Now there's no excuse not to give up your bus seat for a pregnant woman.

 

A special badge has been designed for expectant moms without a bulging tummy.

 

The badge is the brainchild of Wang Zixian, of Ningbo, in east China's Zhejiang Province and has a graphic of a smiling baby with the words "Thank you for helping my mom".

   

More than 100 of the badges were distributed freely throughout the city on International Women's Day on March 8.

 

Wang said his idea stemmed from concerns for those women in the early term of their pregnancy.

 

One day, Wang overheard in an elevator a conversation between two pregnant women, who said their tummies were not obvious and as a result no one was willing to give up their seats for them. That said, the women were also to shy to ask.

 

Wang told local newspapers that he hoped the badge would make people more considerate toward pregnant women.

 

He Shuangli, Ningbo's financial backer, paid for the manufacture of 10,000 of the badges and has already distributed many of them.

 

The pregnancy badge has been well received, but there is the overhanging question about whether some people who are not pregnant will wear the badge for special consideration.

 

For some expectant mothers, especially those who look the same as normal women, wearing the badge looked "silly".

 

Some even doubt whether the badge will work at all.

 

"After all, whether or not people will give up their seats for you depends more on their willingness than the badge," Zhu Feng, a pregnant office worker, said.

 

(China Daily March 29, 2007)