Wednesday, January 16, 2013

"China's Leftover Women" an article by Leta Hong Fincher in the New York Times

Unmarried women over the age of 27 are classified as Leftover Women (sheng nu) by All-China Women’s Federation !! Leta Hong Fincher an American doctoral student in Tsinghua University’s Department of Sociology, looks at the staggeringly patriarchical approach of the Federation towards leftover women. Essentially, they are to blame if they did not get married by over-educating themselves and had "fun" as singles! Equally strangely, women are to blame if their husbands have an affair and the marriage gets into problems! A sign of modern socialist China slipping back into traditional ways of thinking.....

Click Here to read More..

Subsequent Update -  Didi Kirsten Tatlow at the New York Times provides an update on this issue. Some of these educated women are increasingly frustrated and angry at this labeling. They have challenged it intelligently. They say they are sheng nu but the sheng they  use is the pictogram for victory and not leftover. Others however say that they are not interested in responding and providing credibility and strength to the insulting usage. 

Click here for the link.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments should not be derogatory, offensive or excessively aggressive. Please keep this forum civilised.