It is an expensive choice to have children in China, especially in big cities. Most parents struggle to afford child care and only a few employers do much to support the careers of working mothers. A new term has been coined to describe women’s challenges: the “motherhood penalty” (生育惩罚 shēngyùchéngfá). In this podcast, Dr Jieyu Liu, Deputy Director of the SOAS China Institute, explains why anxiety over the cost of parenting is having a huge impact on the birthrate and on China’s demographics. The host is Duncan Bartlett, Editor of Asian Affairs magazine.

China In Context: Episode 4 
First broadcast 2nd March, 2021 

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The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute.
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Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0