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Women in China finally making a great leap forward
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Women often initiate divorce
A new study in Guandong, where divorce has tripled, shows that 74 percent of divorces last year were initiated by women with at least one college degree.
Again, matters are not clear cut. Men often work terribly hard to find a wife, and once she is found, they hold onto her. A major gender imbalance is on the horizon, with far fewer girl babies born today than boys. Some 117 boys are born for every 100 girls, according to the family planning ministry in Beijing; much of the disparity may be in the countryside.
"With a surplus of men and a deficit of women, the ladies have more leverage," says Richard Baum of UCLA. "They are in the driver's seat in the long term."
Evidence also exists of growing status for women, based on intangibles: a greater emphasis on love inside marriage, implying a greater recognition of concepts like mutuality, and awareness of individuality.
Coke and candy for the girls
This fall a young college student spent $90, a huge sum for a student, buying a Coke and candies for every girl in the dormitory across from his. In response, at the appointed moment, the girls arranged for their room lights to be turned on (or off) to make the shape of a heart. It is a small thing. But it is the kind of small thing that didn't happen before.
Families with one child, a girl, now place great hope in her. In urban areas, men now say they don't care if their baby is a girl or boy. (A lively debate exists over whether they mean it.) Also, the virtues of having a girl are more explicitly stated in the city: "My parents and many parents I know feel that when the son moves out, his counsel will not be as reliable," she says. "He will look out for his interests first. But the daughter, even when she is married, can be trusted to think for the whole family."
"The daughter is easier to raise, cares more, and is less trouble," says Beijing University family sociologist Xia Xueluan. "That's the feeling."
Chinese living overseas are often a forerunner of mainland attitudes. In Taiwan, a major food-processing company began to sink after the father gave business operations to his oldest son. The son had no business sense. Stockbrokers, employees, and the patriarch himself began to sweat great drops.
Normally, the next son would take over. But the father bucked tradition and called home his daughter from a US graduate engineering program.
"I felt for my dad to pass by the second brother was a great honor for me, and I'm working all the time to make a profit," says Lu Yo.
In Hong Kong, parents from "good families" used to strictly screen young men who dated the daughters. Yet now, says Hong Kong marriage planner Evelyn Mills, daughters have started to sell their own choice back to the father and mother, a major change of dynamics in the family.
"There's a lot of outside influence from Hong Kong and Taiwan inside China today," says Martin Whyte of Harvard University.
One Beijing daughter in her 20s, however, who wants her boyfriend to move in, says that if parents' attitudes are liberalizing, as she often hears, "my dad doesn't know about it."
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SOURCE: CHINA FACTS AND FIGURES 2002 - CHINA.ORG.CN, NATIONAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS, CHINA; RICH CLABAUGH - STAFF
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Parts one and two of this series appeared on Dec. 15 and Dec. 16.
| One female executive's view |
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Li Yifei is managing director of MTV China. She was a national tai-chi champion at 13 and appeared in two martial-arts films at an equally tender age. She trained as a diplomat at Beijing College of Foreign Affairs and studied in the US, and worked at Burson Marsteller in Beijng before taking the top post at MTV/Viacom Asia here. She is the first Chinese female to make the cover of Fortune magazine, which named her one of 25 Rising Stars of the Next Generation of Global Leaders. She has a daughter and son; her husband, Wang Chao Yong, is CEO of a top investment firm, making them a bit of a power couple in Beijing. The Monitor interviewed her at her offices at Beijing's China World Tower.
ARE CAREER WOMEN IN CHINA INFLUENCED BY THE WEST?
"The influence of the West is significant in my life, and for women in Asia. I went to college at Baylor University, and spent time in the US. It helps to see a great many female executives abroad. Look at Condoleezza Rice. Look at Madeleine Albright, or Charlene Barshefsky [former US Trade Representative]. The message we get is: You don't need to be ashamed of being a female executive."
ARE THERE MORE CHINESE CAREER WOMEN?
"Chinese women are only now beginning to move out. Yes, if you look at the absolute numbers, especially at upper management and for entrepreneurs, we are still a tiny minority. But the growth of upper-level women is increasing. The most popular panel at the All-China Women's Federation conference is on "women in management." A lot of guys show up, too. The women I associate with, those in my generation who have education or college, are more sensitive and less threatening. They are a fit for the way corporate China is moving. They are good at talking in several worlds, to government officials, to ordinary people, to family. One of the most talented people working for me is a 28-year-old female, Liu Pei, who, despite her youth, has been the supervising producer of our China-MTV music awards four years in a row."
WHAT DO CHINESE WOMEN TALK TO YOU ABOUT?
"They often ask about the choice between a career, or marrying a rich man. Today a lot of women want both. But I think it is more difficult to manage a relationship if your key goal is to find a rich man. Women need to do things on their own, not be dependent on men. Even if you marry a rich man, I feel, you need to be curious and keep learning."
WERE YOUR PARENTS INFLUENTIAL?
"My own parents were very tough and had high expectations. I had to come out from under that pressure. I tried hard to fulfill my parents' dreams, but now I no longer find satisfaction in "doing this for my parents." It is better to relax and enjoy the work. Our parents lived a difficult life in a difficult age. Mother lost her job because of Communist Party politics, and they put her out to be shamed. We all have family that ended up on the wrong side of the civil war or the Cultural Revolution."
WHAT ABOUT YOUR KIDS?
"My daughter wants to be a pop singer. My son wants to be a Formula One race driver. In my youth these things didn't exist. No rock and roll, no fast cars. I actually don't believe in applying too much pressure. I tell my kids they don't need to be at the top, just maybe in the top 10! I want my daughter to be good, not just smart."
HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR HUSBAND?
"I met him at the Chinese Consulate in New York. We were introduced by a mutual friend and exchanged cards. We talked only about 10 minutes. He flew that night to Beijing. On the plane he thought about me, but his professor was busy helping him find a wife. Then he was called back to New York. On his second day there we actually ran into each other at a newsstand, and were buying the same newspaper."
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