Some well-educated women are opting to become fulltime mothers in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Many are still eager to fulfill their talent and potential, in addition to caring for their families. [Photo by Niu Jing/For China Daily]

Experts called for more practical and humanistic measures to promote mothers' employment through improving public childcare services and organizing skills training, as well as eliminating job discrimination, to boost their hopes of gaining a better life.

Wu Haiying, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former vice-president of the All-China Women's Federation, submitted a proposal at the ongoing two sessions — China's annual political meeting — focusing on the employment problems of full-time mothers.

She said in the proposal that many women chose to become stay-at-home mothers due to the increasing cost of hiring babysitters, an unfriendly working environment and discrimination. More well-educated women in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have returned to their families and become stay-at-home mothers in recent years.

Stay-at-home mothers' decreasing connection with the outside world has left them questioning themselves and worried about their future development.

According to a survey by the federation's women's studies institute focusing on stay-at-home mothers under age 40 in four first-tier cities — Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province — about 47.1 percent said they did not get any sense of self worth being a stay-at-home mother.

About 58.6 percent worried about their status in the family and had moments of insecurity about their financial situation due to the suspension of their careers. The survey was carried out from September to November, but the number of mothers who took part in it was not mentioned.

It found that 82.7 percent of surveyed mothers had plans to land a job — either a stable full-time one or a flexible position. But their deteriorating work skills and longtime social disengagement could cause anxiety and fear when planning to return to the job market, and age discrimination in recruitment might also make finding employment more difficult, the survey said.

Women's employment, especially the hiring of mothers, has long been a contentious issue that has attracted public attention.

Recruitment portal Zhaopin released a report on Thursday showing that among married working mothers, over 70 percent were once stay-at-home mothers, and 20 percent returned to the job market to relieve the family's economic burden.

"I thought I was inferior to any other family members after I quit my job in 2021 and took care of my baby full-time for the next two years. I felt bad about myself," said Liu Yanqing, a 34-year-old from Beijing who got a job as an insurance salesperson in October.

She said she experienced a very tough time finding a job due to her marriage status and older age.

"I was not a good choice for employers compared with other young girls who were not married or didn't have a child," Liu said. "But thankfully, I got support from my husband and got through all the tough times."

To improve the employment of mothers, Wu suggested the nation improve job services and organize skills or entrepreneurship training to help them qualify for job openings.

She suggested employers set up "mother jobs" with more flexible working schedules to let mothers better balance work and families.

She said that it's also important to improve public childcare services for families with children under 3 years old, which can shorten the time mothers need to take care of their children full-time before returning to the job market.

Guo Sheng, president and CEO of Zhaopin, said: "Females can get real equality in the job market when the public eliminates differential treatment in giving opportunities and rights to them and changes stereotypical views on gender, which can also help create a society and economic development with diversity and vitality. Chances and hopes are available to every person, and dreams are not confined to gender."