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Lijia Zhang

“Looking for a pretty female, must be taller than 1.70 metres, with fine features.” 
This is not a personal advertisement but a job posting for a salesperson. I came across it some 22 years ago when I reported on a job fair in Beijing. It was the first time I noticed such blatant sexism in recruitment advertising. Having grown up with Mao’s declaration that “women hold up half of the sky”, I was shocked. 
Sadly, gender discrimination has worsened. A recent Human Rights Watch report on gender discrimination in employment in China finds widespread prejudice in recruitment advertisements. For example: “Woman must possess female beauty that exceeds nature itself” and, “Beautiful girls needed.” 
Sexist job ads and fear of maternity leave: China’s gender inequality

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China’s rapid economic development has brought unprecedented opportunities to millions of people, myself included. I managed to rise from a factory worker to a journalist and writer. 
The Human Rights Watch report points to discrimination in employment as crucial to the widening gender pay gap
But, overall, women have benefited less than men. According to the World Economic Forum, China’s gender parity ranking fell from 57 in 2008 to 100 in 2017. A smaller proportion of women are working today and the gender pay gap is widening. 
The Human Rights Watch report points to discrimination in employment as key to the widening gender pay gap. The report found 19 per cent of civil servant job postings in 2018 explicitly preferred men.
Contrast this with the 1950s when my mother was allocated a job at a state-owned factory. She considered herself lucky even though she got stuck with acid pickling, which involved lifting heavy machine parts into a tank filled with chemicals. Mao’s ideal of gender equality was to deny the physical differences between men and women. The model women at the time were the “iron maidens” of Dazhai village who dressed like men and could carry as much as them. 
These days, the pendulum has swung the other way. At a Tencent party last year, female staff had to use their teeth to open water bottles held between male employees' legs. Sexual objectification of women is rampant in job advertisements, that, for example, demand women with “no obvious scars on the face” and a body weight “below 65kg”.
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Why China is no model for gender equality
Gender discrimination is deeply ingrained in Chinese society, which, for centuries, was dominated by Confucianism which places women as inferior to men. Today, some of traditional attitudes and practices that had been repressed by Mao have resurfaced.
Some companies set much higher recruiting standards for women, while others refuse to hire women of childbearing age
Some companies set much higher recruiting standards for women, while others refuse to hire women of childbearing age, a practice that has worsened after the end of the one-child policy. Employers view women without children as employees who will potentially take maternity leave twice. 
 In theory, China has enough laws and regulations to protect the rights of female employees. But the lack of a specific enforcement mechanism often leaves victims in a vulnerable position. Besides, given the intense competition for jobs, employers have the luxury of being choosy. The authorities rarely pursue those who violate the rules and employers can usually get away with a few extra discriminatory requirements. 
But not always. In 2012, a young woman applied for an executive assistant position with a tutorial centre but was rejected on the grounds that the job was reserved for men only. She filed China’s first gender discrimination lawsuit and won a small settlement. 
 A year later, another graduate woman won a similar case. When I interviewed her, I was encouraged by her fighting spirit. Other successful lawsuits followed, but the compensation usually amounted to around US$300. 
Wanted: women business leaders in Asia-Pacific, and firms willing to support them

These cases were part of the feminist activism that has emerged since 2012, when three women paraded the streets in bloodstained wedding gowns to protest against domestic violence. Others followed suit, queuing up in a public toilet to highlight the shortage of female toilets, and shaving their heads in protest against different university admission standards for women. 
Some activists set up a Weibo account to monitor and report violations. Some of their complaints were addressed. 
Sadly, the authorities’ crackdown on activism has hampered these efforts. The growth of gender discrimination in employment has been challenged but it may spread wider in the near future.
Lijia Zhang is a writer, journalist and social commentator


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Women and gender

Gender discrimination in China is resurfacing as employers seek pretty women, or men

A woman prepares for the National Civil Servant Exam at Nanjing Forestry University in Jiangsu province in December 2017. A Human Rights Watch report found 19 per cent of civil service job postings explicitly stated a preference for men. Photo: Xinhua

Passers-by look with curiosity at three university volunteer girls, (from left to right: )Li Maizi, Xiao Yue, Wei Tingting, dressing up with bloody wedding gowns in Qianmen Street, one of the busiest commercial streets in downtown Beijing, China, to campaign for domestic violence victims on Feb. 14, V-Day, the Valentines Day. The three girls say most people know V-Day is Valentines Day, but only few people know V-Day is also a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls. 14FEB12 Photo by Simon Song

(171125) -- TIANJIN, Nov. 25, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Job seekers are seen at a recruitment fair for graduates in Tianjin, north China, Nov. 24, 2017. Over 300 employers participated in the job fair which attracted over 5,000 graduates. (Xinhua/Liu Dongyue) (wf)

‘Sexism’ in top government jobs: Campaigners against gender gap push Hong Kong civil service to hire more women

No Caption Available.

Women should be given more opportunities in the civil service, campaigners and lawmakers say.

Closing China’s gender gap: the Beijing school that’s teaching girls to code for free

Students use computers connected with a campus network at Zhongshan Middle School in Putian City, Fujian Province. Photo: Xinhua

Chen Bin, founder of Coding Garden, talks about how his company teaches kids and girls to write computer programs via online classes in Beijing. 24JUL17 SCMP/Simon Song

COLLABORATIVE PROJECT BETWEEN YEAR 12 FILM & SPANISH STUDENTS - Film students (all boys) working with Spanish students (all girls) to produce short Spanish-language films at Chinese International School, Braemar Hill. In the group shot: Justin Cheung, Joshua Schawelson, Brian Liu & Angelina Bishman (sound, cameraman in green shirt, holding reflector, girl at computer). for GOOD SCHOOLS GUIDE

Around 1,000 Young Coders attend the Cyberport Youth Coding Jam 1000 attempts to set a new world record of " The Most Youngsters Perform Coding " in Tamar. 09APR15

Customers surf the Internet at an Internet cafe in Beijing, China, Tuesday, June 30, 2009. A California company that says its software was illegally used in Beijing's new Internet filter threatened possible legal action as PC makers faced a Wednesday deadline to supply the system with computers. U.S. trade officials and industry and free-speech groups have also appealed to Beijing to revoke its order, which requires suppliers to pre-install the Green Dam filtering software or include it on a disk with each PC sold from July 1. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)

Opinion

Comment

Lijia Zhang says China’s economic development has brought back regressive ideas about women – evident in sexist job adverts – that is fuelling a widening gender pay gap


China’s new economy has brought back regressive ideas about women, resulting in the objectification of women in job adverts and a widening gender pay gap


Human rights in China

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