The participation of women in Chinese society over past decades has been shaped by the shifting relationships between state, market and society as these have impacted on public and private spheres of life. The article looks at these relations from the point of view of the development of childcare policies for pre-school children by considering three main phases in the development of childcare policies in China. It then turns in more detail to the coping strategies available to working parents in contemporary times. It considers this in relation to new intersectionalities of gender, generation and income. Finally, the article looks forward to new policies to better enable the balance of work and care in the future.
AbbottPNativelCWallaceC (2013) Dual earner parents’ strategies for reconciling work and care in seven European countries. Obervatoire de la Société brittanique14: 73–97.
2.
AbbottPWallaceCLinKHaerpferC (2016) Social quality and life satisfaction in China. Social Indicators Research127(2): 653–670.
3.
AttanéI (2012) Being a woman in China today: A demography of gender. China Perspectives4: 5–15.
4.
CaiF (2003) Review and thinking on private kindergarten education in China since the reform and opening up. Studies in Pres-School Education1: 71–74 (in Chinese).
5.
ChenF (2014) Family policy. Improving the development of women’s protection and its strategies – a summary of the Symposium on Family Policy and Women’s Development. Collection of Women’s Studies6: 120–123 (in Chinese).
6.
ChenFLiuGMairCA (2011) Intergenerational ties in context: Grandparents caring for grandchildren in China. Social Forces90(2): 571–594.
7.
CrollE (1983) Chinese Women since Mao. London: Zed Books.
8.
DuFDongX (2013) Women’s employment and childcare choices in urban China during the economic transition. Economic Development and Cultural Change62(1): 131–155.
9.
EngelsF (1902 [1884]) The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. Chicago: Charles H Kerr and Co.
10.
EversA (1988) Shifts in the welfare mix – introducing a new approach for the study of transformations in welfare and social policy. In: EversAWintersbergerH (eds) Shifts in the Welfare Mix: Their Impact on Work, Social Services and Welfare Policies. Vienna: European Centre.
11.
HeJJiangY (2008) Childcare policies in China from the perspective of the support of women’s work–care balance. Studies in Pre-School Education: 3–6 (in Chinese).
12.
HobsonB (2002) Making Men into Fathers: Men, Masculinities and the Social Politics of Fatherhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
13.
Hong FincherL (2016) Leftover Women. London: Zed Books.
14.
HonigEHershatterG (1988) Personal Voices: Chinese Women in the 1980s. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
15.
InglehartRNorrisP (2003) Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
16.
JiYWuXSunSHeG (2017) Unequal care, unequal work: Toward a more comprehensive understanding of gender inequality in post-reform urban China. Sex Roles77: 765–778.
17.
LewisJ (1992) Gender and the development of welfare regimes. European Journal of Social Policy2(3): 159–173.
18.
LiuBZhangYLiY (2010) Reform and improvement of public policies with a view to the balance between work and family. Journal of China Women’s University6: 12–28 (in Chinese).
19.
LiuY (2009) On some essential problems of preschool education. Also on the development strategy of preschool education. Exploring Educational Development8: 2 (in Chinese).
20.
LoganJRBianF (1999) Family values and co-residence with married women in urban China. Social Forces77(4): 1253–1282.
21.
NeeV (1996) The emergence of market society: Changing mechanisms of stratification in China. American Journal of Sociology101(4): 908–949.
22.
NeeVOpperS (2012) Capitalism from Below: Markets and Institutional Change in China. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.
23.
Pengpai (2016) Why is China’s feminist movement more ‘radicalised’ when western feminism is more ‘low key’? Pengpainet. Available at: www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1484642 (accessed 2 August 2016).
24.
Pfau-EffingerB (2004) Development of Culture, Welfare State and Women’s Employment in Europe. Aldershot: Ashgate.
25.
ShiH (1999) Provision of establishing primary schools, secondary schools and kindergartens by industrial and mining enterprises. Early Childhood Education10: 4–5 (in Chinese).
26.
ShuXZhuY (2012) Uneven transitions: Period and cohort-related changes in gender attitudes in China, 1995–2007. Social Science Research41: 1100–1115.
27.
StaceyJ (1983) Patriarchy and Socialist Revolution in China. Berkeley: University of California Press.
28.
StockmanN (2000) Understanding Chinese Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.
29.
StockmanNBonneyNXuewenS (1995) Women’s Work in East and West: The Dual Burden of Employment and Family Life. London: UCL Press.
WangH (2015) The transformation and the future of Chinese pre-school educational policy. Early Childhood Education6: 3–11 (in Chinese).
32.
WangHWangL (2011) Government procurement of preschool education services: Conditions and risk prevention mechanisms. Early Childhood Education11: 1–4 (in Chinese).
33.
Xinran (2003) The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices. London: Vintage Press.
34.
ZengX (2006) The financing options for early childhood education from organization-run welfare model to diversified funding sources. Journal of Beijing Normal University (Social Science Edition)2: 11–16 (in Chinese).
35.
ZhangYChenQ (2011) An analysis of the funding balance between three different types of kindergartens. Preschool Education11: 34–39 (in Chinese).
36.
ZhouX (2007) Early childhood education. In: NewRCochranM (eds) China: An International Encylopedia, 1st edn. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.
