Women Hold up Half the Sky
These three stories illustrate the process of women’s liberation in China and how social expectations of women changed during their lifetimes and over the span of the 20th century.
Unlike the bottom-up change Western countries experienced, during which groups of activists put pressure on their country’s ruling politicians, women’s liberation in China was top down. Soon after the PRC was founded, Mao made the famous proclamation, “Women hold up half the sky,” which encouraged confidence in Chinese women. The government took the lead in providing job opportunities for women. Women were given the right to initiate divorce proceedings, as well as equal rights to stand in elections.
In more recent years rapid economic growth has created an environment conducive to raising the position of women in society. “In the age of hand-to-hand combat, only men could confront each other,” said Wang Jiafen, president of the Shanghai Female Entrepreneurs Association, “but in the economic war of today, wisdom rather than physical strength is required. China’s strong economic growth has created more opportunities for women.”
A Long Way to Go
However, there is still a long way to go for full gender equality. The 2011 report of the Investigation on Chinese Women’s Social Status, which has been conducted every 10 years since 1990 by the All-China Women’s Federation and the National Bureau of Statistics, revealed a huge gap in incomes. In urban areas the annual labor income of women was just 67.3 percent that of men, and in rural areas the figure was even lower at 56 percent. Many obstacles existed blocking women’s access to decision-making and management, and women undertook more housework than men. The investigation showed the situation was worse for rural women. Women without access to education, healthcare, or their own land was a rampant problem in China’s west. Gender discrimination in many rural areas had resulted in selective abortion of female babies.
These problems are shared by many countries, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2012. The report points out that, worldwide, women are catching up in healthcare and educational attainment, but the gap remains in attaining higher positions or salaries and there are few women who make it into the boardroom. Between 2011 and 2012, 62 percent of countries narrowed the economic gap women faced, but only 20 percent of countries achieved progress in women’s participation in politics.
Han Jian is a teacher in the Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. Her MBA class is 28 years old on average and half are women. But in the EMBA class, with an average age of 40, only 20 percent are women. “We really want excellent female managers to come in to companies or the government,” she said. “In theory they are completely equal in education attainment, but the gap widens in economic opportunities, especially for 28- to 38-year-old.”
“We have held the Most Influential Business Leaders in China for a decade, but only one woman entrepreneur has been selected so far. The power of women grows in business, but the gender gap is so large that women encounter greater challenges,” said He Zhenhong, president of Chinese Entrepreneur Magazine. “The challenges are even more serious in academia and politics. Sometimes, the word ‘female’ helps a candidate squeeze into the top management level, but the phenomenon itself represents gender inequality.”
The pay gap is partly down to different social and personal expectations of men and women. In China husbands will tell wives, you earn the pocket money – don’t worry about supporting the family. Many women from middle class families are more concerned with social status than their level of salary.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2012 maintains that a narrowing gender gap is the cornerstone of economic growth and stability, as the countries with more equality usually have better economic competitiveness. Saadia Zahidi, Senior Director of Gender Parity and Human Capital and a contributor to the report, pointed out that six of the top 10 most competitive countries in 2012 ranked in the top 20 of the gender gap index, which showed how important it is for less developed countries to tackle gender disparities in economic and political participation.
“She” Power
“Women hold up half the sky” has long been a household saying in China, but over the years women’s interpretation of it has shifted as they constantly explore their social position and aspirations.
“Men and women are born with different physiological traits. We fight for equal rights, but it doesn’t mean everything should be the same,” said Yang Lan. Though Yang Lan does believe that fighting for equality in everything, not just equal pay and work, is important, women need to ask themselves what they should look for and how to achieve a balanced life. “You don’t need to do what you don’t like just for equality,” she says. You shouldn’t give up the independence working gives you if you happen to marry a billionaire, she advises. For Yang, a year as a fulltime mother with her new child is one of the best investments she has ever made.
He Zhenhong describes modern career women as “intersex.” She thinks people should comply with business rules of their society, no matter a man or woman. The two genders will understand each other better if they interact socially, not just in the office or the meeting room. “We have established a female organization named Mulan Club, which aims to make the world more balanced. We don’t want men and women to vie with each other to see who the winner is. We respect the differences of genders, just like we respect the diversity of the world,” she said. “So we invite men to participate in our activities. On some subjects, like how to treat your partners, we want men and women to communicate and understand each other better.”
