• Female employees are asking for longer maternity leave should they give birth to a second child.

Female employees are asking for longer maternity leave should they give birth to a second child. (Photo : Reuters)

In a survey conducted by China Youth Daily, 88.9 percent of its 2,966 respondents expressed their wish to have a longer maternity leave should they have a second child.

Of this number, 40.7 percent hoped the period will be extended to six months, while 26 percent asked for a one-year extension. Another 6.6 percent said that the leave should be prolonged to three years.

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The survey came two weeks after China has announced it will end its one-child policy and allow all couples to have a second child.

Most of the mothers agreed that longer maternity leave is needed to take care of two children.

Under the current system, a female employee can have a 98-day paid leave that can be extended by 15 days should special situations arise.

Additionally, the government allows a "late maternity leave" of about 30 days for female employees aged 24 years or older who are pregnant with their first child.

According to Li Jianmin, head of Nankai University's Population and Development Studies Institute, maternity leave in the country is not short relative to other nations across the globe.

Li also remarked he supports the call for female employees in China to have a longer maternity leave, citing northern Europe and South Korea as examples.

The survey also covered other concerns that affect why some mothers are reluctant to have a second child. 73.2 percent said that second-child parents should be exempted from personal income taxes, while 71.8 percent said that kindergartens should be included in China's nine-year education system.

Meanwhile, another 74.2 percent of the respondents shared that women of advanced maternal age should be given more focus.