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Prof. Zhang Dandan: Are Ever More Chinese Women Quitting the Workplace?

Apr 22-2024   



Between 1982 and 2020, Chinese women’s labor participation rate dropped by 22%, 6% higher than that of men, revealed Prof. Zhang Dandan of the NSD in an interview with Sanlian Life Week.

 

Prof. Zhang began research into the issue in 2015. When the pandemic struck in 2020, she initiated a study on its impact on domestic labor market. Her data crunching showed that compared with their male counterparts, female workers were afflicted with a higher unemployment rate, slower return to the workplace, and more likelihood to work from home. In addition, married women with underage children suffered an even more glaring slide down the rungs of the labor market, which indicated that the burden of tending the family was an important cause of women’s workplace losses.

 

Her research also suggested that during the pandemic, women – especially married workplace mothers - had a lower level of psychological health than men. Men had higher total suicide numbers than women, but the latter group experienced a higher growth rate of suicide incidence. This, for Prof. Zhang, corroborated women’s mental issues in that period.

 

Though Prof. Zhang’s research data has yet to be updated, her studies present women’s working conditions that form part of the global ‘she-cession’ discussions and point to the need to examine the inequalities and close the gaps. Things that can be done include cultivating women’s consciousness from the perspective of cultural and social norms, meeting women’s needs through such arrangements as flexible working hours or affordable nurseries, and enabling family members to care more about the ones at a disadvantage.

 

In March 2000, Prof. Zhang sent her first questionnaire to over 10,000 people and obtained more than 5,800 valid ones. They were roughly equally split among men and women and covered 3,512 families in 325 Chinese cities and all walks of life. Her follow-up surveys took part in June and December 2020.

Prof. Zhang Dandan: Are Ever More Chinese Women Quitting the Workplace?

Apr 22-2024   



Between 1982 and 2020, Chinese women’s labor participation rate dropped by 22%, 6% higher than that of men, revealed Prof. Zhang Dandan of the NSD in an interview with Sanlian Life Week.

 

Prof. Zhang began research into the issue in 2015. When the pandemic struck in 2020, she initiated a study on its impact on domestic labor market. Her data crunching showed that compared with their male counterparts, female workers were afflicted with a higher unemployment rate, slower return to the workplace, and more likelihood to work from home. In addition, married women with underage children suffered an even more glaring slide down the rungs of the labor market, which indicated that the burden of tending the family was an important cause of women’s workplace losses.

 

Her research also suggested that during the pandemic, women – especially married workplace mothers - had a lower level of psychological health than men. Men had higher total suicide numbers than women, but the latter group experienced a higher growth rate of suicide incidence. This, for Prof. Zhang, corroborated women’s mental issues in that period.

 

Though Prof. Zhang’s research data has yet to be updated, her studies present women’s working conditions that form part of the global ‘she-cession’ discussions and point to the need to examine the inequalities and close the gaps. Things that can be done include cultivating women’s consciousness from the perspective of cultural and social norms, meeting women’s needs through such arrangements as flexible working hours or affordable nurseries, and enabling family members to care more about the ones at a disadvantage.

 

In March 2000, Prof. Zhang sent her first questionnaire to over 10,000 people and obtained more than 5,800 valid ones. They were roughly equally split among men and women and covered 3,512 families in 325 Chinese cities and all walks of life. Her follow-up surveys took part in June and December 2020.