Leftover Women

June 2, 2014
Journalist Hong Fincher, a doctoral candidate at Tsinghua University, describes a state-sponsored backlash against economically independent single women in urban China, and the growing wealth gap it enforces, in this highly suggestive study. Drawing on secondary sources, statistics, and original research (grounded in interviews, an examination of state media, and publications from state organizations), the author spotlights a state-generated propaganda campaign to stigmatize "leftover" womenâthose as young as 26 who have not yet married. While part of a larger agenda to promote demographic goals and social stability, notes Hong Fincher, this caricature of women who supposedly prefer career over family speaks to their relative gains and hides efforts to reverse those gains through strategies such as hiring discrimination. Because the vast majority of family homes are owned in the husband's name, married women have a disproportionately small claim on China's booming housing market. Traditional gender roles and inadequate legal protections combine, moreover, to leave women vulnerable to domestic violence. However, the author highlights historical precedents and exceptions to this authoritarian patriarchal rule, as well as examples of resistance. The book serves as a vital introduction to gender issues in urban China.

June 1, 2014

Chairman Mao famously said that Chinese women "hold up half the sky." Fincher (Tshinghua Univ.) demonstrates that Mao's vision of equality for Chinese women is not the case in modern China. Her eye-opening examination into gender inequality in the country focuses primarily on women's participation in the real-estate market. China's patriarchal social structure forces many women to put the deed to their homes in their husband's name, which greatly reduces their personal wealth and agency. Furthermore, Fincher explores the common idea in China that women who are unmarried in their late 20s are considered undesirable or "leftover," which has caused many to marry hastily to abusive men. Additionally, she investigates equality throughout China's history and chronicles attempts from citizens to fight back. Through formal and informal interviews with Chinese women and men, Fincher paints an unsettling picture of inequality, domestic violence, and lack of agency. However, the study is intended as a short summary, so many of the concepts --especially in the section on LGBT concerns and social movements--could stand to be further developed. VERDICT Recommended for anyone interested in gender and womens issues, particularly in modern China.--Rebekah Kati, Walden Univ. Lib., Morrisville, NC

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