This book explores gender discrimination and womens movements in Chinafrom the May Fourth movement to present day. It critically examines the dynamics of the personal and political, or home and 'work, and the role this discourse plays in womens lives.
The book looks at women's 'work' within the contested field of a gender power struggle both in the politics and society in China. Patterns of employment for women have evolved over the years and women have continued to face new challenges at home and outside as the boundaries between the political and personal blurs. This book analyses the birth of feminism in China, its amalgamation with Marxism to take the form of women's liberation movement propagated by the party and state and its impact on shaping contemporary Chinese women. It also discusses the theoretical and practical trajectory of women's liberation movement, and the changing ideas on women and gender in contemporary China.
The book will be of interest to students and researchers of gender studies, political sociology, Chinese studies, sociology of work and industry, history of women's work in China, labour history, gender inequality, discrimination at workplace in China.
This book explores gender discrimination and womens movements in Chinafrom the May Fourth movement to present day. It critically examines the dynamics of the personal and political, or home and 'work, and the role this discourse plays in womens lives.
List of Figures. List of Tables. Foreword. Preface Introduction: Towards
an Understanding on the Origin of Gender Discrimination
1. Gender Equality or
Gender Sameness Women at Work in Communist China (1949-78)
2. Patterns of
Gender Discrimination at Work in Reform China (1980-2000)
3. Patterns of
Gender Discrimination At Work in Post-Reform China (2000-2020)
4. Womens
Work in Contemporary China: Personal or Political?
5. Paradox of Equality
and Difference: Contemporary Discourse on Gender in China
6. Towards
Conclusion. Afterword. Index.
Usha Chandran is an Assistant Professor at CCSEAS, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Honorary Fellow, at the Institute of Chinese Studies. She holds a PhD in Chinese on Gender issues in China from JNU. Her major research interests include gender issues in China and comparison with India, interface between gender and language as well as popular culture and womens subjectivity in literature.