The Influence Mechanism Of Childbearing On Women’s Career Development

Gender equality in the labor market is an important issue in contemporary society,among which the influence of childbirth on women’s career development has always been the focus of academic and social attention.Numerous studies have shown that motherhood is a key bottleneck to women’s career development,leading to what is known as the "Motherhood penalty".Three competing theories can be used to explain the influence mechanism of childbirth on women’s career development: human capital theory,compensatory difference theory and employer discrimination theory.On the basis of combing relevant theories,this paper analyzes how childbirth affects women’s career development by using the data of the third survey of Chinese women’s social status and the data of case interviews with married women.Based on the case interview data and survey data of the third phase of the Chinese women’s social status study found:(1)of the different types of family status of women experience of wage income and career interruption has significant negative impact,the more children,childbearing age,the greater the first female lower wages and interrupt the greater the chances of career;(2)Human capital mechanism explains the impact of childbirth on women’s career development to some extent.The higher the education level or the participation of vocational training,the less negative impact of childbirth on women’s career development;(3)The mechanism of compensatory difference also explains women’s reproductive punishment,and having reproductive support has a significant positive effect on women’s career development;(4)For women who work in different institutions,the impact of childbirth on their career development is significantly different,and the career stability and salary of women who work outside the system are more likely to be affected by childbirth;For female workers of different generations,the impact of childbirth on their career development is also significantly different.The effect of fertility punishment on women born in the 1980 s is relatively large,and the intensity of fertility punishment on women is increasing with the change of time.(5)The employer discrimination mechanism explains the influence of childbirth on women’s career development to a certain extent,and the employer discrimination will aggravate the reproductive punishment of childbirth on women.The results show that the accumulation of human capital,the way of child care,housework sharing,the type of unit system and so on all have different degrees of influence on women’s career stability and salary.The reproductive support that women receive,whether it is from the family or the unit,can effectively alleviate the dual contradiction between childbirth and employment,thus providing more opportunities for women’s career development.Therefore,in order to promote female employment and increase the fertility rate,it is necessary to construct and perfect the family-friendly policy system to support female employment.At the same time,it is necessary to guide the establishment of a correct gender concept,emphasize the reproductive role of men,explore a new model of child care,recognize the social value of women’s reproductive and family care,but also avoid entering the vicious circle of "reproductive reward".