Chinese Women

Given that there are a half billion Chinese women, this presentation is extremely superficial. Nonetheless, I have learned a few fascinating things worth sharing.

Rural Women

Many rural women remain deprived and often abused. When China imposed its one-child policy in 1979, rural women were far more affected than urban women because rural families depend on sons to work the land and provide for the elderly. Often rural families that had daughters resorted to infanticide with the result that there is now a great shortage of marriageable women.

It is estimated that over 20 million men today will be unable to find wives. As a result, trafficking in women has exploded to permit male peasants to buy kidnapped girls for wives. In addition, rural women suffer far more than urban women from domestic violence.

Urban Women

Urban Chinese women face problems similar to those of women in the West. (Much that follows is based on conversations I had with well-educated women guides.) One guide said that pay discrimination is a major problem, so much so that working women who receive low salaries for the same work done by men, would rather be housewives and put their full-time energy into raising their child.

I was told child care exists but women don't want to use it. Instead, the common child care solution is grandmothers. One guide told me that when she has a child, her parents will move from their home in northern China to come live with her and her child. Even though the guide's boyfriend's mother lives in Shanghai, the guide would never ask her future mother-in-law to do child care because the woman has already raised three children and three grandchildren. Moreover, the woman does not speak mandarin and the guide does not want her child to be raised speaking a dialect.

How do employers feel about women workers having children, I asked. (Maternity benefits in China -- a four month paid leave -- are great compared to the US which has no national policy providing government-paid leave.) One guide told me that companies don't like having pregnant workers and typically givem then arduous physical labor to induce them to quit. Reportedly, foreign companies are worse about this than Chinese companies. In a related way, foreign companies don't like to hire Communist Party members because the cadres tend to report on corporate practices to the party.

Evolving One-Child Policy

I was surprised to find that China has created some exceptions to its one child policy. It doesn't apply to minorities, for example. Then, the progressive local government in Shanghai has passed a new rule allowing parents who are both only children to have a second child, although the couple must pay a high fee.

I wondered what would happen if a couple outside Shanghai went a head and had a second child despite the policy. I was told there would be a fine of over 6000 US dollars, no support for the child's education and no medical benefits, and loss of a government job held by either of the parents. Whew! Clearly, Shanghai is far ahead of the curve.

Postscript

One gender story truly impressed me. I saw a video of a young army colonel who had a sex change operation and became one of China's best known modern dancers. The sex change was take in stride given the dancer's extraordinary talent. Since women remain so inferior to men in China, I was stunned that a change to the female sex was accepted in this case. Perhaps, a sign of change coming.