More Chinese women graduate but jobs and equal pay still elude them | Women under-represented in STEM subjects at university and afterwards are quizzed about plans to start a family
More Chinese women graduate but jobs and equal pay still elude them | Women under-represented in STEM subjects at university and afterwards are quizzed about plans to start a family
> It took accountancy graduate Yang Jiao four months to find a job last year in what was one of the toughest job markets in years. It took many of her 100 female classmates at Sichuan University even longer.
> “Many female students spent six months or longer after graduation before landing a job,” she said, as the economy, laid low by a property crisis, struggled to gain momentum after the pandemic.
> By contrast, most of the 20 men on her course — even those with poor grades — found work easily, she said. “While female students in general study harder and score better in exams, they are at a disadvantage in job hunting,” she said.
> Chinese state media has celebrated the high levels of female participation at university as evidence of China’s progress on gender equality.
> But even though women outnumber men at university, they are under-represented in science, technology, engineering and maths courses. Some courses, such as navigation and mining, are deemed unsafe or inappropriate and they are discouraged from applying. The courses with the highest female attendance include primary education, home economics, psychology, women’s studies and foreign languages, according to independent data provider Gaokao.
> “Gender inequality has worsened” in recent years, said Leta Hong Fincher, author of Leftover Women. “Xi is determined to push women back into the role of wife and mother,” she said.
!ping CHINA&FEMINISTS&ED-POLICY
PearlClaw on
Man, sure would be nice if we had a immigration policy that could take advantage of this.
walrus_operator on
> A “boys’ club” mentality is particularly prevalent among the political and business elites, said Wang Feng, an expert on demography and inequality at the University of California, Irvine. Xi’s latest Politburo — a group of 24 top party leaders — does not include one woman, he pointed out.
> “The same is true for leadership positions in large state-owned enterprises and in other higher level government positions,” he added.
That’s pretty jarring. And as an amateur sinophile who only knows Chinese culture through xianxia/xuanhuan and websites like qidian, this disregard for female agency is deeply rooted in their culture.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the creativity of those novels but I wouldn’t want to be a woman in them.
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> It took accountancy graduate Yang Jiao four months to find a job last year in what was one of the toughest job markets in years. It took many of her 100 female classmates at Sichuan University even longer.
> “Many female students spent six months or longer after graduation before landing a job,” she said, as the economy, laid low by a property crisis, struggled to gain momentum after the pandemic.
> By contrast, most of the 20 men on her course — even those with poor grades — found work easily, she said. “While female students in general study harder and score better in exams, they are at a disadvantage in job hunting,” she said.
> Chinese state media has celebrated the high levels of female participation at university as evidence of China’s progress on gender equality.
> But even though women outnumber men at university, they are under-represented in science, technology, engineering and maths courses. Some courses, such as navigation and mining, are deemed unsafe or inappropriate and they are discouraged from applying. The courses with the highest female attendance include primary education, home economics, psychology, women’s studies and foreign languages, according to independent data provider Gaokao.
> “Gender inequality has worsened” in recent years, said Leta Hong Fincher, author of Leftover Women. “Xi is determined to push women back into the role of wife and mother,” she said.
!ping CHINA&FEMINISTS&ED-POLICY
Man, sure would be nice if we had a immigration policy that could take advantage of this.
> A “boys’ club” mentality is particularly prevalent among the political and business elites, said Wang Feng, an expert on demography and inequality at the University of California, Irvine. Xi’s latest Politburo — a group of 24 top party leaders — does not include one woman, he pointed out.
> “The same is true for leadership positions in large state-owned enterprises and in other higher level government positions,” he added.
That’s pretty jarring. And as an amateur sinophile who only knows Chinese culture through xianxia/xuanhuan and websites like qidian, this disregard for female agency is deeply rooted in their culture.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the creativity of those novels but I wouldn’t want to be a woman in them.