When “she” has become an economic model that dominates the Hot 100, when “she” has become a sensitive word that triggers controversy, and when ‘she’ has become a huge trend-setting force, are “her” voices really being heard? --When “she” has become a controversial word, when ‘she’ has become a trend-setting force, is “her” voice really heard? Are “her” needs really seen? “She” is the most important part of the crowd, and also one of the core members of every family and circle. When we talk about “she”, we are never talking about one gender or one identity alone, but about the mother who nurtures us, the wife who accompanies us, the children who depend on us, and the friends who care about us. The pain of each person in a small circle will eventually affect the atmosphere of the whole environment; similarly, the happiness and joy of each member will be transmitted to the people around them. In fact, the topic of “she” is closely related to all of us.

One of the most important realities at the time when “she” became the subject of research was the objective biological and psychological differences between men and women. In particular, women have a natural tendency to become pregnant, and the internal and external opportunity costs of actually having children are generally considered to be much higher than those of men - with direct and far-reaching consequences for the current global distribution of resources, career development, and division of labor in the family - and this is not even related to the individual's willingness to have children. -This is not even a matter of individual fertility intentions. The first thing we need to do when trying to make change happen is to recognize and respect the existence of differences.

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the country's rapid economic and social development has led to a significant increase in the number of women in the workplace and in entrepreneurship as a result of more diversified employment choices and better access to entrepreneurship. The number of Chinese women in the workplace has long ranked first in the world, and the labor force participation rate of Chinese women is also higher than the world average.

At the same time, there are still many challenges to women's career development: in the last three decades, the overall labor participation rate of Chinese women aged 15-64 has been on a continuous downward trend, slipping from 79.4% in 1990 to 68.6% in 2019.

As society enters a period of structural adjustment, women generally face strong work-family conflicts, which may have a certain impact on the fertility intentions of women in the workplace, and may also affect women's labor force participation rate. However, with the further development of society and the economy, women's status and economic independence are steadily increasing, and encouraging childbirth does not necessarily have a negative impact on women's workplace status and career development.

In addition to family status, the most important aspect of every individual is social status. This time, Zhi Zhi Research Institute will focus on women in the workplace, starting from women's career development, digging deep into the challenges and dilemmas faced by women in the family and society, and exploring the contradiction between women's career development and the need to have children, to further understand the opportunity costs faced by women who wish to have children and the external support they need when making decisions about childbearing, and to explore potential solutions that are more effective and have a better chance of being realized by integrating the viewpoints of various parties. In addition, we have teamed up with a number of NGOs and other organizations to explore potential solutions.

In addition, we have joined hands with many NGOs, business organizations and media platforms to call for joint efforts from all sides, calling on the society, enterprises and families to create a more friendly public opinion, living and working environment for women, and to create a “birth-friendly” atmosphere for the development of women's careers and the society.

Let's work together to return the right to choose to women and families instead of the helpless reality!

CHAPTER ONE

Status of and resistance to female employment in China  

Source: World Bank, Nuwa population

According to data from “The Development and Progress of Women's Cause in 70 Years of New China” published by the State Council Information Office in September 2019, women account for more than 40% of the employed people in the whole society. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, with the country's rapid economic and social development, women's employment choices have become more diversified and the road to entrepreneurship has become more open, and the number of people in employment and entrepreneurship has increased dramatically.In 2017, the number of women in employment across the country reached 340 million, double the number in 1978.

As can be seen from Figure 1, China's female labor participation rate is lower than that of Canada, Germany, the UK, Japan and Russia, and higher than that of France, the United States, Brazil, South Korea, Italy, Indonesia, Mexico and India, as well as higher than the EU average.

For a long time, China's female labor force participation rate has been higher than the world average, and Figure 2 compares China's female labor force participation rate for women aged 15-64 with the world average from 1990-2019.

Source: World Bank, Nuwa population

As can be seen from Figure 2, from 1990 to 2019, China's female labor force participation rate was higher than the world average by more than ten to twenty percentage points. However, the overall labor participation rate of Chinese women has been on a downward trend in the last three decades, from 79.4% in 1990 to 68.6% in 2019. The reason for the decline in women's labor force participation rate is not that more women are actively choosing to become full-time “housewives”, but also due to other factors, such as: the economic transformation of the job market squeeze, the increase in childcare responsibilities due to the refinement of childcare, gender discrimination in the labor market, and due to the general increase in the number of years of education for women, the time to join the workforce has also been delayed. Women's participation in the workforce has also been delayed due to a general increase in the number of years of female education.

CHAPTER TWO

Five reasons why women's career development is hindered

1) Traditional concepts and modern public opinion jointly shape women's self-awareness:

Thousands of years of traditional Chinese culture and modern public opinion have jointly shaped women's self-awareness. China regards "gender equality" as a basic national policy and guarantees it through legal means. "Women hold up half the sky" has become a well-known idiom and is still in use today. However, society's expectations of women in the workplace and their self-worth positioning are still often influenced by traditional concepts such as "men lead outside and women lead inside" and "girls should have a stable job when they grow up". Under the influence of such a social environment and educational philosophy, some women tend to position their self-worth more stably in the workplace, viewing their careers with the concept of "work" rather than "career". In recent years, the media has provided women with greater space for speech and communication platforms due to its openness and wide dissemination. Various workplace dramas and women's themed variety shows have attracted widespread attention from society, especially young women, and even have an impact on women's career choices. However, stereotypical images of working women on screen are still common, and a considerable number of viewers believe that female workplace dramas are "disconnected from reality".

2) Educational level and professional differences affect women's employment direction

From the perspective of education level, the learning ability and skills of Chinese women will not become obstacles to future career development: in the higher education stage, the proportion of female students is slightly higher than that of male students, with adult undergraduate and junior college students accounting for 58.0%, general undergraduate and junior college students accounting for 51.0%, and graduate students accounting for 50.9%. However, from the perspective of major selection, the distribution of female college students' majors is concentrated in the "humanities" categories such as literature, art, and history, while the proportion of female college students in "science" majors such as "engineering", "science", and "agriculture" is only about one-third. This means that there is already a potential gender ratio gap between different industries before choosing a career, which to some extent explains the small proportion of female executives in some industries (such as agriculture, manufacturing, etc.) (the number of women who can enter the threshold is relatively small).

3) Workplace environment makes gender equality a 'long and difficult path'

Most Chinese companies have not yet incorporated reproductive care for eligible women into their strategic considerations. Enterprises often calculate an "economic account" when hiring women, especially the additional expenses and potential "economic losses" that women incur during pregnancy, childbirth, and other stages. In fact, global data shows that companies ranked in the top quarter of executive team gender diversity tend to be more competitive, with a 25% higher probability of profitability exceeding the average compared to companies ranked in the bottom quarter. In 2022, only about 21% of the top 100 listed companies in China by market capitalization have elevated their culture of diversity and inclusivity to a strategic level, while this proportion is as high as 86% among the top 100 non Chinese companies in the Fortune Global 500.

4) Motherhood brings' dual pressure '

Chinese women face expectations bias in marriage and childbirth - women of marriageable age (with or without family planning) are blocked from career development and promotion. Survey data shows that 61.2% of women are asked about marriage and childbirth issues such as "whether they are married" and "whether they have a family plan" during job hunting, while only one-third of men are asked the same question. Female job seekers have to answer these personal questions during interviews and also bear the risk of losing job opportunities if they answer truthfully. At the same time, women in the workplace also face the dual pressure of unpaid household chores and workplace work. Although the high-intensity work pace and the "anytime, anywhere" work mode have had a negative impact on both men and women in the workplace, considering that the workload of Chinese women in unpaid household chores is about 2.4 times that of men, female workers face heavier dual pressures. At the same time, once women choose to become mothers, they may face a "double loss" of career opportunities and income. Some women in the workplace are forced to interrupt their careers after giving birth, which affects their opportunities for further education and promotion, or leads to a decrease in their salary income.

5) The differentiation of relevant systems needs to be explored

The difference in maternity leave between men and women exacerbates potential employment discrimination against women. According to the special regulations on labor protection for female employees, female employees are entitled to no less than 98 days of maternity leave during childbirth; There is no unified regulation on paternity leave for men in the country, and the paternity leave for men in various provinces and cities ranges from 7 to 25 days, which is much shorter than that for women. However, these policies and regulations that were originally intended to protect women's maternity leave have instead become incentives for employment discrimination against women in the workplace. Some companies consider maternity leave during the pregnancy period and the adjustment stage after childbirth as direct or indirect costs for female employees returning to work. Therefore, when faced with equally experienced and capable professionals in the workplace, these companies often tend to give opportunities such as hiring and promotion to men; This further increases the opportunity cost of female fertility.

CHAPTER THREE

Project research objectives

The promotion of women's career development cannot be achieved by any single force alone. It should be achieved through multiple channels and intensive voices, calling on the whole society to jointly create a friendly environment for the development of women's career. Major changes require active policy guidance, and currently both the central and local governments are introducing policies to support women's fertility. In order for policies to better assist women in employment, it is necessary to listen to more women's voices, introduce more female perspectives, and truly explore women's core career development demands. Only by clearing the obstacles for women to realize their personal value can we truly help them achieve employment and reproductive freedom.
3.1 Targeting female individuals: maintaining personal value enhancement, guiding employment planning, and exploring the needs of female groups

·Starting from data support and expert advice, we call on individuals to maintain lifelong learning habits, continuously improve their competitiveness, and work together with social support in both directions;

·Based on the current employment situation, help women in different industries and stages sort out their personal ability improvement directions and paths, providing direction guidance for coping with a more uncertain future.

·At the same time, from the perspective of individual women, we will deeply explore their employment difficulties and policy and environmental expectations for achieving reproductive freedom.

3.2 Targeting the Enterprise Level: Exploring Difficulties and Sharing Excellent Cases

·Understand the problems and challenges that companies face in supporting women, and what policy support they hope to receive;

·Through case studies, share successful experiences of excellent enterprises, so that more enterprises can improve their support for women and have excellent cases to learn from;

·Through continuous research and promotion, call on enterprises to strengthen their attention and support for women's career development.

3.3 Towards the social level: From the perspective of the social environment, comprehensive public opinion support

·Family: Enhance support for women's personal value realization from both spiritual and action perspectives. For example, sharing household chores with women, abandoning the traditional concept of "women leading the household and men leading the household", and recognizing the development of women in the workplace;

·Society: Creating a more women friendly public opinion and living environment. Reject the practice of "motherhood kidnapping" and give more consideration to the real needs of women in policy-making, in order to create a "fertility friendly" society.

CHAPTER FOUR

Research method

Survey questionnaire (overview scan): Conducted a survey of female employees and female entrepreneurs in collaboration with multiple strategic partnerships and social enterprises; Sort out the current situation of women's workplace and the main challenges encountered in the process of work promotion.

In depth interviews (problem insights): Conduct in-depth interviews with executives from multiple types of companies; Explore employers' expectations and concerns towards women in the workplace in the current market environment; Conduct in-depth interviews with typical female professionals and female entrepreneurs to gain insights into the reasons why women encounter bottlenecks in their career development and the assistance they need.

Workshop (Solution Exploration): Based on the core issues identified during the research process, gather representatives from multiple parties to exchange views on the understanding of the problems and jointly explore possible solutions.
Expert consultation (solution demonstration): Based on the research content, fully exchange opinions and consult with experts, integrate and output feasible solution proposals.

CHAPTER FIVE

Project highlights

CHAPTER SIX

Project results

Release format: Online and offline collaboration, expected to reach over 100 enterprises of various types, with a target audience (project execution+promotion) of over 10 million people