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With China’s gender equality being continuously optimized and women’s social status improving in recent years, women may still be vulnerable in the job market due to marriage and pregnancy, which requires the government to give more practical and humanistic policies to secure them a sustainable career.
According to a report by the All-China Women’s Federation and the National Bureau of Statistics in late 2021, so far, nearly 70 percent of the nation’s 690 million females have jobs. And among the nation’s employed from the ages of 18 to 64, females account for 43. 5 percent.
However, females bear the main responsibility of taking care of the family, though the nation saw more equal family status between husband and wife in the past 10 years. According to the report, females take up 76. 1 percent of the responsibility of caring for children up to age 17. Under such circumstances, some experts said that females may face greater challenges in their careers compared with males, especially those of child-bearing age.
Lu Jingbo, director of the Shanghai River Delta Law Firm, said that the challenge comes from companies’ pursuit for lower labor costs and higher working efficiency, which may, in turn, reduce women’s willingness to give birth and may affect the implementation of the third-child policy.
A 28-year-old woman surnamed Zhou, who serves as a brand manager in Shanghai, said that some headhunters ask about her marital status during interviews, which offends her. “Society has quite high standards for a woman, who may be blamed as a terrible mom if she chooses to work after giving birth to a baby. When she chooses to become a housewife, she may be beset with gossip that a housewife is not a real job as delivering babies is a duty to women. Bearing a child, for a woman, will bring risks and costs of physical changes, losing a job or increasing living costs. ”
The government has stepped up efforts to protect the female workers’ rights and secure them sustainable careers after bearing children. For example, northeast Liaoning province released a plan last month focused on women’s development, which clarifies that it will enhance supervision of companies and employers to stop any illegal behaviors encroaching on women’s rights.