A systematic injustice that is present outside of the United States is the way women are being treated in China, especially in the workforce. In an article that was written in The New York Times, it mentioned that a woman was questioned whether she was married or had children in a job application and when she accepted the job, she had to sign an agreement promising that she would not become pregnant in the next two years. If she were to get pregnant then she would be fired without pay or benefits (Qin 1). These types of agreements are increasing in China and are found to be common, even though they are illegal in the country (Qin 1). Women in China are being treated unfairly and are seen as less than men.
At this time, the Chinese government are insisting for women to stay home and have more children to increase their population. With this happening, women are being forced to not have jobs and to focus on domestic life (Qin 1). Not only are women being pushed out of the workforce, but the women who are working are receiving 80% less than the amount of pay men make (Qin 1). This is a systematic injustice because women are being oppressed and are being treated unequally throughout the country of China. They are being forced to either make a decision between their career or having a child and are being expected to be a stay-at-home mom to take care of “domestic” life.
Along with men getting paid more, it is also found that a lot of job listings that are posting in China have a preference for men. In the Chinese Government’s job listings for service, it was reported that in 2018 and 2019, 19% of the jobs mentioned they are looking for men over women (Ducre 1). It was also found that less than 1% of jobs had a preference for women over men (Ducre 1). Having these preferences written in job ads show gender discrimination and inequality. These job ads are inferring that men are better than women and that women are weaker mentally, physically, and less knowledgeable (Stauffer 1).
Gender inequality, prejudice, and the systematic injustice of women from China getting treated unfairly is exemplified in the book, The Leavers, by Lisa Ko. One example that is mentioned in the book is how a failed marriage is the women’s fault and not the mans. The book states, “If a woman was too devoted to her husband it was her fault for being mushy and desperate; if a husband had a girl on the side, it was the wife’s fault for driving him away and both the mistress and the wife’s faults for letting themselves being taken advantage of” (Ko, 132). Prejudice judgements against women are being shown and display systematic injustice due to the gender inequality throughout China. It is crucial to acknowledge the inequality between men and women, and action needs to be taken to ensure all genders are equal.
This picture taken from the article “Only Men Need Apply: Gender Discrimination in Job Advertisements in China” by Brian Stauffer in 2018 shows an example of what a discriminatory job ad in China looks like.
This statistical graph was taken from an article “Gender Equality in China’s Labour Market: Some Worrying Signs” that was taken from a blog that was written in 2020 by Jeni Klugman, Limin Wang, and Meiyan Wang. In this graph, it shows that from 1990 and 2019, women in China have had the lowest percentage of participation rates in the workforce.
Work Cited
- Ducre, Dorian. “The Fight for Women’s Rights in China”. The Borgen Project. 2020. https://borgenproject.org/womens-rights-in-china/
- Klugman, Jeni. Wang, Limin. Wang, Meiyan. “Gender Equality in China’s Labour Market: Some Worrying Signs” (Graph). 2020. DevPolicyBlog. https://devpolicy.org/gender-equality-in-chinas-labour-market-some-worrying-signs-20200304/
- Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. Chapel Hill, 2017.
- Qin, Amy. “A Prosperous China Says ‘Men Preferred’ and Women Lose”. 2019. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/world/asia/china-women-discrimination.html
- Stauffer, Brian. “Only Men Need Apply: Gender Discrimination in Job Advertisements in China”. 2018. Human Rights Watch.
The current policy does encourage women to have more children right now since there are too many old people nowadays. I think this is very understandable but I think the authority should realize that the reason more and more young people don’t want baby nowadays because of the expensive price of housing. If young people can’t afford their own houses it’s not likely they want to have more children.
Great post Emily. The issue of gender inequality in China is something I had not thought of before and is something I think needs to be dealt with more seriously.