Working mothers optimistic about careers

Working mothers in China tend to be more optimistic about their careers compared with single women and married women without children, according to a survey. 

Although women as a whole experience promotion barriers at work, working mothers seem to be the most optimistic about their career development, with 15.4 percent thinking they will be promoted in the next year, according to a survey by online recruiter zhaopin.com.

That compared with 13.8 percent of their single counterparts.

Married women with no children are the most pessimistic, with 11.3 percent of them believing they will be promoted in the year ahead. 

Just over 42 percent of single women attribute promotion obstacles to a lack of experience and a lack of personal competitiveness in the workplace. For married women with no children, the obstacles lie in the fact that they might have babies at any time, the report said.

However, the main obstacles facing career moms come from their family. Around a fifth of working mothers think that caring for the family makes them distracted in the workplace, and parenting makes it difficult for some to pursue their careers.

Marriage and childbearing are affecting women’s values, zhaopin.com noted. Single women think independence and caring for themselves are more important, while working mothers value the family more.

Over 82 percent of single women are more willing to pursue economic and ideological independence, while nearly a quarter of working mothers think that having a happy family is the key to success.

Statistics from the World Bank showed that in 2019, China's female labor force participation rate stood at 68.4 percent, compared with the world average of 52.4 percent.