Workplace authority in China: gender, parenthood, and work sectors

Abstract Workplace authority is a key individual and organizational resource to which women typically have more limited access than men. Yet, less is known about how parenthood shapes this gender disparity and how the relationship varies across employment regimes. Drawing on nationally representative, longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2022), I examine within-person changes in women’s and men’s access to supervisory authority following parenthood, with particular attention to variation across the state and private sectors. Fixed-effects results show that, overall, women’s likelihood of holding authority declines after becoming mothers, especially after having two or more children, whereas men experience little change. These dynamics differ by work sector. A considerable motherhood penalty is concentrated in the private sector, whereas a fatherhood premium emerges only in the state sector. Parenthood therefore widens the gender gap in authority in both sectors through distinct patterns. These findings suggest that employment regimes condition the gendered meanings of parenthood and how they translate into access to authority. In China, the state sector’s formal protections may buffer motherhood-related disadvantages, whereas its male-dominated hierarchy and pronatalist agendas may sustain fatherhood-related rewards.