Increasing Burden for Childcare
With the implementation of the universal two-child policy in China, women are facing more and more obstacles and gender discrimination in employment, leading to a lower labor participation rate, according to Dan He, the director of China Population and Development Research Center. The policy also increased the burden of parenting, especially for working mothers. Some Chinese mothers even call themselves “widowed parents”, blaming their husbands for the lack of involvement in childcare.
Before COVID-19, women have already spent around 26 hours per week on childcare, according to the report of UN Women. And this has increased during the pandemic. Based on a survey conducted by Ipsos, Chinese women are estimated to spend additional 8.2 hours per week for childcare during COVID-19, compared to 6.5 hours for men.
More domestic work and heavier educational responsibilities account for the increasing time spending on childcare during the pandemic. In order to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Chinese government imposed several measures including lockdown, closing schools and suspending production during February to May. Working mothers have to do domestic labor while juggling workplace commitments when they are working from home. As Yunqing Shi, an associate researcher of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, mentioned in an interview conducted by The Paper, a Chinese media, the pandemic has brought conflicts between “infinitive spirit” and “exhausted flesh” to mothers. Some mothers even have to experience the same “jet lag” in order to take care of their children who flew back to China for online learning.
On the other hand, teachers pass the buck of educating young children to parents. Other than supervision, parents have to teach their children, check and even grade their children’s homework before submission. The burden of educational responsibilities falls mostly on mothers. As Mingli, a single mother, mentioned in an interview conducted by The Paper, she had to submit a hand-written report to her son’s math teacher, explaining why she didn’t check her son’s homework before the submission. In China, parents complained that homework for students is indeed homework for parents. Given the pre-existing gender gap in childcare, it is safe to assume that the burden of checking homework is mainly shouldered by mothers.
Increasing Burden for Elderly Care
Other than childcare, the burden of elderly care is also evident. The most common household structure in China is that a pair of working couples support both their old parents while cultivating their young children, a 4 (old parents) -2 (young couples) - 1/2 (children) structure. Before the pandemic, responsibilities of elderly care either fell on paid elderly care services such as domestic workers and nursing homes, or fell on unpaid household care.
However, the outbreak of COVID-19 changed the situation. Since many domestic workers stay in their hometown ---mainly rural areas in China---supplies for paid elderly care services has decreased in urban cities. In addition, some families are afraid that those domestic workers are asymptomatic coronavirus carries and nursing homes are at high risk because of clusters, demands for paid elderly care services has also declined. Burden of elderly care responsibilities gradually falls on working couples, especially on working women.
In some cities, women also shoulder the responsibilities of taking care of her and her husband’s relatives. Chinese society is called “relative society”. My parents always said that when getting married, remember that you are not marrying a single man, but are marrying his whole family, including his relatives. A big family undoubtedly enhance households’ abilities to tackle challenges such as COVID-19, since lots of family members are able to support each other. However, it seems like that the caring responsibilities is shouldered disproportionately by women. The Paper mentioned that in some cities with insufficient medical resources, some infected patients are taken care by their female relatives.
Burden of childcare responsibilities has also transferred from grandparents to working mothers.
Remote learning has eliminated the need for grandparents to pick up young children from schools. Susceptible populations like the elders, are encouraged to stay at home and reduce outdoor activities. Therefore, domestic work such as going to markets, shopping for necessities is transferred to young couples, mainly working mothers.
The increasing care responsibilities for women have increased their consumption in medical supplies, toys, and medicine. According to a consumption report released by Jingdong, one of the largest online shopping platforms in China, compared to 2019, women’s consumption of medical supplies such as masks, toys, and medicines has increased more than 100%, far more than makeup and snacks.
What can be done?
As a former employee of a private real estate developer, I noticed that my colleagues, who are working mothers, are always too busy to take care of their children. Though they are allowed to take a day-off, they hardly do so. It is not worthwhile to annoy the boss because of childcare issues. For those who are ambitious, they even work late after their children fall asleep.
In China, both childcare and elderly care are mainly household responsibilities, which is shared within the family privately. Providing public services both for childcare and elderly care can reduce burdens of working mothers. In addition, providing subsidies or tax reductions for those working parents can be great relief as well.
Moreover, the government should encourage companies to provide extra paid day-off for those working parents to encourage fatherly involvement in both childcare and elderly care. The government should also increase social insurance especially maternity insurance for women
The pandemic has increased burden of care responsibilities for women in China. Many even lost their jobs and become full-time mothers. The government should increase social insurance to protect women. More importantly, men should shoulder more care responsibilities.
This entry received 3rd prize in an op-ed competition by Bridging GAP (Gender and Policy), a student group at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy which aims to enhance awareness of the importance of gender among public policy students.
Photo credit: Jay Hsu