It is difficult to work with children How to break the "double anxiety" of working mothers?

Beijing, May 8 (Zhang Yilin) "When you go out, you have to move bricks, and you have to take your baby home." "This is a true portrayal of many women in the workplace who have been upgraded to mothers." Giving birth to a baby while taking care of the career, "dual identity" is a huge challenge for every working mother, this problem not only plagues every small family, but also attracts the attention of the whole society.

Data map: On the streets of Beijing, mothers play with their children. Photo by Zhang Hao, China News Service

The double pressure of "intensive motherhood"

At 2 a.m., Jinya coaxed her daughter to open the computer that modified the project copy. Returning to the workplace after maternity leave, she felt a little overwhelmed to keep up with the pace as soon as possible while breastfeeding and caring for her baby.

"The cost of having a baby is much bigger than I thought, and I want to reduce the financial pressure on my family and make some milk powder money." But after just returning to work, Jinya was not very adaptable, and when she took the baby, she worked with stitches and needles, and could only sleep for four or five hours a day. "Everyone says that it is 996 at work, and it is 007 with a baby."

Many working mothers, like Jinya, have repeatedly explored how to balance work and family, looking for the rules of life for working mothers.

Recently, the "2022 Working Mother Survival Survey Report" released by some institutions shows that from the perspective of the reasons for the lack of willingness to have children, the economic burden of raising children is still the primary concern of working mothers and working fathers. Secondly, it is "too busy at work to have time with children".

Shen Yiwan, associate professor of the Department of Sociology at the School of Social Development and Public Policy of Fudan University, also told the media that "intensive motherhood" brings invisible but breathless pressure to women in the workplace, and the employment rate of mainland women is higher than that of other countries, and for working mothers, they will face double pressure from work and family.

In recent years, to escort working mothers, the government has proposed corresponding measures. In this year's government work report, it is mentioned that it is necessary to improve the supporting measures of the three-child birth policy, include the cost of infant and child care for children under 3 years old in the special additional deduction of personal income tax, develop inclusive childcare services, and reduce the burden of family parenting.

"Including the economic costs involved in childbirth into the special deduction of individual tax for all employees is one of the most direct and operable measures at present, and can reflect the reduction of parenting costs." Lu Jiehua, professor of the Department of Sociology at Peking University and vice president of the Chinese Society, once said.

Infographic: Newlyweds take photos outside the Marriage Registry Office of the Civil Affairs Bureau. Photo by China News Service reporter Tomita

"Teammates" do not give strength, where is the powerful working mother?

When the 30-year-old leaves come home from work every day, they will be entangled by two human cubs shouting "Mother hugs". Work is often inseparable, but want to spend more time with children, Ye Zi feels that being a working mother lacks energy every day. "If you want to be Nezha, you need to have three heads and six arms."

One factor of Leaf's mental stress comes from her other half. Wanting to be a "dual identity" of a strong woman and a good mother at the same time, long-term sleep deprivation has deepened her dark circles. "My husband would just brush his phone and make me 'sleep more', and for a moment he felt like he wasn't understood."

According to the "2022 Working Mother Survival Survey Report", more than 20% of working mothers have experienced "widowed" parenting. According to statistics, 38.4% of working mothers said that their spouses "have time to share housework and take care of children", but 23.1% of working mothers said that their husbands "basically have no responsibility for housework and child care".

In fact, in recent years, in terms of increasing fertility and parenting security, the lack of fathers in family fertility support has attracted attention, and many places have added male paternity leave and nursing leave.

For example, in September last year, Jiangxi Province adopted the newly revised "Jiangxi Provincial Population and Family Planning Regulations", which stipulates that maternity leave will be increased by 90 days to 188 days, and the nursing leave for men will be granted 30 days, and paternity leave for men will be increased by 15 days.

Guangxi adjusted the population and family planning regulations, increased the man's prenatal examination paternity leave, during the woman's pregnancy, the man enjoyed 5 days of prenatal examination paternity leave; both husband and wife during the period of 0 to 3 years of age of the child, each year a cumulative 10 days of parental leave.

Infographic: Special Job Fair for Women in Employment and Entrepreneurship. Photo by Zhang Bin

Alleviate employment discrimination, working mothers are not left behind

In recent years, regarding the "fertility bottleneck" encountered by working mothers, in addition to the difficulty of balancing work and life, many mothers have mentioned the problem of employment discrimination.

"There are friends who find themselves on the edge of the job after taking maternity leave, and when full-time mothers return to the workplace to look for opportunities, they also run into walls everywhere." Leaf representation.

"In terms of employment, many people in the study, the negative effects of women's reproductive and parenting and other related roles are called 'maternal punishment', which vividly illustrates the impact of childbirth on women, such as the hidden discrimination encountered by women in employment, promotion and other aspects." Lu Jiehua said in a previous interview that "maternal punishment" has always existed in the current social environment.

Fertility problems have become an important reason for working mothers to encounter gender discrimination, and how to protect the legitimate rights and interests of women in the workplace has always been a topic of great concern in society.

In this regard, this year's government work report clearly pointed out that we should resolutely prevent and correct employment discrimination such as gender and age, and strive to solve the prominent problems of infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of workers.

In April this year, the revised draft of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests was submitted for second deliberation, and the second reading draft of the revised draft added provisions in the prevention of gender discrimination: The state establishes and improves the system of maternity leave for employees, and ensures that female employees during pregnancy and childbirth enjoy the rights and interests of rest and leave in accordance with the law. Employers shall not restrict female employees from being promoted, promoted, or evaluating professional and technical titles and positions because of circumstances such as marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave, or breastfeeding.

In addition, the policies of many places also stipulate that the extension of maternity leave shall not affect promotion and salary adjustment.

For example, Beijing stipulates that couples who give birth to children according to regulations enjoy an extended maternity leave of 60 days in addition to the maternity leave stipulated by the state, and the husband enjoys paternity leave for 15 days. During the period of leave between a man and a woman, organs, enterprises, public institutions, social groups and other organizations shall not dismiss them, terminate their labor or employment contracts with them, and their wages shall not be reduced.

In Zhejiang, for couples who have children in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations, the woman extends the maternity leave by 60 days for one child, a total of 158 days, and the second and third children have extended the maternity leave by 90 days, for a total of 188 days, on the basis of enjoying the maternity leave stipulated by the state. Zhejiang stressed that the extension of maternity leave does not affect promotion, adjustment of wages, calculation of length of service; employers can give other preferential treatment according to specific circumstances. (End)