiving phone calls apparently from government workers, and the question they are frequently being asked is: ‘Are you pregnant now?’ The workers make queries about family planning as well.
Many users of social media platform Xiaohongshu are sharing their uncomfortable phone experience on it, according to a CNA report.
“I got a call from a grassroots (worker) this morning, asking if I was pregnant,” a viral post on Xiaohongshu read. It has garnered over 11,000 ‘likes’ and attracted thousands of comments. The Xiaohongshu user by the username Guo Guo said she got a phone call which she found was personal and invaded privacy. The woman, who is a working mother of two, shared that the worker asked her when she would be conceiving a third child.
The woman was rattled, but she still managed a response, saying “did not have the time” as she was busy working. The caller quipped: “You can get pregnant first. If your mother-in-law can’t take care of (your children), you can ask your mum.”
‘Fertility call checks’
“Fertility call checks” became a trending topic on the Sina Weibo microblogging site, with users questioning the legitimacy of such calls and debating whether it was appropriate to ask women such invasive and private questions.
A Weibo user wrote: “Things are getting desperate.” The comment invited hundreds of ‘likes’. “I can’t see how effective this type of interrogation will be in the long run. How will it contribute to population numbers?” she asked. “This is even weirder than scam calls,” another user remarked.
According to an October 28 report by the South China Morning Post, grassroots government workers were contacting women nationwide as part of “a vigorous campaign organised by district administrative networks”. The report said: “The central government also hopes to learn why so many women are reluctant to have more children and devise new policy options.”
As per Caixin Global, a Beijing-based media group, workers would gather and record information such as marriage and childbirth statistics, which would then be fed into a central monitoring system. The Caixin Global report pointed out that residents would also be offered birth registration services, free pregnancy tests, and other reproductive health services.
This month, China’s Population and Development Research Centre revealed plans to carry out a nationwide survey aimed to “obtain new data on views on marriage and fertility and key influencing factors”.
