Young Chinese women dare to say no to workplace sexual harassment, says expert
A recent case alleging sexual harassment at Minsheng Bank underlines how Chinese women workers are resisting unwelcome attention in the workplace
Young Chinese women in the workplace are acquiring a new skill lacking in previous generations: firmly saying no to sexual harassment, a leading Chinese sexologist said, even though the country’s legal framework against sexual harassment is a work in progress.
Unlike previous submissive generations, young Chinese women, many of whom were raised as an only child, are more confident about themselves and sensitive to verbal or physical harassment, Li Yinhe, a sociology professor and an advocate of sexual freedom in China, told the SCMP. They are also more tech-savvy and aware of collecting evidence using a mobile phone and other tools, she said.
According to a 2010 research paper in the Harvard International Law Journal by D.K. Srivastava incidents of sexual harassment are increasing rapidly in Asia, with as many as 80 per cent of Chinese working women experiencing it at some stage of their career, compared to 50 per cent in the United States, according to the paper.
“More workplace sexual harassment cases are being reported in China than in previous years,” said Li. “An important reason is that Chinese women now dare to stand up to it.”
Li was commenting on a recent sexual harassment case at a major Chinese bank, in which the victim published all harassing messages sent from her male manager, triggering a nationwide uproar.
According to the Beijing Youth Daily report, a deputy department head at the Beijing branch of China Minsheng Banking Corp had constantly sent messages to one of his women subordinates, before finally inviting her to a hotel room and threatening to put her on a redundancy list if she refused to obey.