Gender inequality in China

Women before 1949

Before the Maoist revolution in 1949, the roles of women were very restricted: women were generally wives, concubines, or prostitutes. Wives were expected to be subservient to their husbands, shown by the wives kowtowing to their husbands every morning. Concubines had even less choice in their actions than wives did, and were kept as formal mistresses by men for sexual services and to produce children. Prostitutes were frequently women sold into brothels by their parents. While prostitution was legal in Qing Dynasty China, there were few laws regulating this industry. As a result, prostitutes were frequently little more than slaves and lacked legal rights. Legally speaking, marriage was defined loosely and encompassed wives, concubines, and slaves. Men were free to pursue sex from women in any of these three categories of their "extended family". Women, however, were prohibited from engaging in sex with family slaves, a crime punishable by decapitation. Similarly, men were frequently polygamous—allowed only primary wife but an unlimited number of concubines—while women were permitted only one husband. This relationship between men and women in the household illustrates the power men held in the family and greater freedom they enjoyed compared to women. In regards to premarital sex, Qing laws were rather equal with both parties equally punished for the transgression. Women, however, generally lost greater social standing due to the affair and were punished more severely socially than men.

Confucianism

Female oppression before 1949 stemmed partly from Confucian beliefs regarding gender roles in society, ideas which are still influential today. In the late 12th century, neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi advocated the "Three Bonds"—ruler's authority over subject, father over son, and husband over wife. Husbands were further granted power over wives through Confucian emphasis on sexual differentiation as a key to maintaining societal harmony. While husbands ruled the external world, women were restricted to the internal role of running the household and hence lacked power in society. While women had executive power in the household, their influence rarely rivaled that of men in the public sphere.

Foot binding

One example of an institution that repressed women is foot binding. Foot binding dates all the way back to the wealthiest members of society in the 11th century, but became more prominent and spread to the peasantry as time passed. Women began the process of foot binding at the young age of three, eventually resulting in the arch of the foot becoming so angled that the woman was in constant pain and had limited ability to walk. Bound feet were referred to as "Golden Lotuses". Foot binding was an essential part of marriage eligibility; women often bound their feet in order to have access to better marriage partners. Men used foot binding as a way to force women to be dependent on them. Anti-footbinding sentiments began in the late 19th century and continued to gain popularity until footbinding was eventually outlawed in 1912.

The Mao era

In the era of the planned economy (1949-1978), also called the Mao Zedong era (1949-1976), the Communist Party sought to change Chinese women’s status to be legally and socially equal to that of men. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, which was enacted in 1954, explicitly stated that women and men should have equal rights. To promote gender equality, the Communist party promoted the slogan, "women hold up half the sky" to illustrate the importance of women for China's growing economic success. In order to realize gender equality, the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s government undertook various measures to liberate women, including implementing policies ensuring equal pay for equal work as well as equal opportunities for men and women.

In practice, however, gender inequality in pay still existed in the workplace during this era due to the prevalence of occupational and industrial segregation by sex. For example, enterprises typically had occupational differentiation into two groups, i.e. the primary jobs and secondary jobs. Men were more likely to be allocated to perform primary jobs while women were more likely to be given secondary jobs. Further, while women were being incorporated into the labor market, they were still expected to look after their homes and families. As a result, women during this era were said to bear "a double burden" of work both in the domestic and external spheres.

Economic reforms and the labor market

Employment system reform was a major part of China's economic reforms following the Mao era. During this era, China formed the “Tong Bao Tong Pei” employment system. This system created government-guaranteed employment under the planned system. After the end of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, due to large scale unemployment, the Communist party and government phased out the guaranteed employment system and conducted reforms to both the employment system and the economy.

Employment system reform took place in three stages. In the first stage (1978-1991), reforms took place within the existing framework the planned economy—maintaining planned employment as the primary form of employment in China while adding the double-track system, permitting both government and independent employment, as a new transitional status quo. In the second stage (1992-2001), additional reforms further promoted the market-oriented employment system while still maintaining a degree of planned employment. In the third stage (post-2001), the reform process was further accelerated to generate a market-oriented employment system where active employment was the primary form of work. Overall, market reforms took China away from central economic planning and towards a system based on capitalist market mechanisms.

While women have gained significantly greater opportunities for work under the new economic reforms, the cost of restructuring has disproportionally fallen upon women. China's market-oriented economic reforms undermined gender equality in the area of employment by using migrant women as a cheap and flexible labor force. Migrant women make up large proportions of factory workers, maids, and domestic workers—all roles that make women particularly susceptible to exploitation due to the lack of public scrutiny on their workplaces. These women, however, are vital to the success of China's free market economy; without their inexpensive labor, China could not compete successfully in the global manufacturing market. Without strict government regulations protecting women's rights, partially due to high degrees of corruption in China, gender inequality in labor market continues to be an issue plaguing the free market system in China.

Earnings inequality

Wage stratification according to gender has become a major issue in post-reform China. A 2013 study found that women are paid 75.4% of what men are paid—averaging 399 yuan/month compared to 529 yuan/month for men. These statistics are in line with previous findings; a 1990 survey of wages found that women made 77.4% of men's incomes in urban areas (149.6 yuan compared to 193.2 yuan for men) and 81.4% of men's incomes in rural areas (average annual income of 1,235 yuan for women and 1,518 yuan for men). These findings show that the income gap has not been closing in recent years in China, in fact wage inequality may be on the rise. Two-thirds of this differential has been attributed to unequal pay for the same work. The remaining third of the difference results from higher quality skills men acquired through better education opportunities, managerial positions, and previous work experiences. Since women have limited ability to develop the education or skills necessary to achieve higher level jobs due to their gender, they are frequently paid less for their work. For instance, female entrepreneurs are denied access to the same networking opportunities as their male counterparts. In Chinese business culture, deals and partnerships are constructed through evenings of banqueting, going to KTV bars, and drinking. Female hostesses, and sometimes prostitutes, play an important role in the success of these gatherings by highlighting the masculinity of the businessmen. Due to the highly gendered and sexualized nature of these events, female entrepreneurs are frequently discouraged from or uncomfortable attending these networking evenings. As a result, businesswomen have lesser access to the networks of government officials, business partners, and underworld organizations that are crucial to entrepreneurial success in China.

Occupational segregation

Two new trends in the labor market since the China’s economic reforms are the feminization of informal sector’s employment and the devaluation of female dominated occupations. A survey of seven provinces and eleven cities found that between 1985 and 2000, gender segregation increased in forty-four out of fifty-one examined occupations. Further, women were restricted from entering a larger number of professional occupations based on their gender than men. Women were barred from entering more white-collar jobs than blue-collar jobs—demonstrating the difficulty women have attaining higher level jobs in China. One of the impacts of gendered jobs is lower wages for women, as illustrated by the lower average incomes of female dominated enterprises compared to male dominated enterprises. For instance, in the early 1990s, a rise in number of female employees in the sales and service industries was accompanied with a reduction in the average income in these sectors. Further, data from this same time period indicates an inverse relationship between the proportion of women employed at an instruction and the average wage of the institution's employees.

The beauty economy

The beauty economy refers to companies using the beauty of attractive young women to increase profits. The women used to promote goods and services are generally referred to as Pink-collar workers. These women can be found in settings like car shows, company booths at conventions, as well as in places less often thought of like publishing, insurance, and real estate development. The modern beauty economy illustrate a marked shift from attitudes in the Mao Era—where sexualities were subdued to promote gender equality. In 21st century China, sexualities are promoted for use in capitalist endeavors. While many women involved in the beauty economy hold relatively mundane jobs, others are involved in legally complicated endeavors and are considered "grey women"—mistresses and hostesses who cater to rich clientele. These women are selling their female sexuality, and sometimes bodies, as a consumable good in the capitalist economy. The close involvement with hypersexualized grey women and the business world has made extramarital affairs common amongst Chinese businessmen. This highly publicized trend has created a new submarket in the beauty economy providing aging wives with products to consume to stay youthful and ideally help keep their husbands faithful. As of 2004, China had the 8th largest cosmetics market in the world and the 2nd largest in Asia. The beauty economy has set high cultural standards for physical appearance—encouraging women to consume products to stay youthful with the looming threat of aging ruining their success both in the marketplace and at home.

Unemployment

During the State-owned Enterprise (SOE) reforms of the late 1990s, women were laid off in greater numbers and experienced larger pay cuts than men. Additionally, female-dominated industries such as the textile industry and other light industry were affected greatly by the enterprise reform and economic reform in the 1990s, resulting in the unemployment of many women. Further, employees occupying so called secondary jobs were laid off in greater numbers than those in primary jobs. Since women occupied a high proportion in these secondary jobs, they were the first to be laid off during the economic downturn. Further, women were forced to retire at a younger age than men. In general the government-mandated retirement age for women was five years younger than that for men, while internal retirement age (determined by individual enterprises) was even lower for women. Lastly, the enterprises that laid off the most workers were those collective enterprises that had poor performance and were unable to survive in the new market economy. These collective enterprises, however, employed larger proportions of women than men. As a result, when the companies went under, larger numbers of women than men were left unemployed.

Discriminatory hiring practices

During market-oriented reforms, there was widespread evidence of employment discrimination in the hiring process. Gender discrimination during recruitment can be divided into two main categories: explicit and hidden gender discrimination. Explicit gender discrimination refers to directly stated restrictions on women in the recruitment process. Hidden gender discrimination occurs primarily through preferential hiring of men. Generally, there are three kinds of gender discrimination in the process of hiring in contemporary China. First, gender restrictions on career and posts creates an environment where women are generally only welcomed into certain career roles that match traditional gender roles for women—mainly domestic, secretarial, or factory work. Second, gender discrimination in recruitment often affects women of reproductive age who are frequently discriminated against in hiring due to potential future loss of productivity resulting from pregnancy. Third, age discrimination affects many women, especially those working in the service industry where youth is a key component of success in the workplace. In this sector, women under the age of 30 are frequently denied jobs. Female job-seekers over the age of 40 in most industries particularly struggle with age discrimination, despite no longer being of child-bearing age. The age limit for men is more relaxed, usually under 40 or 45 years of age. While there are laws in place to prevent such practices, there are few enforcement mechanisms to ensure the laws are followed. As a result, recruitment in China's national civil units and national government departments as well as state-owned large and medium-sized enterprises frequently fail to comply with these national equality employment laws.

Impact of foreign direct investment on wages

Foreign direct investment, also known as FDI, has significantly impacted employment in China. The number of employees hired by foreign direct investment enterprises located in China urban regions increased steadily from 1985 to 2005. Between 2002 and 2005, the number of employees hired by FDI enterprises in urban China increased by 5.95 million. FDI is mainly driven by the low cost of labor in China. A considerable number of foreign-invested enterprises are based in China's labor-intensive industries, such as the garment industry, electronics manufacturing, and the food and beverage processing industry.

FDI has disproportionally affected women, who are frequently employed in the low skill, low paying factory jobs that are funded by foreign investment. A 2000 study found that 62.1% of FDI employed workers were female. Gendered wages, however, have been inconsistently affected by FDI, with pay equality in FDI industries increasing in 1995 and decreasing in 2005. This shift may be a result of recent greater FDI investment in production, resulting in additional creation of low paying factory jobs which are predominantly filled by women.

Familial pressure and marriage

Women also face significant pressures from their families during their mid to late twenties to quit working and get married. While work can be a way for women to postpone marriage, failure to ultimately marry would be socially unacceptable for Chinese women. As a result, fewer Chinese women remain working past marriage and those who do often struggle with balancing work with familial expectations in the home. By relinquishing income generation to their husbands and staying at home, many Chinese women lose autonomy and authority. Further, general societal adherence to strict Confucian values regarding filial piety and women's obedience to men—intended to create hierarchies in the home that produce harmony in society—produces an extremely patrilineal and patriarchal system that inhibits gender equality. Marriage pressures today stem from these Confucian values that promote the traditional necessity for women to marry to continue the family lineage by bearing a son.

"Surplus women"

Women who resist familial pressures and fail to marry by their late twenties risk being stigmatized as sheng nu (剩女), which literally means leftover women. Due to the prevalence of marriage in China, these unmarried women are often seen by potential employers as overly particular or somehow flawed. Therefore, the "surplus women" discourse further promotes gender inequality in the workplace by characterizing unmarried women as inferior due to their perceived inability to find husbands. As a result, older women frequently struggle to find jobs due to discrimination against their marital status.

In response to the issue of "surplus women," many urban parents pursue partners for their older unmarried daughters in matchmaking corners. These corners are essentially markets for marriage—parents place their daughter or son's name and details on a card for others to view while they seek out a potential match. While the success rate in matchmaking corners is low and parents often feel shame for having to resort to this style of matchmaking, many desperate parents continue to visit these corners on their children's behalf. One frequent complaint from parents of daughters is lack of quality men available across China, despite there being more sons than daughters being born. Matchmaking corners illustrate the importance of marriage and the lengths parents will go to ensure their daughters do not become "surplus women." By revealing parental anxiety, this discourse promotes pressure for women to marry young, even at the costs of their careers and independence, before they are too old to find a quality husband.

SK-II, a Japanese skincare brand, released an inspirational video about "leftover women". It strives to empower the leftover women to live the life they want to live, and to not let their futures be determined by what their parents want or what they have been raised to believe is the correct way to live life. The video tells the story of a few Chinese women over the age of 27 and their families, and it ends in the families of these women supporting the life decisions that the women have made. It even goes as far as to call the unmarried men of China "leftover men" in an effort to create equal blame for the state of these unmarried men and women in China. This video shows how visible this problem is in China, and that many women do not support being referred to as leftover women.

Hukou system

Originally developed in the Communist era as a tool to inhibit mobility between the countryside and the cities to increase government control, the Hukou system (Household Registration System) remains influential today. Under this system, families are registered to a specific region and can only employ the services of schools and health care in that region. Since hukou is tied to the maternal line, this system disproportionately affects social mobility for women. While rural women can travel to cities for work, these migrants have no access to healthcare due to their rural registration and hence have limited ability to marry and bear children in the city. When migrant women do have children in the cities, their children have no access to schooling unless they return home, or the parents pay for their child's education out of pocket. As a result, many migrant women are often forced to return home to the countryside to have children, hence sacrificing their urban jobs and incomes as well as temporarily living apart from their husbands.

Families with urban registration also have significant advantages over families with rural registration. School age children from urban families with similar parental incomes, educations, and jobs compared to rural families generally receive two additional years of schooling at higher accredited and better funded schools. Since hukou is passed down through the maternal line, this system inhibits rural women from attaining social mobility for their children—perpetrating a cycle of both gender and rural/urban inequality.