Page 64 - Chinese Woman Living and Working

FEMININITY AND AUTHORITY 51
flexibility of the sector as positive elements. Participant N also noted the lack of
restriction as a positive aspect as well as being able to work boldly and openly Being able
to develop one’s career was also mentioned by participant O. She additionally appreciated
that the environment was relatively relaxed and that there was little difference between
rankings in her company.
Salaries were an important part of job satisfaction in the private sector. Participant G
noted higher salaries as a positive aspect. Participant H, the state-sector employee, felt
that in the private sector talent was more highly regarded than one’s gender and that it was
less traditional than the state sector. This perception was also supported by participant M,
who especially liked working in the private sector because of the importance attached to
professional ability. She also thought that there was a relatively large opportunity to
expand one’s career. Respondent S mentioned the high salary as a positive aspect, as well
as the challenges and opportunities of her work.
Women also raised negative aspects concerning work in the private sector such as
stringent regulations governing work, long working hours, greater job instability and the
relative difficulty of juggling family and career. For participant B, policy and investment
regulations were negative aspects to the private sector. Participant S also referred to the
tough regulations of the private sector and mentioned the inflexible working hours as a
negative side to her work. Participant M similarly responded that her work often required
overtime, that the hours were fairly long and that the competition was very intense.
Lack of employment stability and a great deal of pressure were given as negative
aspects by participant D. Participant E listed lack of certainty about the future as a
negative aspect.

Family and support networks
Interviewees suggested that another important factor in women’s career success is the role
4
of the extended family. For some of the women interviewed, leaving children in the care
of grandparents has allowed them to pursue their educational or career goals. Participant
S raised this point, describing how she had relied on both her parents and her husband’s
parents so that she could take up a scholarship to study abroad when her daughter was just
six months old. At that time, both of the child’s grandparents encouraged her to make use
of this opportunity and together with her husband looked after her daughter for the year
that she was away She explained that this had been a very difficult decision to make but
that it was a life-changing experience for her and had enabled her to overcome her shyness
and become independent and self-reliant. As her family had suffered during the Cultural
Revolution, they encouraged her to study mechanical engineering rather than a political
course so that she would be guaranteed a job regardless of the future political climate.
The One Child policy has now distinctly altered the modern Chinese family structure
so that grandparents’ time is becoming increasingly available for looking after
grandchildren (Unger 1993:42–3). However, the greater demands of the private-sector
workplace on a woman’s time and energy, particularly with promotion and seniority,
exacerbate the ‘double burden’ issue facing many working women with families. Some
women asserted that as successful women in the private sector, life was tougher for them