A century ago, Chinese feminists fighting for the emancipation of women helped spark the Republican Revolution, which overthrew the Qing empire. After China's Communist revolution of 1949, Chairman Mao famously proclaimed that "women hold up half the sky." In the early years of the People's Republic, the Communist Party sought to transform gender relations with expansive initiatives such as assigning urban women jobs in the planned economy. Yet those gains are now being eroded in China's post-socialist era. Contrary to many claims made in the mainstream media, women in China have experienced a dramatic rollback of many rights and gains relative to men. <br><br>Leftover Women debunks the popular myth that women have fared well as a result of post-socialist China's economic reforms and breakneck growth. Laying out the structural discrimination against women in China will speak to broader problems with China's economy, politics, and development.<p></p>
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important, well argued, and highly readable study on the resurgence of gender inequality in China
This is a very timely and important addition to interdisciplinary scholarship on transitional China and the problem of the resurgence of gender inequality in the current historical period. Leta Hong Fincher has published a strong, well researched monograph based on her long experience of working in and on China as a journalist, and her doctoral studies in Sociology at Qinghua University in Beijing. The result is a well-written and captivating study that aims to reach a broad - not just academic - audience, which is commendable. Fincher argues her central argument persuasively, that the negative flip side of China's mind blowing rapid socio-economic development in the post-Mao period, is that gender inequality is on the rise, and indeed, it seems, a key ingredient in the continued economic rise, especially as regards property rights. She shows that long-held views about gender difference, women's subservience and the normative requirement of marriage in particular, alongside new capitalist market mechanisms, fuel a rapid re-emergence of misogyny, discrimination and gender-based violence. Contrary to much writing on this issue, Fincher includes substantial material also on non-heterosexual women, even lesbian and queer women activists and thus demonstrates a broader fundament and more complex and nuanced working on gender-based normative structures and the wide array of institutionalized forms of violence that maintain them. Leftover Women also stands out in the recent literature by taking a clear feminist perspective: Fincher succeeds in showing us the complexity of power, possibility and deepening inequality in contemporary China, and argues that not only is this bad for women but for everyone, and for China's further development and stability tout court. An essential read for anyone serious about understanding contemporary China, global gender issues, and the politics of inequality in our time. Read more
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