The Female Advantage is a phenomenon that explains the relative success of women in China
“The status which women reached during the present era was not achieved due to the kindness of men or due to natural progress. It was rather achieved through a long struggle and sacrifice on woman’s part and only when society needed her contribution and work, more especially during the two world wars, and due to the escalation of technological change.” – Dr. Jamal A. Badawin.
This saying might be accurate regarding western cultures, but it might not be relevant to China. In China, history was shaped quite differently for the female gender, and it created a phenomenon I would like to call “The Female Advantage”.
Traditionally, women in China were meant to serve men. According to Confucian tradition, the male gender is superior to the female gender, and in the Confucian structure of society, women at every level were to occupy a position lower than men. This traditional approach had occupied China ever since Confucian ideas were legally accepted by the ruler (the first dynasty to adopt Confucian ideas was the Han dynasty – 206 B.C.E. – 220 C.E.). These ideas, however, were pushed aside in 1949 – when the People’s Republic of China was established.
The change in 1949 was drastic. A federation known as “All China Women’s Federation” was created “to represent and to protect rights and interests of women and to promote equality between men and women.” From only 7% of women being employed in 1949, 38% of women have been employed in 1992. As early as in 1982, Chinese working women made up 43% of the total working population, higher than the percentages enjoyed by American women (35.3%) or Japanese women (36%). That was the beginning of “The Female Advantage” phenomenon.
The Female Advantage
There is more than meets the eye as to why the Chinese woman might have it easier than her western counterpart, as far as career and gender equality are concerned. Last October, it was published that 11 of the 20 richest self-made women in the world are Chinese, with their average fortune surpassing US talk show host Oprah Winfrey and author JK Rowling at $US2.6 billion – compared with ninth-placed Winfrey’s $US2.3 billion. These data are a consequence of certain advantages that Chinese women posses over their western counterparts:
In an article published this week in Harvard Business Review titled: “Gender, Brain Science, and Wrong-Headed Notions”, the author, Rebecca Jordan-Young, interviewed a woman in top management at a Fortune 75 company. The woman was quoted as saying that :”men and women will still have different experiences outside the workplace, and that affects the skills and knowledge they bring to business.” Nevertheless, in China, because men and women are treated relatively equally outside the workplace, their contribution to the work place does not vary as much as it may in the west.
Another Female Advantage is the one child policy. The one child policy created a situation that allowed women to work. When women need not to care for many children, they have more free time to further develop their careers. Furthermore, it is Chinese tradition that allows women to develop their careers even as their children are still young. In China, it is acceptable for the parents of both the father and the mother of the new born to take care of the grandchild as they are going to work to support the new family. Later, children reciprocate and bare the costs of treating their elderly parents.
As the distance from traditional confucian values increases and as parents are free from taking care of new born children, women are more liberate to work and to advance their careers and are not constrained to social norms that might interfere with their way to success.
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Lior Paritzky is the Editor in Chief and Manager of Laowaiblog, an internet platform that provides opinion and views about social phenomena in modern China. Look for Lior on Twitter: Liorpari 
I certainly agree that the redefinition of women’s role in Chinese society since the establishment of PRC has made it possible for China to jump ahead in sex equality in Chinese society, especially in urban areas.
However, in many poor rural areas, women’s role are still limited due the level of social and economic development. In order for sex equality to be enjoyed by all Chinese women, particularly in rural areas, economic development is the key. Therefore, apart from all the reasons that Lior has already stated in the article, the sustained waves of migration of workforce from agriculture based economy to inductries provide the single most important factor to push for greater sex equality in the whole society. Although we need to bear in mind, women are still the more vulnerable group to slip through society’s protection amid dramatic social and economic changes in China.
As for the comparative inertia in Western society in regard to sex equality in recent decades, I suspect it might have something to do with sexualization of western culture. The sex revolution promised equality on sexuality, but has instead delivered somewhat twisted result where the notion of sex for social and financial status has been casualized, legitimized and accepted. Good look and sex appeal, instead of merits, has become hugely important, too important imo, for one’s self esteem and career success. The celebrity culture has much to answer for in this regard.
Unfortunately, although many Chinese women have been capitalizing and profiting from previous improvements of women’s status, the introduction of western style media and celebrity culture seem not to be helping the cause at the moment. Therefore, I believe centralized policy in this regard is needed to preserve and enhance women’s status when freedom of individual choices only serve to enlarge the vulnerable’s vulnerability.
Wah, there is an amazing topic for talking about female sexual advantange since attracted from the title itself apparently and the controversial situation it be in china at present. The auther has truely statement for female sexual equality from tradictional confucian point of view to nowadays female liberty in society and workplace, even on financial status globally.It’s a tough thing and commendable for Ireland live in china.
It’s a hot topic for men to talk about is female inclusive me to do so. They hold different point of view in different kinds of people. Some would consider that women have a large change in society status, when they see more and more female get education at university than ever before,when they see more and more female could easily land a job in workplace even got promoted to higher position than male does. They believe what they caught sight of and most of them are male. However, the opponents will argue that female burden much more than female does ever before because of the sexual discrimination when finding a job, worried about got fired when they have pregnant, phycological trauma of comments from people around them since hard to find someone to marry. Most of them are female who hold this point of view.
You can see thousands of debates and articles and blog-writings something like that for this topic at domestic chinese websites or TVs or newspapers or magazines.
Inaddition, you have to take it account that social and family status of female at countryside and poor place are different with who located at cities. Most of familys at poor countryside have more than one child and girls will not have opportunities to get education because of the rarely economic support. In contrast, there girls are suggested to go outside big cities to find a job for making money to support their bothers education family. Unlucky, the girls have no choice and go to work at manufacturing factories in cities 10 or 12 hours a day making merely more than one thousand yuan per month. Most of their salary remit to their parents and a few left for themselves to buy some cheap and nasty clothes. This is what their life picture is.
Some will argue that their situation are great because at least their have jobs and could make money for their own. Just put aside of it and let’s look at the opposit girls who live in rich family at big cities. Commonly, girls live in cites are the only child of their family who could easily get good education from primary school to college,even study in overseas because their family’s economic situation can afford. They could receive more care and love from their parents and relatives because they are the only baby in their family. When they old enough to work, they don’t need to go to the HR market to deliver resume, since their decent and well-payed job had good prepared by their parents. Not more than two or three years a higher position will crash them because their leaders or boss might be one of friends or classmates of their mam or dad.
Hi Peter,
Thank you for your comment. It is insightful, and I hope that you post some more comments in the future.
Lior
Another excellent post, Lior!
Thank you Aaron!
As a Chinese, I really admire your erudition on out nation`s culture and history. Gelivable!
Hi Singwhere,
Thank you for your kind words. The Chinese culture truly fascinates me, and I hope I can learn more about it – with your help.
Lior
Chinese female might be earning more in regards of working filed, but the thing is that they are under double pressure coming from both work and family. I mean in China, women are meant to work, that any young woman who don’t want to work must be regarded as failure or a meant-to-be mistress. But while women are under even the same working pressure as men, women are still required to take care of the family, even alone. I think this is something that stops women from going further, and the society, especially men, need to reform their old thinking way of family.
“Nevertheless, in China, because men and women are treated relatively equally outside the workplace, their contribution to the work place does not vary as much as it may in the west.”
I just spent a year in China. Did we live in the same country? It seems doubtful to me.
Keep in mind that Shanghai is a massive anomaly.
Hi Andrew,
You are right, to an extent. You must remember that even in small villages, not only in major cities, women, today, have much more freedom than they have ever had. I do not need to remind you about the traditional custom of tying the feet of women – a custom that was popular until not long ago.
Thanks for your comment!
I agree with Anderw. Shanghai is a very special case in terms of sex equality since its nick name of “lady’s Paradise”. That’s a city with sub-culture of respecting female and their contribution. However, beside that, Gender Discrimination still strongly exists in many China metropolitans.
And for female’s achievement, they work harder and achieve a lot partly because they have bigger pressure of living: In many parts of China, hunsband usually don’t spend time on kitchen,or their children while wife has to “sacrifice their career for family” simply because it is permitted by local culture. Even in some case occurs in North-eastern China, Man will be admitted as “really tough guy” through punching their wifes! There still so many things to do against Gender discrimination for Chinese.
Hi Andy,
I agree that there is still a very long way to go, but if you take a look to see what has been achieved thus far, you would be amazed. Women in China today have more liberty than many other women around the world. To me, that is a remarkable achievement.
Thank you for your comment,
Lior
I always thought that it is easier for Western women. Maybe I am wrong but I still think so despite this article
I fully agree with Jony Woo :
Just one exemple :
Still today, the very large majority of Chinese women inherit of their husbands’ family.
When a couple gets married, the groom’s mother, father and sometimes grandparents move into his apartment.
Brides are then urged to quit their job in the purpose to comfort their new family.
In matter of equality between men and women in China (we are only speaking about China however most of the rest of the world isn’t better) houseworks are far from being equally shared between men and women.