Abstract: Objective：To investigate the effect of the number of children on the career development of mother under the "two-child" policy, and to explore the conflict between the child-rearing and women career development. Methods: The data from "Investigation of the present situation and demand of family parenting 0 to 3 years children in Shanghai " was used in this study. The dependent variable was set as " whether will you give up the individual development opportunity for your family in recent 3 years?" The independent variables were those factors related to personal development, including whether the one-child family, demographic characteristics (gender, age, education level) and family demand. Three models were then developed to evaluate comprehensively the effect of the dependent variable by logistic regression. Results: The empirical analysis showed three obvious trends as follows. ①Women gave up more opportunities of the career development when compared with men under the same conditions. ②There were significant differences in the career development between women with the only one child and women with more than one child, suggesting that those mothers with two children could give up more opportunities of the career development. ③The career development of women was jointly affected by the demographic characteristics, family demand and one-child property. Conclusions: There is a negative effect of the increased number of children on the career development of women. It is necessary to do something at present to solve the conflict between the number of children and the career development of women.

Key words: Mothers, Reproductive quantity, Career development, Occupations, Career choice, Social gender, Sex factors