The Dilemma of Motherhood Duties in the Context of Involution: Responsibilities and Expectations

-- A Case Study on Haidian Mothers

Abstract

The traditional gender division of labor assumes that men should be primarily responsible for the financial duties of the household, while women are responsible for the more elaborate tasks of family care, including the birth and education of children. American sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild discovered that women suffered from both physical and emotional stress caused by the great tension between professional and family responsibilities in 1989. Although women can join the public workforce, the traditional burden of housework does not diminish. Based on existing research findings, this paper focuses on the Haidian District of Beijing, China, where there is a unique group of women called "Haidian mothers" who have to cope with the pressure of educational involution, high self-imposed demands and social expectations. This paper analyzes the causes of these dilemmas at three levels: individual, family and society, and proposes feasible suggestions in terms of institutional construction and conceptual renewal, hoping to provide certain referential information for academic research on the gender revolution and the solidification of gender concepts.