Changing Adoption Practices under the Male-Centered Family System: The Female Perspective

All these years, fertility rate in the society in Taiwan is declining. Does this phenomenon explain the changes of fertility for Taiwanese? This research is going to understand the husband and wife that are unable to give birth by them self, if they want to have a child what actions and behavior should they have. This research is going to understand the actions and behavior that will be done by the couple with infertile problem. We can observe the reaction of couple towards adoption due to infertility with this study. We can observe the adoption behavior due to infertile problem of couple in this study. In the society of Taiwan, if the husband and wife can’t get their children through natural method or artificial reproductive technology, they might consider the adoption of children. Even though the adoption statute in Taiwan has become increasingly comprehensive, the adoption of relatives is quite common type of adoption in Taiwan. In order to explain why Taiwanese family prefer the adoption of relatives, this paper attempt to investigate the adoption behavior under the male-centered family system from the perspective of married women. Under this background, we can investigate how the members in family make the decision of adoption and how much will be affected by Chinese culture. In the adoption process, we can also understand how much the decision will be affected by psychological requirement, individual family characteristic, family economic status and living style of marriage. Data are taken from interviewing with 10 married women who have the adoption experience. By interviewing the adopting female, we can understand the right of discretion(decision-making) and the right of discourse(speak) in their family. We can also realize the women’s impact in the male-centered family system. In conclusion, this research investigates the change of family authority by the participation in adoption event of female with the improvement of educational level and job location nowadays.