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The Double Burden: Gender Equity and Fertility Intentions After the One-child Policy

Sun, August 12, 2:30 to 4:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Floor: Level 4, 405

Abstract

Drawing on the gender equity framework, I investigate the intended and unintended consequences of China’s recent end of the one-child policy. Nearly a hundred in-depth interviews reveal that while having one child is largely taken for granted as the next step following marriage, a host of obstacles remain when individuals decide whether to progress to a second child. Among highly-educated women, perceived disruption of career trajectories is the most salient concern. Chinese women view themselves as caught in the double burden of being a productive and a reproductive force. The generous yet imbalanced childcare leave policy, coupled with discriminatory hiring practice, lead women to view childbirth and full-time career as fundamentally incompatible. Simply ending the one-child policy, without additional institutional measures that address the issue of work-life incompatibility for women, may not successfully boost fertility level. The new policy may further exacerbate the existing gender inequity in China’s labor market.

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