Young moms searching for perfect work-life balance

Experts say more measures are needed to ensure that women with children can still flourish in the employment market. Cheng Si reports.

There are no easy jobs for adults, let alone for working mothers, who balance their work and busy home lives.

"I usually wake up at about 5:30 am to cook breakfast for my 8-year-old daughter, then rush her to her primary school before 8 am. Then I take the subway to work, and I read and reply to work messages during the one-hour journey," said Li Xinlian, a 37-year-old financial analyst in Beijing.

Li said she faces greater pressure than her husband in terms of work and raising their child. "It's not about financial stress: I have to be more aggressive and work harder to prove my ability or I may be assigned to a marginal position doing unimportant work because the boss is concerned that I might be distracted by family affairs," she said.

"It seems like I'm always living with the fear that my boss will fire me, while also concerned that my little girl lacks motherly love. Every time I feel like I'm having a mental breakdown, I push myself to get through it, and when I've borne such heavy pressure from my work and family I think nothing can destroy me. Maybe being a mother gives me strength? But it's a problem to need support from both my husband and society. Mothers should not be left to face things alone."

Yuan Linghuan, a 30-year-old bank clerk from Fuzhou, Fujian province, gave birth in April. She's also concerned about her work and arranging babysitters.

"I'm still on maternity leave, and it's obvious that it will be very tough for me to balance my work and family in the first days or months after I return to my job. I want to prove that my working ability hasn't declined because of the baby, but I can't bear to leave my little kid at home. I really need a lot of support from both sets of grandparents to help me adapt to my new life," she said.

She added that women seem to shoulder more responsibilities for nurturing children, experiencing greater pressure than men in balancing work and life. "Some colleagues even finished their maternity leave early to safeguard their jobs. Women start getting into the role of being a parent during pregnancy, while men may not be changed that much by a baby. The man's role as the 'father' is usually taken by the mother, grandparents or nannies," she said.

'Mother jobs'

Some exploratory policies and measures have been introduced to help ease women's anxieties about the work-life balance and build a friendlier environment for families with young children.

For example, the southern province of Guangdong recently published a draft policy under which employers are encouraged to set up posts with flexible work schedules and relaxed management for women with children age 12 and younger. These positions have been nicknamed "mother jobs".

Also, companies and social organizations are encouraged to transfer some skills-based and administrative positions to young mothers. Official labor contracts should be signed and employers can negotiate with women in "mother jobs" regarding flexible working hours to accommodate family needs. Moreover, no extra workload can be imposed on such women without their consent.

According to the notice, the employers should not offer such mothers positions that involve heavy physical work or may cause physical injury, while companies are encouraged to provide nursing services for women in such jobs.

The notice said the local government will not only organize more campaigns to recruit mothers who need work, but also offer training in a wide range of practical skills to help them win jobs.

Administrative and legal supervision of these positions will be improved to crack down on improper behavior by employers that encroaches on the rights of women with children, such as failing to pay insurance or reducing their wages.

"The policy aims to help women balance work and family life, which is a supportive policy for the nation's call for a more positive birth policy. 'Mother jobs' can offer more employment opportunities for women with children and also help reduce their family's financial burden," said Pang Shi, director of the department of employment and entrepreneurship at the Chinese Academy of Personnel Science.

Guo Sheng, CEO of the recruitment portal Zhaopin, said the policy could also help relieve recruitment pressure on companies, improve their image and help them shoulder social responsibilities.

"In the short term, women can win opportunities to pursue their career dreams and gain a sense of achievement. They can also improve their sense of happiness by caring for their families and working via flexible schedules," he said.

"It can also help reduce gender discrimination over the long term and reduce obstacles that prevent women from getting jobs because of marital status, which is beneficial to their high-quality employment."

He said that the establishment and management of "mother jobs" can help companies reduce their personnel management and monitoring costs, and stabilize their work team for higher efficiency and satisfaction. Meanwhile, companies should also pay more attention to the coordination of personnel in case the flexible working hours result in complaints from other employees.

Guo suggested that companies should devise corresponding management systems for women in "mother jobs" that allow for the differences in working hours and approaches between regular workers and "mothers", as they may result in complex situations and cause difficulties for employers and managers.

Concerns, competition

Women, especially those of childbearing age, usually face a more competitive and a harsher work environment than males, according to a recent report by Zhaopin.

It said that more than 60 percent of working mothers it surveyed — the report gave no indication of respondent numbers — felt that fertility is the main reason for gender discrimination in the job market.

Moreover, they said they feel a sense of shame when asked about marital status or family plans in interviews, or if they ask for leave when their child is unwell.

The report said that 30 percent of those surveyed said they face uncertainties about promotion because of their youth, and 23.2 percent said they had lost promotion opportunities because they were newly married and therefore likely to fall pregnant.

"I quit my job before giving birth to my daughter in November 2019. I spent almost four years at home focusing on raising my child. I started my present job in September after sending my kid to the kindergarten last year," said Liu Chuchu, a 34-year-old customer manager in Beijing.

"It's understandable that employers have concerns about women with children who are looking for jobs, because their focus may be distracted. I have several friends who have transferred to more flexible jobs, such as selling insurance, after having a baby."

She said it took a couple of months to get used to her new company's working speed. "I spent quite a long time not working. As I can work from home, sometimes I couldn't draw a clear line between my work and life scenarios. But now I can manage the schedule much better," she said.

"I restarted my career mainly to get a sense of achievement, not just to make money to raise my child. My parents were worried about my relationship with my husband when I was a full-time mother. I was very lucky not to experience discrimination when I was looking for work, and I was grateful that my husband strongly supported every decision I made about children and work."

Pang, the employment and entrepreneurship researcher, said it's common to see gender preferences in the job market in terms of requirements. For example, men are preferred for work on oilfields.

"Companies are usually concerned about possible lower efficiency or higher labor costs from the job discontinuity of married women and women with children. But it's discriminatory to not hire women because of their marital status or baby plans," she said.

In fact, many cities and districts had taken steps to improve the work environment and the employment of women with children even before Guangdong released its draft policy.

For example, Zhongshan city, also in Guangdong, started setting up flexible positions for mothers in 2021, and encouraged local employers in sectors such as manufacturing, domestic services, retailing and banking to offer "mother jobs" in August last year.

From March last year, Gaoming district in Guangdong's Foshan city organized six rounds of job fairs focused on "mother jobs".

As of March, the district had advertised 1,584 such jobs with 124 companies and government bodies, and helped 675 women with children land jobs near their homes in sectors such as real estate and insurance. Beijing's Shijingshan district also held job fairs in March offering "mother positions".

Flexibility, fair play

Guo, Zhaopin's CEO, said it is necessary to improve supervision of the protection of women's working rights, especially fertility rights, while gender discrimination in recruitment should be more strongly regulated to create a fairer job market for women, especially those of childbearing age.

He said companies can introduce more flexible ways of using and managing their human resources to better deal with job vacancies brought about by female employees getting married or giving birth. Also, more care should be given to working mothers — for example, setting up rooms for breastfeeding mothers.

He said society and communities can improve family education for every person to encourage close relatives to join the parenting group as a way of easing the burden on mothers, while it is also important to eliminate gender discrimination to ensure that women receive fairer treatment in the workplace.

"It needs the efforts of authorities, companies and society as a whole to win equal gender treatment. Working women can enjoy real equality as long as the differences in opportunities and rights are eliminated and social awareness of gender discrimination is improved," Guo said.

"Hope and opportunities are there for every single person, and everyone has the right to chase their dream, regardless of gender."

Contact the writer at chengsi@chinadaily.com.cn