Research On The Maternity Welfare Policy Of Professional Women Under The New Population Policy

Fertility is a major family and national issue.In recent years,with the rapid development of Chinese society,the age of population ageing has quietly arrived.In response to the growing ageing phenomenon,the Chinese government has implemented a series of new population policies,with the latest population policy of having three children and accompanying fertility support measures introduced in May 2021.However,due to China’s long-standing family planning policy,the concept of fertility welfare policy has been difficult to match with the current encouraging population policy,and problems and shortcomings have gradually emerged in the practice of fertility welfare,which has hampered the implementation of a series of new population policies in China.Therefore,it is imperative that the maternity welfare policy is continuously optimised.In this process,working women,as an important group of women of childbearing age,should be the focus of attention in the adjustment of maternity welfare policies.Both employment and childcare require a great deal of time and energy from working women,which often makes them feel tired and stressed,and a significant number of working women even experience career breaks due to marriage and childcare.Therefore,to address the dilemma of working women in China between employment and parenthood,it is necessary to explore the issue of maternity benefits for working women and help them create a balance between family and work by adjusting maternity benefits to better protect their maternity rights and interests and increase their willingness to have children.Based on the background of the new population policy,this paper focuses on the maternity welfare policy for working women.Firstly,by reviewing the background and effects of China’s new population policy,and comparing the contradictory phenomenon of the expected and actual effects of the population policy,we analyse the causes of the contradictory policies and the ways to solve them.Secondly,by combining gender theory,the theory of the three effects of childbirth and the theory of welfare pluralism,the problems and causes of China’s current maternity welfare policy are analysed from three perspectives: policy design,policy implementation and policy environment.Again,the paper analyses the fertility welfare policies proposed by the East Asian country of Japan and the typical welfare country of Sweden in order to raise the fertility rate,and summarises the implications of their experience in optimising their fertility welfare policies for China.Finally,the paper proposes pathways for optimising maternity welfare policies in four aspects: improving top-level design,enriching welfare content,ensuring policy implementation,and participation of multiple subjects.