abstract: 'BACKGROUND

  In contrast to the historical experience of Western welfare states,

  where social and family policies help create more integrated

  public-private spheres, marketization in China has presented a case of

  sphere separation. This phenomenon has important implications for the

  dynamics of gender inequality in economic transition.

  OBJECTIVE

  This article examines how family status is associated with women''s

  career mobility in reform-era urban China and the impact of family on

  women''s career choices across different reform stages.

  METHOD

  Based on retrospective data from the Chinese General Social Survey

  (CGSS) in 2008, we adopt discrete-time logit models to examine the

  effects of marriage and childbearing on women''s upward mobility, the

  risk of labor market exit, and how the effects vary over time.

  RESULTS

  Chinese women in the workforce are adversely affected by marriage and

  having dependent children. They are more likely than men to experience

  (involuntary, in particular) job exit to fulfill their roles as wives

  and mothers and less likely to move up in the career ladder. This

  pattern is more prominent as the economic reform proceeds.

  CONCLUSION

  Marketization has adversely affected Chinese women''s career outcomes by

  increasing work-family tension after the work unit (danwei) system and

  socialist programs that supported working women were scrapped.

  CONTRIBUTION

  This study is one of the few empirical studies to attempt to explain the

  widening gender gap in China''s job market from the perspective of family

  using the two-sphere separation framework. The framework originated in

  Western family studies but has been adapted to suit the context of urban

  China'
affiliation: 'Wu, XG (Corresponding Author), NYU Shanghai, Ctr Appl Social \& Econ
  Res, Shanghai, Peoples R China.

  Wu, XG (Corresponding Author), NYU, Dept Sociol, New York, NY 10003 USA.

  He, Guangye, Nanjing Univ, Sch Social \& Behav Sci, Dept Sociol, Nanjing, Peoples
  R China.

  Wu, Xiaogang, NYU Shanghai, Ctr Appl Social \& Econ Res, Shanghai, Peoples R China.

  Wu, Xiaogang, NYU, Dept Sociol, New York, NY 10003 USA.'
article-number: '8'
author: He, Guangye and Wu, Xiaogang
author-email: xw29@nyu.edu
author_list:
- family: He
  given: Guangye
- family: Wu
  given: Xiaogang
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.4054/DemRes.2021.44.8
files: []
issn: 1435-9871
journal: DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
keywords-plus: 'LABOR-FORCE PARTICIPATION; OCCUPATIONAL SEGREGATION; GENDER SEGREGATION;

  MOTHERHOOD PENALTY; SEPARATE SPHERES; WELFARE-STATE; MARRIED-WOMEN;

  EMPLOYMENT; WORK; INEQUALITY'
language: English
month: FEB 2
number-of-cited-references: '101'
orcid-numbers: Wu, Xiaogang/0000-0003-0294-629X
pages: 189-224
papis_id: bfaa41e8fbd23759402dab8a096490c1
ref: He2021familystatus
researcherid-numbers: Wu, Xiaogang/GRR-4820-2022
times-cited: '6'
title: Family status and women's career mobility during urban China's economic transition
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000616337900001
usage-count-last-180-days: '5'
usage-count-since-2013: '34'
volume: '44'
web-of-science-categories: Demography
year: '2021'