Impact of gender stereotypes on highly-educated women’s childbearing intention in mainland China
Date of Award
9-3-2025
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Doctor of Policy Studies (DPS)
First Advisor
Dr. AMEYAW Edward Kwabena
Abstract
With the popularization of education and the improvement of women's status, the proportion of educated and working women in China has skyrocketed, and these independent and well-educated professional women have more autonomy in life, especially in reproductive decisions and marriage choices. Some European countries have shown that the relationship between women’s educational level and their willingness to childbearing was positive. Some scholars have argued that an inverse association exists between more traditional family system and gender stereotypes on the one hand and fertility and marriage, on the other hand. China is a country with a deeply rooted patriarchal system and gender stereotypes always label women as family caretakers which subject them to discrimination in the workplace. Meanwhile, educated career women negotiate their way through the social structure and hardly become housewives, hence reducing their childbearing intention. The current study explores highly-educated women’s willingness to have children under gender stereotypes. Qualitative method was adopted in this method. In-depth interviews were conducted by purposively recruiting 30 participants to further study the factors affecting female fertility. The one-to-one in-depth interview confirmed the negative attitude of educated women towards childbearing under the social stereotype. The findings of the study can better understand the root causes of women’s low child-bearing willingness and help China and other low- birth countries continuously improve the fertility policy. The policy proposal of extending paternity leave and parental leave for men can alleviate the employment injustice caused by women's childbearing in the workplace on the one hand, and promote the equal division of labor of gender roles on the other hand, so as to reduce the career and family conflicts caused by traditional female roles. The key to increase fertility rate is to break the traditional gender role and build a childbearing friendly society together on the basis of considering the reproductive needs of women.
Language
English
Copyright
The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited.
Recommended Citation
Qiu, Y. (2025). Impact of gender stereotypes on highly-educated women’s childbearing intention in mainland China (doctoral thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from https://commons.ln.edu.hk/otd_tpg/42/