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Paper short abstract

This paper explores how remote work reshapes parents’ everyday experiences of the work–family interface in urban China. It shows that while both mothers and fathers face expanded work demands, mothers are disproportionately more likely to assume intensified domestic responsibilities.

Paper long abstract

While the growth of remote work has accelerated since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there remains limited understanding of how it shapes parents’ experiences of work–family conflict (WFC) in China. Existing research in Western contexts offers mixed findings on gendered differences in the impacts of home-based remote work on WFC between mothers and fathers. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 34 parents across 20 dual-earner households in urban China, this paper explores how home-based remote work reshapes experiences of WFC in everyday life among parents with young children. The findings reveal that home-based remote work often intensifies tensions between paid work and family responsibilities among these parents, in gendered ways.

The analysis shows that both mothers and fathers experience expanded work roles under an “always-on” digital work culture, yet they internalise and negotiate these demands differently. Fathers tend to frame home-based remote work as a voluntary extension of work devotion, reaffirming ideal worker identities. In contrast, mothers more often report difficulties in “disconnecting” from work, alongside intensified expectations of intensive mothering, leading to constant multitasking and self-exploitation. These patterns are further shaped by gendered configurations of spousal and grandparental support, which often protect fathers’ work boundaries while reinforcing mothers’ domestic responsibilities.

This paper contributes to debates on the social life of remote work by showing how everyday negotiations of work and care in the context of remote work are gendered, reproducing gender inequality within families in contemporary China.