In the ever-evolving social context, the status and role of women are receiving more and more attention. It is argued that more measures should be taken to support women’s fertility and career development, such as:
- Improving the egg freezing system for unmarried women: With changing social attitudes, the reproductive choices of unmarried women should also be respected and protected, offering them more possibilities through egg freezing technology.
- Extending paid maternity leave for women to 2 years: Providing women with a longer period of childcare will help reduce the stress they face when switching between family and career.
- Introducing paternity leave: By establishing paternity leave exclusively for fathers, it encourages men to share the responsibility of childcare, promoting gender equality.
- Establishing a fertility fund: It is suggested that the government sets up a special fund to provide tax relief and subsidies for businesses that employ a high percentage of female staff, thus alleviating the cost pressure of childbirth on companies.
These suggestions aim to address a range of difficulties women face in modern society, where the multiple roles from family to workplace often bring immense pressure. Societal stereotypes about gender, age, and appearance add to women’s employment difficulties, especially the employability of women “over the age of 35” is questioned.
In this context, many have chosen late marriage or to remain unmarried, leading to a continuous decline in the number of marriages. With the transformation of social and economic structures, the traditional expectations of women—as wives and mothers—should also be re-evaluated.
The development of egg freezing technology was initially intended to help women in need of treatment to preserve their fertility, but now it can provide a broader range of women with the freedom to choose their future. In this regard, a national CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) member has submitted a proposal at the national “Two Sessions” to better perfect this system, granting women more autonomy to decide when to become mothers.
In summary, the proposed series of measures not only actively safeguard women’s rights but are also necessary steps to drive the whole society forward. Future social systems and public perceptions need to change accordingly to adapt to the trend of the times and the needs of society’s members.
Since the United States opened egg freezing as a commercial service in 2012, women around the world have been paying close attention to and utilizing this technology for reproductive planning. Although China’s current “Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulations” strictly restrict egg freezing to couples and individuals who meet specific conditions, with the increasingly evident trend of women marrying later, it is expected that the average age of first marriage for Chinese women may approach 30 years old. Due to concerns over potential regret in the future, many healthy women choose to go abroad to countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and the United States to freeze their eggs, hoping to preserve the possibility of childbirth.
Experts have made several suggestions regarding this trend. Among them, Xie Wenmin advocates the launch of egg freezing services for single women in pilot projects in some economically developed cities. In these cities, the proportion of women in the workforce is higher, and the demand for egg freezing technology is more urgent. At the same time, relevant parties should increase policy support and scientific research investment in egg freezing technology to mitigate the risks and technical challenges currently associated with the process.
Against the backdrop of the country’s population experiencing a second consecutive year of negative growth, data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that by the end of 2023, China’s population had decreased by 2.08 million compared to 2022. In response to this population trend, Xie Wenmin further suggested creating legal conditions to reasonably restrict egg freezing for single women, to ensure the technology is used safely and appropriately. The proposal also advises related medical institutions, such as public hospitals, should be the first to qualify for egg freezing services to ensure quality of service.
Regarding legal restrictions on single women using their eggs, it is suggested to implement strict age restrictions and conditions of use to ensure legal and moral responsibilities are properly addressed. At the same time, Li Minbin, the deputy director of the Committee on Social and Legal Affairs of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), proposed that the health insurance department should consider including the costs of human assisted reproductive technology and infertility treatments into the scope of reimbursement for health insurance and fertility insurance, in order to reduce the financial burden on the childbearing-age population.
Regarding the identification and rights protection of children born out of wedlock, CPPCC members Xiong Shuiling and Professor Gan Huatian have respectively proposed that relevant policies should be made clear to ensure support policies for non-marital and single-parent fertility are equivalent to those of traditional family models. In addition, there are proposals to abolish the household registration restrictions on fertility support policies to ensure all mobile populations enjoy the same reproductive rights.
In addition, the National People’s Congress representative Hu Xiaoqing has explored the reluctance of young people to have children. She found that young people’s views on fertility are influenced by the dual pressures of workplace competition and cost of living, leading many to choose to have children later or not at all. An “China Fertility Cost Report 2024” released by Liang Jianzhang’s team further revealed the average cost of raising a child from zero to seventeen years old is 538,000 yuan, and if raised until the undergraduate graduation stage, the average cost increases to 680,000 yuan, which is about 53,000 yuan higher than the previous year’s data.
To sum up, in the face of the challenges brought by population structure and social change, Chinese society is gradually exploring suitable approaches in egg freezing technology, population policies, and protection of reproductive rights, in order to respect and safeguard women’s reproductive rights while addressing the increasingly severe population issues.
In different regions of China, the cost of raising children varies greatly. Under the current situation, Shanghai, Beijing, and Binjiang have become the three regions with the highest cost of raising children, with corresponding costs reaching 1.01 million yuan, 936,000 yuan, and 855,000 yuan respectively. It is particularly noteworthy that Jiangsu region’s child-rearing cost growth rate leads the nation.
Faced with economic factors influencing the desire to have children, experts have put forward a series of policy recommendations. For example, consider building on existing pro-fertility policies to implement more comprehensive policy measures – such as constructing a local-level positive fertility policy system, and implementing locally appropriate fertility subsidies.
Multiple cities have introduced measures to encourage fertility, including: from September 22, 2022, Yichang will provide a one-time fertility subsidy of 5,000 yuan to local registered mothers who give birth to a second child or more, and a monthly childcare subsidy of 500 yuan until the child is 3 years old, with a maximum total subsidy of 18,000 yuan; Qingdao city provides families with a second and third child with a monthly childcare subsidy of no less than 500 yuan and 600 yuan per child.
Expert Li Minbin emphasizes that national subsidies are also extremely necessary. Many developed countries have adopted the policy of direct cash subsidies to families with multiple children to encourage childbirth. It is recommended to establish a fund to encourage childbirth, significantly distribute childbirth subsidies, and provide direct cash subsidies to families every month according to the number of children each family has, thereby reducing the economic burden of giving birth and raising children for families. Currently, places like Shenzhen and Wenzhou have started to pilot new policies of providing a one-time childbirth subsidy to families with one child, which is a positive attempt.
Li Minbin also proposes to improve various tax policies, implement personalized tax deductions, and economic subsidy policies for children’s education and growth throughout the entire cycle, including education subsidies, personal income tax deductions, and direct economic subsidies to low-income groups, to ensure effective relief of parental pressures.
In the suggestions for relieving the burden of parenting, National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference member, and vice-chairman of the Tianjin Committee of the Agricultural Workers’ Party, Zheng Chunyang, calls for continuing to lower the economic threshold for having children, for example, proposing to increase the personal income tax special additional deduction for care of infants and toddlers aged 0 to 3 years, from the monthly 2000 yuan to 4000 yuan, and to encourage the establishment of a parenting subsidy system in provinces and cities.
Zheng Chunyang further points out that it is necessary to formulate specific policies to provide real economic support for different families in terms of children’s education, housing purchases, etc. For families with multiple children, provide clear and specific policy support in aspects like housing rentals, purchase support, and long-term education guarantees, and perfect a comprehensive childbirth support system for the entire cycle from pregnancy to the completion of the child’s education.
National People’s Congress representative, and secretary of the Anji County Yucun Village Party Committee Branch, Wang Yucheng, also suggests that to reduce the family burden, families with multiple children should be given priority consideration regarding provident fund loans. It is recommended that for families with second and third children within the policy, to provide subsidies and prioritize processing for government-designated new commercial housing purchases (limited to one unit) as well as for public rental housing and guaranteed rental housing allocation.
Finally, we must eradicate workplace discrimination and prevent the so-called “motherhood penalty” imposed on women who have become mothers in the workplace. This practice not only increases the economic burden on families but may also force them to give up opportunities for career development. Regarding this issue, National People’s Congress representative, and chairwoman of the Women’s Federation of Jiangsu Changzhou Old Three Group Co., Ltd., Li Chengxia, found that some working women encounter unfair treatment after pregnancy, such as being demoted or reassigned to more demanding positions under various pretexts by their employers.
In the effort to create an equal working environment, female employees face particularly daunting challenges. To reduce the cost of contract termination, some employers have taken measures that are disadvantageous to working women, such as through demotion, pay cuts, or changing working conditions, forcing women during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding to leave their jobs voluntarily.
Not only that, gender discrimination is still prevalent in recruitment. Female applicants report that some job ads explicitly state a “male preferred” criterion, even in sectors like the legal profession where there should be no gender restrictions.
To address this, national legislators and experts from all walks of life have put forward targeted suggestions. Wan Li, the vice-president of the All-China Lawyers Association, advocates for increasing the legal measures, using public litigation initiated by the procuratorate to combat employment gender discrimination, and strengthening collaboration between government departments.
National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) member Gan Huatian suggests extending maternity leave for women to two years with policy support. He emphasized that while this may cause enterprises to hesitate in hiring women, the government could step in to bear the associated costs, thus mitigating gender discrimination in the market.
Zhang Qi, the head of the internal medicine department at Jiaxing’s First Hospital, also strongly advocates for changing the existing gender role division of labor model, supporting the establishment of a paternity leave system exclusively for fathers. In addition, he has proposed the idea of creating a “multi-level shared parenting leave cost mechanism” to address the challenges of an aging population and low birth rates the nation is facing.
According to surveys on the social status of women in China, women’s participation in economic and social construction is increasing, but they still face inquiries about marriage and childbirth during job hunting and may even suffer discrimination and lose career opportunities because of this.
Therefore, promoting paternity leave policies not only advocates for gender equality but also helps to alleviate the negative impact of childbirth on women’s employment. Building a shared support mechanism can reduce economic pressure on enterprises while encouraging a more equitable and flexible utilization of parental leave, ultimately promoting a healthy demographic structure for the nation.
In the effort to promote gender equality and enhance women’s workplace rights, many insightful suggestions have been offered. Chen Zhonghong, the part-time vice chairwoman of the Tianjin Women’s Federation, suggests that a support system involving the government, society, employers, and families should be built. Such a system could effectively reduce the direct or indirect discrimination women may encounter in employment and promotion, thus ensuring their lawful right to employment and career advancement.
Similar suggestions also come from Tu Hongyan, the vice chairman of the Zhejiang Federation of Industry and Commerce and a delegate to the National People’s Congress. Tu Hongyan suggests that a maternity fund should be established to provide tax breaks and fund subsidies to enterprises that employ a higher proportion of female staff. In addition, Tan Lin, former vice president of the All-China Women’s Federation and NPC delegate, proposes that businesses should receive a government subsidy for a certain percentage of the social insurance costs paid during female employees’ maternity leave.
At the legislative level, it is recommended that legislators add relevant provisions when revising the Bidding and Tendering Act and the Government Procurement Law. For example, in government procurement and tendering projects, companies that perform well in gender equality status and have high grades in labor protection law compliance and integrity evaluations could be given additional points or considered preferentially under equal conditions.
It is worth emphasizing that whether single, married or having children, these are all personalized choices that women make about their own lives. American author Meghan Daum stresses in her book “The Best Decision” that whether or not a person chooses to have children, it does not affect their ability to be a responsible, contributing, and happy adult.
