Spending less time sharing the task: market work and child care in eight provinces of China.

A most significant change in the late 20th century is the shift of women especially mothers of young children out of the home into market production. Between 1950 and 1985 female labor force participation in developing countries as a whole rose from 37 to 42 percent and more importantly within the labor force women entered into more formal employment relationships (Joeckes 1989: 73). To the extent that market work is incompatible with child care working mothers devote less time to child care recruiting others in the household or nearby to perform some of these tasks in their stead or possibly leaving children unattended for periods during the work day. Changes in the amount of time spent on child care and shifts in the allocation of responsibility for it in turn have raised questions about the welfare of the children involved (including their nutritional status) and their intellectual development. Accordingly much of the literature on child care has focused on factors related to womens work--employment status occupation location of job compatibility with child care hours and wages--each of which may have consequences for child welfare (Buvinic et al. 1983; Leslie and Paolisso 1989). But other social and economic changes may be equally important in affecting the intra-household provision of child care including changes in household forms and composition fertility decline increased schooling for young girls urbanization and continued migration to urban areas and (in some places) an expansion of day care facilities. (excerpt)