"I will follow the law of my country" : a study of young Shanghainese women's view on their future in the light of the one-child policy

Sammanfattning: The objective of this thesis was to reveal how young and well-educated Shanghainese women see their future in the light of the Chinese one-child policy and why. The questions were elaborated in depth through a qualitative interview study. They were contextualised through an analysis of historical data and applicable theory. The questions were how do young well-educated Shanghainese women view the Chinese one-child policy and how do these women foresee their future concerning family and career? The data was created mainly through interviews with eight Shanghainese students studying at the Fudan University in Shanghai. The main conclusions of our findings were that all interviewed women supported the family-planning policy and that they believed it as a necessary measure for the nation. However, the majority were not appealed to live in compliance with the policy themselves. Further, the women had a limited knowledge about the family-planning policy. The young Chinese women are facing a new era, where individuals' preferences gradually become a characteristic, resulting in great ambivalence to future family life. Making a career and a good standard of living were priorities above all to the majority of the women in our study. Key words: China, Shanghai, Family planning, one-child policy,