Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China (Asian Arguments)

In the early years of the People’s Republic of China, the Communist Party sought to transform gender relations, but those gains have been steadily eroded in recent decades during China’s transition to a post-socialist era. In fact, women in China have experienced a dramatic rollback of rights and gains relative to men. In__Leftover Women__, journalist Leta Hong-Fincher exposes shocking levels of structural discrimination against women and highlights the broader damage this has caused to China’s economy, politics, and development. Drawing on cutting-edge data from a Sina Weibo survey of over three hundred men and women as well as in-depth interviews with both men and women in China over several years,__Leftover Women__debunks several major myths about the status of women in China’s post-socialist period. In this thoroughly expanded second edition, Hong-Fincher builds on her earlier work to examine new developments, most notably China’s growing and increasingly assertive feminist movement, and she looks ahead to consider the implications of these developments for the future of China and its ruling regime. The first book to offer a unique, inside view of educated women in China’s emerging middle class,__Leftover Women__provides an insightful analysis of the realities women in China face today. In the early years of the People’s Republic of China, the Communist Party sought to transform gender relations, but those gains have been steadily eroded in recent decades during China’s transition to a post-socialist era. In fact, women in China have experienced a dramatic rollback of rights and gains relative to men. In Leftover Women , journalist Leta Hong-Fincher exposes shocking levels of structural discrimination against women and highlights the broader damage this has caused to China’s economy, politics, and development. Drawing on cutting-edge data from a Sina Weibo survey of over three hundred men and women as well as in-depth interviews with both men and women in China over several years, Leftover Women debunks several major myths about the status of women in China’s post-socialist period. In this thoroughly expanded second edition, Hong-Fincher builds on her earlier work to examine new developments, most notably China’s growing and increasingly assertive feminist movement, and she looks ahead to consider the implications of these developments for the future of China and its ruling regime. The first book to offer a unique, inside view of educated women in China’s emerging middle class, Leftover Women provides an insightful analysis of the realities women in China face today. Leta Hong Fincher's landmark book Leftover Women shone a light on the resurgence of gender inequality in 21st-century China. Ten years on, women in China continue to experience a dramatic rolling back of rights and gains in the increasingly patriarchal political climate of the Xi Jinping era. Leftover Women explores the structural discrimination against women and the broader problems with China's economy, politics, and development that lie behind them. This updated edition includes a new preface exploring developments in China in the 10 years since the book's original publication, including the new "three child policy", the growth in online feminist and LGBTQ activism and the state's increasingly repressive moves against dissent. In the early years of the People's Republic, the Communist Party sought to transform gender relations. Yet those gains have been steadily eroded in China's post-socialist era.Contrary to the image presented by China's media, women in China have experienced a dramatic rollback of rights and gains relative to men.In Leftover Women, Leta Hong Fincher exposes shocking levels of structural discrimination against women, and the broader damage this has caused to China's economy, politics, and development. Exposes the increasing levels of structural discrimination against women in post-socialist China, and the broader damage this has caused to China's economy, politics, and development. --From publisher description A provocative expose of the position of women in China and of the state-perpetuated myths about 'leftover' women.