Page 71 - Chinese Woman Living and Working

58 CLODAGH WYLIE
a valuable and self-rewarding role in this endeavour, through the creation of an ‘online
community’ for women, creating a sense of shared identity, access to advice and support,
mentoring and contacts. The one overwhelming drawback for women looking to Internet
sites for this sense of identity, community and support is that they may find certain aspects
too narrow and prescriptive. A site such as gaogenxie that equates being ‘modern’ and
‘hip’ with wearing high-heeled shoes offers a similar model of feminine identity as that of
many women’s magazines—namely, one based on appearance and set standards of
feminine value and appeal (Hooper 1998). As with popular publications, these sites place
great importance on displays of femininity, and suggest that women need to be vigilant in
protecting and projecting their feminine qualities when operating in the masculine
environments of management and private enterprise.
In recent years attention has been paid to the potential role of China’s emerging middle
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class as spaces for independent and critical opinions. It is possible that, with increased
penetration of the Internet into the lives of Chinese citizens and particularly for women,
that perhaps a social space will begin to be constructed outside of state control. Yet, the
numbers of female Internet users and the limited access to online facilities outside of the
urban centres means that an independent space is not yet an immediate possibility

Conclusion
While the outlook for women seeking to pursue a career in China’s increasingly attractive
and lucrative private sector may seem more promising than ever before, there are still a
number of important factors restricting the rise of the Chinese career woman. Employers
who believe that pregnancy and subsequent absenteeism make female employees less
desirable perceive women as more of a burden. The recruitment of male over female
graduates is evidence of this discriminatory view. Women who have succeeded in securing
a good job find that they generally have greater responsibility than their male colleagues
when it comes to work and family demands. Furthermore, the media is increasingly
transmitting a message of domesticity and servitude when depicting women in
advertising. An alternative message is that of the ‘flower vase’, whereby a woman’s value
is based on her physical beauty, negating her contributions in real terms.
Nonetheless, businesswomen in other Chinese communities are gradually shaping
women’s concepts of work and femininity on the mainland. Websites such as the now
defunct www.WomenAsia.com, provided women with female role models from all over
Asia. However, within regions such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore there is also a
great deal of variance and perhaps the Taiwanese model of a softer, stereotypically
feminine businesswoman is more appealing than the ‘brassy’ model associated with Hong
Kong (Croll 1995:175).
The women interviewed shared a contradiction in their views on working in the private
sector. On the one hand they associated qualities such as honesty, independence and being
forthright with successful businesswomen. Yet they also spoke of the importance of being
warm and friendly, using ‘charm’ when dealing with men and behaving in an
appropriately feminine way. These contradictions highlight the degree of discomfort felt
by these women when required to move outside the navigated boundaries of their work.