The Choice to Have a Second Child and the Practice of Motherhood in China

Abstract

This study focuses on women from a middle size city in Liaoning province who gave birth to a second child after the transformation of the family planning policy in China. I conducted ten interviews to investigate the decision-making processes of having another child and the practice of motherhood. The result shows that women in the sample of this study made reproduction choices out of negotiations with family members and personal choice. Some women think having two children is ideal in a family. Additionally, family members’ fertility desire and their preference for the gender of the child affect the reproductive choice of women. Financial aid and unpaid work provision from the older generation are significant for their offspring to have two children. Furthermore, most of the women also believe mothering is a reserved job for women. This study focuses on women who live in small cities and enriches the understanding of their perceptions of motherhood and reproductive choices.