Women’s participation in China’s workforce has taken a nosedive in the last few decades. Credit: David Guyler, Creative Commons
For three decades, China’s embrace of capitalism has transformed the nation, fueling the fortunes of entrepreneurs and lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. And yet one key group has been left behind: women.
In the latest indication of this trend, women have been found to be woefully under-represented at state-owned enterprises (SOEs), according to a recent study released by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), a Washington-based think tank. The study, which looked at one of the most crucial sectors of the economy, found that women account for just 5 percent of the senior executives at nonfinancial SOEs affiliated with the central government, and just 24 percent of all employees. For those women with senior roles at state firms, more than half served as either the chief accountant or head of discipline inspection, positions that are not traditionally a path to the top.
The study sheds light on one of the conundrums of China’s development
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
Increasingly, Democrats and Republicans believe that climate change and China pose a single interconnected challenge. As a result — and for the first time ever — a window is opening for bipartisan cooperation on climate policy. Historically progressive ideas like a 'carbon border adjustment mechanism' now have conservative champions, for instance. But with Washington's main focus on the Warming War with China, can it still save the planet?
A look at China’s electricity grid: how it works, who foots the bill, and how its structure leads to power crunches and expensive prices despite the relative abundance of energy in China.
The academic talks about the changing understanding of Leninist regimes; common misperceptions of the post-Mao era; and what the collapse of the Soviet Union means for China today.
