Analysis of working women's perceptions of state-regulated family planning policy: China as a case study

With a growing number of women participating in the labour market, gender discrimination in the workplace is increasingly considered to be an important topic. In China, the introduction of the three-child policy in 2021 added to debates around women's role in society. Some scholars argue that the three-child policy is beneficial for improving women's careers in China, together with various additional measures that aim to enhance women's socio-economic status. However, others suggest this policy regards women as a tool to boost the birth rate and undermines their position in the public realm. Amidst the controversy of whether China's family planning policy supports or hinders women in the workplace, this study aims to further promote academic discussion on three-child policy and women's careers.Research has explored women's career advancement in China but there has been very little exploration of the impact of China's family planning policy on women's career experiences. Also, a small number of previous studies have mostly focused on revealing the phenomenon of gender inequality in China, discussing the complicated impact on women's career experiences of the one-child policy to the two-child policy. Therefore, specifically, this study aims to build on these and explore the impact of the three-child policy on Chinese women's career advancement, focusing on their perceptions and experiences and on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in China. Therefore, this study is guided by the following research question: How do working women perceive the impact of the three-child policy on their career experiences in China? This study not only offers a nuanced and in-depth understanding of women's specific career experiences but also proposes policy recommendations for organisations and governments.