Zhang Yu JeniZhang13@163.com JUGGLING work and family has never been easy. In today’s fast-changing world, it seems increasingly difficult to maintain a balanced lifestyle while moving up the career ladder. While full-time mothers may struggle with concerns such as lack of goals and direction in life, loss of sense of self-worth, and lack of financial security, many working mothers confront grueling schedules every day and have a lot on their plates — home responsibilities, raising children, and making a living. In an effort to support women’s access to the labor market, in mid-April last year, the Human Resources and Social Security Department of Guangdong Province advocated for creating “mama gang (媽媽崗),” translated into English as “jobs for mothers,” across the province to expand women’s employment. The department also asked for public input on this initiative. In addition to Guangdong, some cities and provinces in China have also begun to promote “jobs for mothers” since last year, providing a new option for couples of childbearing age, especially women, to strike some sort of balance between family life and work. Empowering working mothers According to Guangdong’s initiative, the “jobs for mothers” are primarily intended to accommodate women who have to support children under the age of 12 and are within the legal working age. These jobs feature relatively flexible working hours and management styles, making it easier for women to juggle work and family commitments. Shenzhen has also been exploring ways to create jobs for moms. In May 2023, the city officially started promoting mother-friendly positions. Liu Chunyan, a mother of two, believes that “jobs for mothers” have made it easier for her to achieve work-life balance. “When my children fell ill, the restaurant manager rearranged my working hours so that I could take care of them at home,” said Liu, who works at KFC Shenzhen. The company has reportedly offered over 1,500 positions to moms. At a job fair specifically held for women in Futian District on Friday, International Women’s Day, some 1,300 of the over 3,000 job vacancies were for moms. The job fair was hosted by Shenzhen Women’s Federation and Shenzhen Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau. One recruitment ad from a Shenzhen real estate agency specifically advertised a position targeting mothers —community real estate advisers. According to the company’s human resources director, surnamed Li, the company has offered this position to mothers for years. “It’s actually not exclusively for mothers. Fathers can also apply for the position,” Li told Shenzhen Daily. Li said that many female jobseekers had shown interest in the position and submitted their resumes. “The working hours of this job are flexible. Because it is more like a sales job, we focus more on whether the employees can finish the tasks instead of the time they sit in the office.” Wu Cuifang, a mother of a nearly 4-year-old girl, was among those keen mothers looking for opportunities to return to the workforce. After reading about the job fair in a WeChat chat group, Wu decided to try her luck at landing a job. “I’ve left my contact information with a fast food chain and a beverage company, both of which offered positions to mothers,” Wu said. Wu added that she was more interested in the beverage company because for her it would mean getting off work an hour earlier compared with the fast food chain. “My daughter is a kindergartener and I have to pick her up after school. Getting off work an hour earlier will be better for me.” This year, Shenzhen will develop more than 6,000 jobs for mothers, according to the annual key projects released by the Shenzhen Women’s Federation on Feb. 29. Other side of the coin It is without a doubt that jobs for moms, as a new kind of employment, encourage and facilitate mothers’ flexible employment. However, it is also noticeable that the majority of the jobs that are currently available to mothers require certain abilities and training beforehand, but not advanced education or specialized skill sets. On job adverts, such positions include customer service personnel, waitresses, sales representatives, delivery workers, and caregivers, with monthly salaries ranging from 3,000 yuan (US$417) to 12,000 yuan. Clearly, these jobs may not completely satisfy the needs of elite female professionals. The initiative proposed by Guangdong also encourages employers to provide certain professional, technical, and managerial roles when hiring moms. According to Zhang Lei, deputy director of the Institute of Population Research at Peking University, some of the current jobs for mothers will exclude fathers from their responsibilities of childbearing. “[This] accelerates the depreciation of human capital for highly qualified females,” Zhang said. She suggested elevating the acknowledgement of men and women sharing child care responsibilities, and changing the term “jobs for mothers” to “jobs for parents” in order to provide equal career support to men who share parenting responsibilities. | 