The Economics of Gender in China

Front matter

GENDER IN CHINA

WOMEN, WORK AND THE GLASS CEILING

THE ECONOMICS OF

Contents

Foreword vi

Preface ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Economics of Gender 7 3 Gender, Business Organization, and Culture 32 4 Women in China 69 5 Workplace in China 118 6 Gender Stereotypes in Chinese Enterprises 144 7 Work, Family, and Women in Management 176 8 Guanxi and Women in Management 194 9 Conclusion 219

Foreword

In the decades after opening their first stock markets in 1990, Chinese firms have emerged as global leaders. In 2021, China led the way in the production of electric vehicles as well as in the development of self-driving cars and smart city innovations. They have been pathbreakers in e-commerce, and for almost a decade, Chinese consumers have routinely used their phones for contactless payments.

But dynamic progress has not been limited to the economy; one also sees huge gains in human capital, most notably in an astounding increase in college enrollments. In 1990 less than 2% of the adult population had a college degree; 25 years later it exceeded 15%. Most astounding has been the explosive growth of educational opportunities for those born after 1980. In 1990 3.4% of the college-age group was in college by 2000 it had risen to 12.5%, and by 2020 to 54%.' And as Sisi Sung documents, over these past two decades of rapid expansion of college enrollments, women reached parity with their male peers.

Moreover, because for several generations the vast majority of women, including married women with children, worked full time outside the home, women’s economic contributions have long been critical to the well-being of their families and the health of the economy. But in the past ten years, a new demographic challenge has further highlighted the vital role of women in the workplace.

In 2020 17.4% of the population was 60 or older; by 2030 that percentage is predicted to reach or exceed 25%.” Thus within less than a decade China will not only have the highest number of elderly in the world but because few over age 60 will be fully employed, the percentage of the population who are no longer in the labor force will skyrocket.

Simultaneous with the rapid aging of the population is a decline in the number of new entrants to the workforce. Not only did 30 years of a one-child policy shrink the size of new birth cohorts but the rapid increase in post-secondary enrolments means that as older workers retire the workforce will shrink.

Under these conditions, the economy will become ever more dependent on maintaining high levels of labor force participation among married women, and in particular dependent on the employment of highly qualified college graduates working in managerial and professional positions. Yet in 2021 the

Foreword vii

World Economic Forum ranked China 107th of 156 countries in their Gender Equality Index.* Moreover, 2021 marked the thirteenth year in which China’s rank declined, and of particular note was the low representation of women in leadership positions in the corporate sector.

To explain the failure of women to translate their advanced educational credentials into workplace leadership, economist Sisi Sung offers a path-breaking analysis of the rarely studied case of “glass ceilings” in China. Through mastery of scholarly debates in English and Chinese, Sung brings the Chinese experience into dialogue with a literature that has generally focused exclusively on the challenges of college-educated women in the United States and the United Kingdom. In addition, she stretches beyond discussions of the characteristics and policies of the firm to incorporate broader cultural and sociological dimensions.

As an author, Sung is also in the vanguard of the discipline of economics. In her analysis, assumptions about the primacy of individual utility maximization and the power of statistical discrimination are foundational. But building on the work of Nobel laureate George Akerlof and his coauthor Rachel Kranton,* Sung frames her project in terms of the economics of identity. As a result, she systematically explores and evaluates the various ways a societally constructed sense of self and personal obligation is central to explaining why women are largely absent at the apex of the Chinese corporate workplace.

Further deepening her analysis and establishing her own original voice, Sung goes beyond Akerlof and Kranton, by integrating Judith Butler’s theory of performativity and Nan Lin, Yanjie Bian, and Mayfair Yang’s discussions of the Chinese relationship practices of guanxi.” Because Sung foregrounds both the motivations and consequences of interpersonal dynamics, individual choice and agency are critical not tangential to explaining women’s failure to be promoted to positions of authority and leadership.

The metaphor of a glass ceiling has long been used to explain persistent gender differentials in leadership, but in this monograph, Sung adds analytic rigor by foregrounding the larger framing from the economics of identity and by expanding its application to the experience of Chinese women working in the corporate sector. Through masterful integration of theory and evidence, she deftly creates dialogue with previous scholarship while incorporating extended examples from her own fieldwork and deep knowledge of Chinese history. Undoubtedly, Sung herself will soon become an essential interlocutor for those who follow her.

“In a remarkable synthesis of economics, sociology, anthropology, of ancient and modern Chinese history, and of Western and Chinese viewpoints, Sisi Sung has given a subtle and convincing characterization of the position of women in present-day China. The Economics of Gender in China should be read by everyone who wants to see social science at its very best, including, of course, all those with special interest in studies of gender and Chinese culture”.

— George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001

“This is an important monographic account of the role of women in the

contemporary economy, society, family and workplace in China from a multi-

disciplinary perspective. It captures the opportunities and barriers to women’s

managerial career advancement comprehensively, which contributes to the global agenda of improving gender equality”.

— Dr Fang Lee Cooke, Fellow, the Academy of the Social Sciences

in Australia, Distinguished Professor, Monash Business School,

Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University

“The book is an important work with profound significance. It analyzes the underrepresentation of women in China’s management positions and navigates a path to break the glass ceiling such that courageous and competent Chinese women can truly become ‘half of the sky’ among leaders and decision-makers”. — Bohong Liu, Professor, China Women’s University, Former

Executive Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Chinese Women’s Studies