External commitments

A report published last year by the recruitment website Zhaopin showed that 30.6 percent of mothers are worried that family commitments will not allow them to devote sufficient energy to their work.

Xu Huiying, a 30-year-old teacher and mother of two, doesn't think she could cope without the help provided by her parents and parents-in-law.

"Initially, my older son did not agree with me having a second child. So, during that time, he got in a very bad mood whenever I attended to his little brother. I owe thanks to the boys' grandparents. If I were working in a big city instead of my hometown and had nobody to help me, I would have quit my job," she said.

Huang, said the decline in the employment rate for women will have a negative impact on economic growth, and will hamper progress toward gender equity.

"As our country's demographic advantage (i.e. cheap labor) has gradually vanished, the decline in the female labor force may lead to an economic slowdown, while lower numbers of working women could also impose a greater burden on the social welfare system," he said.