World News for Students of English

21-07-2021 07:00

China’s three-child policy is putting more pressure on working women, as the country cannot afford to have more women dropping out of the workforce.

With 61% of working women, China has one of the highest labor force participation rates for women in all of Asia; however, the number’s been decreasing since the 1990s. China began to undo the one-child policy to allow couples to have three children as part of and an increasingly desperate effort to reverse falling birthrates. The three-child policy is a huge blow for working women, as companies already discriminate against women who have two children, and now, they are going to discriminate against women even more.

China’s tech industry has become a notoriously unfriendly place for working mothers, as companies force workers to work excessively long hours. Besides this, employers don’t want to pay for maternity leave. By law, women in China can get at least 98 days of leave with full pay; however, the benefit’s only partially paid by the government.

Difficult words: reverse (to change the direction, position, or result of something to its opposite), discriminate (to treat someone unfairly because of their sex, age, race, or disability), blow (a hit, a bad surprise), notorious (well-known for some bad quality).

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