Women and community service in Beijing-limited support?

This paper, based upon interviews of women caregivers in Beijing, argues that the 50 years of socialist transformation in the People's Republic of China (PRC) has not changed the traditional caring ideology, which considers women as the main caregivers in their families. The economic reforms begun in 1979 have altered the mode of welfare provision in such a way that deters women from using community services to ease their caring burden. While traditional caring ideology reinforced by the economic reforms is one factor, the attitudes towards community service held by the women caregivers also explain why they do not use it. The attitudes reflect the Chinese characteristics of community service in the PRC including failure to serve the most needy, insufficient statutory powers and support to the service providers, and the lack of high caliber service providers.