Who Takes Care of Their Children When Mothers Work: a Case Study of Chinese Urban Working Mothers

Abstract

China has maintained a high urban female employment rate despite the country's dramatic transformation from the planned system to a market economy, during which the old work units based childcare services have been greatly reduced. However, new commercial domestic services have developed rapidly as a result of the expansion of the market sector. Who were looking after their children when working mothers were at work before and after the socio-economic transition? This article presents a comparative study of the changing childcare arrangements adopted by full-time state female workers between the 1970s-1990s. An in-depth case study on 260 working mothers from two State-Owned Enterprises in Beijing, this article attempts to portray these working mothers' experiences as accurately as possible. Combining multi-state life-table technique and primary data, the analysis shows that working mothers increasingly rely on help from families for the care of their younger children. The commercial services are more an option for those with better economic conditions. Ordinary working women, especially those with lower wage incomes, still rely on the old welfare provisions. The decline of the welfare childcare provision in recent years represents a new challenge for this group of women. CR - Copyright © 2005 International Journals