International Perspectives – Digital labour in parenting: A new type of gender inequality in families

Using digital technology and media is a daily practice for parents in many societies. Parents collect online information and childcare tips; communicate and collaborate online with partners, grandparents, and teachers regarding childcare; and use online services and platforms to meet children’s day-to-day, educational, and medical needs. While parents enjoy the convenience of digital technology and media, a new type of gender inequality between parents is emerging. In my article Gendered Division of Digital Labor in Parenting: A Qualitative Study in Urban China, I explore gender differences between mothers and fathers in their usage of digital technology and media in childcare. Working with my research assistant Ma Huan, I collected qualitative interview data from 147 parents in 84 Chinese families in three cities: Shenzhen (Guangdong province), Xiamen (Fujian province), and Tai’an (Shandong province). The findings show that mothers in most urban Chinese families spend more time on and are responsible for more digital tasks and labour in childcare than fathers. The prominent differences in digital labour in parenting between mothers and fathers challenge the positive stereotype of digital technology and media as progressive, liberational forces in the digital age. They also raise academic and societal concerns around the negative role of digital technology and media in oppressing women and deepening gendered inequality in families. 

Online searching for childcare information and knowledge

Many Chinese mothers in my research use search engines like Baidu; social media like Microblog, WeChat, and Red Note; and online parenting fora to collect childcare information and tips. A mother in Shenzhen shared, ‘I started following parenting blogs when I was pregnant to get information on early childhood education and compare my baby’s growth indicators with the child growth standards. [After my baby was born], I regularly followed and read parenting blogs.’ Mothers with young children pay particular attention to online advice regarding children’s health and development, such as how to make infant nutritional supplements and care for unwell children. Mothers of school-aged children focus on study-related blogs to enhance their children’s academic performance, such as reading about how to help and supervise them with science homework. These mothers also carefully filter and select useful information regarding their children’s growth and development and apply online information in accordance with their children’s needs and developmental stages. They believe that online parenting-related information enriches their childcare knowledge and helps them solve specific childcare problems, although they admit needing to carefully screen and analyse the value and efficacy of online childcare information because some parenting blogs are commercialised. In contrast, most fathers in these Chinese families show little interest in childcare information and make little effort to search for it, arguing that these are “women’s interests” or driven by mothers’ maternal instincts. Some fathers perceive parenting posts as “chicken soup for the soul” or devalue mothers’ efforts in collecting online parenting information as “brainwashing” by commercialised blogs or online misinformation.  

Online communication with teachers

The digitalisation of family life and schooling in China facilitates online communication between parents and teachers but also increases digital labour for both parties. Parents of kindergarteners and schoolchildren in my research reported having regular online communication with teachers via WeChat or QQ groups or adding teachers as “friends” on social media. In most families, mothers are responsible for online communication with teachers, helping their children complete online schoolwork tasks, and uploading children’s homework for teachers’ review. A mother in Shenzhen shared,  

“I did most of the online communication with teachers. Coursework and assignments from school often need parental collaboration. Teachers make announcements in the teacher–parent WeChat or QQ groups. Parents take photos [of the completed homework or assignments], assign files, collaborate with teachers in home-education tasks, and pay fees online. All these tasks are done by me. It takes a lot of my time.”

Most fathers are silent parents “lurking” in the teacher–parent WeChat or QQ groups. Both the mothers and fathers in my study believe that mothers communicate better and more easily with teachers. This is both because mothers as women are perceived to have better communication skills than fathers, and because gender stereotypes and the tendency of kindergarten and school teaching to be female-dominated occupations cause parents to believe that it is easier for mothers to communicate with female teachers. A father in Tai’an explained, “The mother maintains online communication with teachers…. I didn’t add the teacher as a WeChat friend because the teacher is a woman.” 

Online shopping for children

Online shopping has become popular in urban Chinese families with the proliferation of e-commerce in the past decade. Most mothers in my research regularly purchase milk powder, nappies, toys, clothes, shoes, books, and stationery for their children online. To find good-quality products for their children and make cost-efficient purchases online, mothers compare the brand reputations and prices of online shops, review online customers’ posts and scores, and strategically use online coupons and discounts. Fathers occasionally buy gifts online for their children to express paternal love. A father in Xiamen shared, “My wife did most of the online shopping. I do online shopping less than 10 times per year.” Many parents perceive mothers as “shoppers par excellence” with better shopping knowledge and skills than fathers and associate online shopping with maternal care and love for children. Some fathers believe that mothers “enjoy” online shopping while others use their busy work lives to explain their limited online shopping for children. 

Gendered division of digital labour in parenting

Mothers in most urban Chinese families shoulder a large share of digital labour in parenting, including intangible work related to information searching and analysis, knowledge capturing and application, online communication and coordination, and cognitive planning and decisions for childcare. Digital labour in parenting consumes mothers’ time, energy, attention, and other mental resources in their daily childcare. However, their digital labour is usually ignored or devalued in the family, and fathers’ limited participation in this labour is rarely questioned. The invisible, undervalued nature of digital labour in parenting and its gendered division between mothers and fathers reinforce gender inequalities in the private domain. They also raise concerns around the new pressures and problems faced by mothers in the digital age. My findings call for public reflection and policy interventions regarding emerging gender inequalities and the exploitations enabled by the penetration of digital technology and media into our private lives in the digital era. 

This blog post draws on research published by Yinni Peng (2022), Gendered Division of Digital Labor in Parenting: A Qualitative Study in Urban China, Sex Roles, 86, 283-304.