Why Chinese Working Mothers Don't Want More Babies

One ​​of them leads a team in a financial company and earns more than her husband. Another pursues her dream of becoming a civil servant. A third is an aspiring influencer who aspires to become the breadwinner.

Every woman is raising a young child and doesn't want another, few It doesn't matter what her husband thinks. for example, or what incentives the Chinese government, worried about the aging of the population, is offering.

The days of China's one-child policy are over. At a recent policy forum, President Xi Jinping urged women to take on greater family responsibilities and "play their unique role in promoting the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation."

These women see a different role for themselves. This generation was born into small families, with many girls growing up as only children and enjoying opportunities that were previously reserved for boys. Their own mothers, who did not have multiple children to support, generally worked outside the home and set an example for their daughters to do the same.

“I must have my own career. »

Joyce Zhao, 29, project manager

Joyce Zhao had worked for three years as a project manager at a small technology company in Beijing and was waiting for a promotion. But when she became pregnant with her son Ming, her prospects dimmed.

Her boss, a woman who had pleaded to be given a leadership role, left the team while Ms. Zhao was on five months of maternity leave. When she returned to work, her new boss told her she was late and needed to work harder.

“I was drowning in doubt, wondering if having a child at that time was not the right thing to do,” Ms. Zhao said.

But, she said, she never thought about quitting her job. and stay at home.

“I can only count on myself,” Ms. Zhao. "I must have my own career and not give it up for anything."

A few months after Ming's first birthday, Ms. Zhao, 29, decided to leave her company and landed a job at one of China's largest technology companies.

Her husband would like to have a second child, but Ms. Zhao is not. interested. His days are already exhausting enough. Her four-hour commute to work and long hours mean she gets home well after Ming's bedtime. She gets up at 6:30 a.m. to have an hour alone to read and exercise, and an hour to play and eat breakfast with her son.

After college, Ms. Zhao put aside her dream of becoming a civil servant to pursue a better-paying job. Now, having checked off marriage and pregnancy, she plans to study for the notoriously difficult civil servant exam.

“I divide my time, my energy and my money in different parts. , I keep most of it for myself, then the rest goes to my parents, my husband and my son,” Ms. Zhao said. "I can't let them take me away entirely."

"I don't see any benefit in having two children."

Guo Chunlei, 32, influencer

Before getting married, Guo Chunlei worked at a bank in the eastern city of Hangzhou, earning about $2,000 a month, a decent salary according to Chinese standards. Her parents bought her a small apartment and a car, so she spent most of her salary on beauty, fashion and traveling.

When she decided to have a baby in 2022, her husband and in-laws, who ran a growing family business in construction, encouraged her to move to less demanding work to have more time for kids...