Women’s Lib Has Arrived in China
The lead story on MSNBC.com Wednesday deals with the fledgling women’s lib movement in modern China. While in the past, roles for women in China were limited to marrying and having a child, today’s Chinese women find themselves with unprecedented career opportunities and a desire to remain single. For the first time in in China, women are valuing economic independence over the traditional Chinese family structure and do not feel pressure to find husbands anymore. I know this seems contrary to what most Western men find when they visit China and are bombarded by local women pining for sexual attention. These kind of of Chinese women are not the urban professionals to which NBC is referring. Although they do work hard. Here is MSNBC’s explanation of the changes in values:
In a 2004 report, sociologists at China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission traced the new attitude to the one family-one child policies of the 1980s. The traditional Chinese preference for sons over daughters led to an epidemic of illegal gender-related abortion, creating a significant imbalance among young adults today. In some parts of the country, men outnumber women by as much as 20 percent.
In families that did have daughters, the one-child policy meant most girls were raised as only children, lavished with esteem-boosting attention from parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents in China’s multi-generational households.
As a result, China now boasts a generation of educated career women in great demand by suitors. But that interest isn’t always reciprocated.
Similar to women’s movements elsewhere, China’s men are much slower to adapt to the new value system. One Chinese guy told NBC that it’s “essential” that a man outearn his wife. In a country where men will outnumber women by 30 million by 2020, what’s essential is that guys like this one find a wife before they’re all gone.
•MSNBC: On-The-Go Chinese Women in No Hurry to Wed