China

The role of motherhood is defined in China by cultural tradition and by the politics of the state. In China's long history, mothers were charged with the responsibility of nurturing, caring, and educating children, as well as looking after such domestic affairs as cooking and cleaning. Mothers were subjugated by a male-centered order in a traditional household, dominated by Confucian patriarchal culture. Their identity was defined by their obedience to their husbands and sons. Completely dependent on their husbands, both economically and psychologically, mothers were still expected to be role models for their offspring.

Beginning in the early 20th century, influenced by Western culture and communist ideology, some educated Chinese women began to break free of traditional values and fight for their rights. A dramatic change in Chinese motherhood took place when the communist party gained power in 1949. Proclaiming the emancipation of Chinese women and improving both their social and family status, the government enacted policies that brought them into the workplace, for the sake of both mobilizing them as human resources to help construct socialism, and to promote political and economic equality. While opportunities opened up for women in education and various other professions, mothers as a result often were working the equivalent of two full-time jobs, both inside and outside of the household. This caused immense stress, especially when many daycare centers and kindergartens established in the early 1950s were discontinued. In rural areas, mothers engaged in even more exhaustive work, by farming, tending livestock, producing textiles, and processing food. Another significant obligation for Chinese mothers has often been taking care of elderly relatives.

Mothers' intensive load of bearing, rearing, and bringing up children was reduced by the onset of China's one-child policy in the late 1970s, which aimed to curb the rapid growth of population. China's economic reform and modernization has in some ways lightened household labor, although less so in rural areas, where the majority of mothers do not have the convenience of refrigerators, washing machines, and sometimes have insufficient water sources.