Guillermo Munro and Alex K.Fong.[Photo/Shanghai Star]

It took three years for 32-year-old Chu Jia to make the change from being an anxiety-ridden full-time housewife to a confident working mother after her marriage failed.

After obtaining a master’s degree in media communications in 2008, Chu worked at a public relations company until she quit when she was six months pregnant. She became a full-time housewife and mother.

 Chu only managed to get a nanny to help out for the first three months after the baby was born, then she had to do everything herself.

“I was forced to be a housewife because no one could help me take care of the baby,” says Chu. Her parents run a family business and her husband was not around.

 The first two years were very hard for Chu as she turned into a tired housewife.

“I had about five hours’ sleep a day and then looked after the baby and did housework all day long. I really didn’t have any time to care how I looked,” says Chu.

Her husband started complaining about her appearance, saying she dressed more like a nanny than a young woman. They started arguing more frequently over trivial things, and he began to spend less and less time at home.

The situation got worse when Chu got pregnant again, two years after the birth of their son.