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Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China, 10th Anniversary Edition
Leta Hong Fincher's landmark book Leftover Women shone a light on the resurgence of gender inequality in 21st-century China. Ten years on, women in China continue to experience a dramatic rolling back of rights and gains in the increasingly patriarchal political climate of the Xi Jinping era.
Leftover Women explores the structural discrimination against women and the broader problems with China's economy, politics, and development that lie behind it. This updated edition includes a new preface exploring developments in China in the 10 years since the book's original publication, including the new "three child policy", the growth in online feminist and LGBTQ activism and the state's increasingly repressive moves against dissent.
Leftover Women explores the structural discrimination against women and the broader problems with China's economy, politics, and development that lie behind it. This updated edition includes a new preface exploring developments in China in the 10 years since the book's original publication, including the new "three child policy", the growth in online feminist and LGBTQ activism and the state's increasingly repressive moves against dissent.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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3612 people want to read
About the author
Leta Hong Fincher
2 books158 followersPraise for Leftover Women, 10th anniversary edition:
Named one of the best China books of 2023 by China Books Review.
“Leta Hong Fincher's book was not only an instant classic, it was downright clairvoyant: Seeing what others miss, she foresaw a seismic shift in the public mood, which has intensified in the past decade. The revised edition is urgent reading; it holds essential insights into China's economic and political future.”
―Evan Osnos, winner of the National Book Award, author of Age of Ambition
“An eye-opening, groundbreaking book that cast light on critical yet overlooked changes in China - and which seems more timely than ever ten years on.”
―Tania Branigan, author of Red Memory
“The past decade has time and again underlined the prescience of Leta Hong Fincher's Leftover Women. This groundbreaking book made a powerful case for how state propaganda and cultural norms combined to exclude Chinese women from the wealth creation springing from the country's rapid economic development. In this new version, Hong Fincher illustrates how women are beginning to fight back, and the obstacles lined up against them. This book is more relevant than ever to anyone who wants to understand China - read it and rage.”
―Louisa Lim, Author of Indelible City and The People's Republic of Amnesia
Leta Hong Fincher has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Dissent Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and others. As a long-time TV and radio journalist based in China, she won the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award, the Cowan Award for Humanitarian Reporting and other journalism honors for her reporting.
Leta’s previous book, Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China, was named Best Book of the year by Vanity Fair, Newsweek, Foreign Policy Interrupted, Bitch Media and Autostraddle; it was also a New York Times “New and Noteworthy” pick. The New York Public Library named Betraying Big Brother one of its “essential reads on feminism” in 2020.
Leta's first book, Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China (2014), was named one of the top 5 China books of the year by the Asia Society’s ChinaFile and one of the best Asian books of the year by Asia House. It was on the New York Times list of recommended books on China in 2018 and on Book Riot’s list of 21 recommended Chinese history books in 2021.
Named one of the best China books of 2023 by China Books Review.
“Leta Hong Fincher's book was not only an instant classic, it was downright clairvoyant: Seeing what others miss, she foresaw a seismic shift in the public mood, which has intensified in the past decade. The revised edition is urgent reading; it holds essential insights into China's economic and political future.”
―Evan Osnos, winner of the National Book Award, author of Age of Ambition
“An eye-opening, groundbreaking book that cast light on critical yet overlooked changes in China - and which seems more timely than ever ten years on.”
―Tania Branigan, author of Red Memory
“The past decade has time and again underlined the prescience of Leta Hong Fincher's Leftover Women. This groundbreaking book made a powerful case for how state propaganda and cultural norms combined to exclude Chinese women from the wealth creation springing from the country's rapid economic development. In this new version, Hong Fincher illustrates how women are beginning to fight back, and the obstacles lined up against them. This book is more relevant than ever to anyone who wants to understand China - read it and rage.”
―Louisa Lim, Author of Indelible City and The People's Republic of Amnesia
Leta Hong Fincher has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Dissent Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and others. As a long-time TV and radio journalist based in China, she won the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award, the Cowan Award for Humanitarian Reporting and other journalism honors for her reporting.
Leta’s previous book, Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China, was named Best Book of the year by Vanity Fair, Newsweek, Foreign Policy Interrupted, Bitch Media and Autostraddle; it was also a New York Times “New and Noteworthy” pick. The New York Public Library named Betraying Big Brother one of its “essential reads on feminism” in 2020.
Leta's first book, Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China (2014), was named one of the top 5 China books of the year by the Asia Society’s ChinaFile and one of the best Asian books of the year by Asia House. It was on the New York Times list of recommended books on China in 2018 and on Book Riot’s list of 21 recommended Chinese history books in 2021.
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June 12, 2021
Review to be reinstated or rewritten when a new copy of the book comes.
April 20, 2014
This is a fascinating look at the difference between reality and social control efforts in modern China.
In point of fact, in China there are no "leftover women"; the stats show (depending on area), anything from 110 men to 100 women on up. In some rural districts, as described in this book, unmarried men outnumber unmarried women at over 2:1!
One would think, then, that society and the political machine would realize that women are a relatively scarce and valuable resource, especially since both promote marriage as essential for society. You'd be wrong.
The "leftover women" campaigns are essentially designed to make women feel insecure bout their prospects, and so accept suitors and compromises that are completely opposed to their own self-interests. Let's not try to make men treat women well! Let's just get women to accept increasingly shoddy treatment!
Domestic violence is clearly a problem in China, but it's not illegal. If a guy beat up someone on the street, he could be prosecuted; when he beats up his wife, it's OK- except that if she seeks help, SHE will be shamed and often attacked by society at large.
It doesn't help that even though many women enter a marriage with assets similar to their spouse's- they don't get to keep them. She will put her saving into the down payment on a house or apartment; as will he, and often relatives of both spouses. However, the deed will be ONLY in his name- which legally means it's all his, even when she's paying half or more of the mortgage. The "leftover women" campaigns tell women that they're lucky to have a man at all, so should not complain about anything. And even if they do- there's usually less than no help.
I am deeply interested in the social status and positions of women around the world, and this was an excellent summary of the situation in modern China. It's a bit dry, but has interviews and anecdotes that illustrate and illuminate many of the points, and the footnotes are impressive- I'll be reading more from them.
I am also interested in the ways in which media propaganda- often "counter-factual" (i.e. bald-faced lies)- are used to manipulate people in general. Here's an excellent, detailed example.
Note: I got an ARC of this book through LibraryThing.
In point of fact, in China there are no "leftover women"; the stats show (depending on area), anything from 110 men to 100 women on up. In some rural districts, as described in this book, unmarried men outnumber unmarried women at over 2:1!
One would think, then, that society and the political machine would realize that women are a relatively scarce and valuable resource, especially since both promote marriage as essential for society. You'd be wrong.
The "leftover women" campaigns are essentially designed to make women feel insecure bout their prospects, and so accept suitors and compromises that are completely opposed to their own self-interests. Let's not try to make men treat women well! Let's just get women to accept increasingly shoddy treatment!
Domestic violence is clearly a problem in China, but it's not illegal. If a guy beat up someone on the street, he could be prosecuted; when he beats up his wife, it's OK- except that if she seeks help, SHE will be shamed and often attacked by society at large.
It doesn't help that even though many women enter a marriage with assets similar to their spouse's- they don't get to keep them. She will put her saving into the down payment on a house or apartment; as will he, and often relatives of both spouses. However, the deed will be ONLY in his name- which legally means it's all his, even when she's paying half or more of the mortgage. The "leftover women" campaigns tell women that they're lucky to have a man at all, so should not complain about anything. And even if they do- there's usually less than no help.
I am deeply interested in the social status and positions of women around the world, and this was an excellent summary of the situation in modern China. It's a bit dry, but has interviews and anecdotes that illustrate and illuminate many of the points, and the footnotes are impressive- I'll be reading more from them.
I am also interested in the ways in which media propaganda- often "counter-factual" (i.e. bald-faced lies)- are used to manipulate people in general. Here's an excellent, detailed example.
Note: I got an ARC of this book through LibraryThing.
May 28, 2014
Leta Hong Fincher was a journalist before completing a PhD in Sociology at Beijing’s Tsinghua University. This book is based on her PhD project on the under-researched connections between leftover women, China’s property market, and gender inequality. Fincher has previously written articles discussing similar issues for the New York Times, CNN, and Ms. Magazine, through which these topics have already gained some popularity. With an abundance of interview quotes and contemporaneous media reports, this book is quite readable and has the potential to attract a wide audience.
According to Fincher, the term ‘leftover woman’ in China ‘is widely used to describe an urban, professional female in her late twenties or older who is still single’ (p.2). In Chapter 1, Fincher examines the leftover women discourse mediated through ‘state media news reports, surveys, columns, cartoons and television shows’ (p.15), and argues that two reasons account for the state promoting the leftover women discourse: one is to maintain social stability in the context of the persisting sex ratio imbalance – China has 32million more men aged under 20 than women – that prevents a lot of men from finding wives; the other is to upgrade the ‘quality’ of the populace by urging well-educated women to marry. It is an insightful observation indeed that the state serves as a latent driver, disseminating this stigmatizing ‘leftover’ women discourse, which arguably has a profound impact on unmarried women over the age of 25.
Chapter 2 considers how Chinese women have been ‘shut out of arguably the biggest accumulation of residential real-estate wealth in history’ because the pressure they experience in trying to avoid becoming ‘leftover’ means that they often ‘give up too much bargaining power within the marriage’ (p.12). Chapter 3 further deals with how ‘many parents discriminate against their own daughters by buying expensive homes for their sons only’, leading to a gendered wealth gap in house buying.
The book is written in an accessible style, allowing general readers access to the subject. It also adopts an inclusive approach in that it covers a wide range of issues in relation to women’s property rights, including the rights of LGBT groups in Chapter 3 and Chapter 6, and the relationship between domestic abuse and women’s lack of property rights in Chapter 5. These issues are rarely discussed together when considering gender inequality in China, so the author is to be congratulated for this effort.
However, I did find that in places the evidence provided is insufficient to support the arguments presented. For example, readers are introduced to a female informant who has a university degree but left her job because ‘she wanted to make herself a more attractive marriage candidate, less intimidating to suitors’. She is quoted as saying “my most important duty is to find a good man to marry” (p.39). The author analyses the case by noting that ‘the state media campaign regarding “leftover” women has prompted some highly educated women to quit their jobs even before they get married’ (p.39). Aside from questioning how rare this case is, I find a lack of coherence between the analysis and the quotes as the informant did not explicitly suggest that she was influenced by the ‘leftover’ discourse.
The imprecision in analysis can also be identified in Chapter 3. The author reveals that the informant Shang got married because she believed that she was getting older. The author links her anxiety with ‘the “leftover” women age threshold’ (p.107). Again, the informant did not specify the connection between her anxiety and the prescribed age of ‘leftover’ women advocated by the state media. By adopting the ‘leftover’ women discourse in a one-size-fits-all fashion, it can be argued that the author not only exaggerates the influence that the ‘leftover’ discourse imposes on women, but also ignores the intricate complexity of the reasons for their anxiety. It is not difficult to recognise that unmarried women’s anxiety around their increasing age existed before the emergence of the ‘leftover’ women discourse, and furthermore that it is seen in other countries where the ‘leftover’ women discourse does not exist.
The author cites a remarkable amount of online sources to support her argument, showing engagement with a variety of sources. However Fincher doesn’t acknowledge that they may not be completely trustworthy. In Chapter 2, the author cites the 2012 Horizon and iFeng.com Report, noting that women’s names were endorsed on only 30 per cent of marital home deals (p.46). First, there are perhaps questions as to the credibility of the report, as it did not suggest how many informants were involved, nor how the survey was conducted. Furthermore, it is a pity that the author did not mention the trend indicated by the report, of a 10.2% increase in the number of women’s names on home deeds compared to the time prior to 2006, which can be interpreted as women’s rising power in property rights.
Although there are thought-provoking points throughout, I find some of the findings intrinsically contradictory. For instance, in Chapter 3, Fincher reports that a daughter’s parents ‘often decline to help buy a home’ for their daughter (p.78). The author implies that it is because the parents consider buying a home to be man’s responsibility (p.83). However, the author finds out that many women contribute their whole savings to help their partners to buy homes without putting their names on the deeds. The daughters’ behaviour is in contrast to their parents’ perception that men should be the home provider. Considering the author’s finding that a daughter has a sense of filial piety to her parents (p.82), I cannot help but wonder how the parents view their daughters’ behaviour of contributing their savings without being entitled to the property? Does it lead to any intergenerational conflicts? The book unfortunately does not discuss this.
Finally, the use of the word ‘resurgence’ is somewhat problematic in this context. As suggested in the Introduction, ‘this book argues that the state-sponsored media campaign about “leftover” women is part of a broad resurgence of gender inequality in post-socialist China’ (p.3). Resurgence here implies that gender equality was once achieved. I consider gender equality to have never been achieved and indeed that gender inequality has been persistent throughout China’s history (see Liu, Croll and Stacey for further reading). In Chapter 4, Fincher conceptualises ‘resurgence’ by tracing back to the Song dynasty (960-1279), upholding that women at that time ‘had substantial, independent ownership and control of property’ (p.110). She then compares the women in the Song Dynasty to those in contemporary China, claiming that ‘Chinese women’s property rights have steadily eroded in the post-socialist, rural-to-urban transformation’ (p.131). The way in which she compares the women in contemporary China with the women one thousand years ago is problematic; although the author quotes historian Bernhardt, it seems that she disregards Bernhardt’s conclusion that ‘there was no “half-share law” in the Song and indeed could not have been. Instead, the principles of patrilineal succession applied, and women enjoyed inheritance rights only by default, in the absence of brothers and sons.’ (p.8). Chapter 4 leaves itself open to critiques of reductionism by merely discussing property rights without considering the corresponding social economic context.
The dominant discourse among the Chinese media and public currently focuses on how women strategise to add their names to the deeds without paying for or paying very little for property. This book engineers to reverse the abovementioned discourse by discussing how women are disadvantaged in the real estate market. Unfortunately, by intertwining the ‘leftover women’ discourse and real estate market, the author’s intention to create a novel approach to demonstrate how women are disadvantaged in contemporary China fails to meet its purpose due to its reductionist approach, the not well-grounded evidence, and the insufficiently supported arguments.
Above all, this book looks likely to be controversial. Nonetheless it has the potential to be a bestseller due to the timeliness of the topic, Fincher’s eye-catching arguments, and the already established reputation of the author, regardless of how selective the views encapsulated in this book may be. Once again, it is worth saying that the author should be recognised for bringing together the rarely-discussed issues of women’s property rights, the rights of LGBT groups, and domestic abuse.
From LSE Book Review http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofboo...
According to Fincher, the term ‘leftover woman’ in China ‘is widely used to describe an urban, professional female in her late twenties or older who is still single’ (p.2). In Chapter 1, Fincher examines the leftover women discourse mediated through ‘state media news reports, surveys, columns, cartoons and television shows’ (p.15), and argues that two reasons account for the state promoting the leftover women discourse: one is to maintain social stability in the context of the persisting sex ratio imbalance – China has 32million more men aged under 20 than women – that prevents a lot of men from finding wives; the other is to upgrade the ‘quality’ of the populace by urging well-educated women to marry. It is an insightful observation indeed that the state serves as a latent driver, disseminating this stigmatizing ‘leftover’ women discourse, which arguably has a profound impact on unmarried women over the age of 25.
Chapter 2 considers how Chinese women have been ‘shut out of arguably the biggest accumulation of residential real-estate wealth in history’ because the pressure they experience in trying to avoid becoming ‘leftover’ means that they often ‘give up too much bargaining power within the marriage’ (p.12). Chapter 3 further deals with how ‘many parents discriminate against their own daughters by buying expensive homes for their sons only’, leading to a gendered wealth gap in house buying.
The book is written in an accessible style, allowing general readers access to the subject. It also adopts an inclusive approach in that it covers a wide range of issues in relation to women’s property rights, including the rights of LGBT groups in Chapter 3 and Chapter 6, and the relationship between domestic abuse and women’s lack of property rights in Chapter 5. These issues are rarely discussed together when considering gender inequality in China, so the author is to be congratulated for this effort.
However, I did find that in places the evidence provided is insufficient to support the arguments presented. For example, readers are introduced to a female informant who has a university degree but left her job because ‘she wanted to make herself a more attractive marriage candidate, less intimidating to suitors’. She is quoted as saying “my most important duty is to find a good man to marry” (p.39). The author analyses the case by noting that ‘the state media campaign regarding “leftover” women has prompted some highly educated women to quit their jobs even before they get married’ (p.39). Aside from questioning how rare this case is, I find a lack of coherence between the analysis and the quotes as the informant did not explicitly suggest that she was influenced by the ‘leftover’ discourse.
The imprecision in analysis can also be identified in Chapter 3. The author reveals that the informant Shang got married because she believed that she was getting older. The author links her anxiety with ‘the “leftover” women age threshold’ (p.107). Again, the informant did not specify the connection between her anxiety and the prescribed age of ‘leftover’ women advocated by the state media. By adopting the ‘leftover’ women discourse in a one-size-fits-all fashion, it can be argued that the author not only exaggerates the influence that the ‘leftover’ discourse imposes on women, but also ignores the intricate complexity of the reasons for their anxiety. It is not difficult to recognise that unmarried women’s anxiety around their increasing age existed before the emergence of the ‘leftover’ women discourse, and furthermore that it is seen in other countries where the ‘leftover’ women discourse does not exist.
The author cites a remarkable amount of online sources to support her argument, showing engagement with a variety of sources. However Fincher doesn’t acknowledge that they may not be completely trustworthy. In Chapter 2, the author cites the 2012 Horizon and iFeng.com Report, noting that women’s names were endorsed on only 30 per cent of marital home deals (p.46). First, there are perhaps questions as to the credibility of the report, as it did not suggest how many informants were involved, nor how the survey was conducted. Furthermore, it is a pity that the author did not mention the trend indicated by the report, of a 10.2% increase in the number of women’s names on home deeds compared to the time prior to 2006, which can be interpreted as women’s rising power in property rights.
Although there are thought-provoking points throughout, I find some of the findings intrinsically contradictory. For instance, in Chapter 3, Fincher reports that a daughter’s parents ‘often decline to help buy a home’ for their daughter (p.78). The author implies that it is because the parents consider buying a home to be man’s responsibility (p.83). However, the author finds out that many women contribute their whole savings to help their partners to buy homes without putting their names on the deeds. The daughters’ behaviour is in contrast to their parents’ perception that men should be the home provider. Considering the author’s finding that a daughter has a sense of filial piety to her parents (p.82), I cannot help but wonder how the parents view their daughters’ behaviour of contributing their savings without being entitled to the property? Does it lead to any intergenerational conflicts? The book unfortunately does not discuss this.
Finally, the use of the word ‘resurgence’ is somewhat problematic in this context. As suggested in the Introduction, ‘this book argues that the state-sponsored media campaign about “leftover” women is part of a broad resurgence of gender inequality in post-socialist China’ (p.3). Resurgence here implies that gender equality was once achieved. I consider gender equality to have never been achieved and indeed that gender inequality has been persistent throughout China’s history (see Liu, Croll and Stacey for further reading). In Chapter 4, Fincher conceptualises ‘resurgence’ by tracing back to the Song dynasty (960-1279), upholding that women at that time ‘had substantial, independent ownership and control of property’ (p.110). She then compares the women in the Song Dynasty to those in contemporary China, claiming that ‘Chinese women’s property rights have steadily eroded in the post-socialist, rural-to-urban transformation’ (p.131). The way in which she compares the women in contemporary China with the women one thousand years ago is problematic; although the author quotes historian Bernhardt, it seems that she disregards Bernhardt’s conclusion that ‘there was no “half-share law” in the Song and indeed could not have been. Instead, the principles of patrilineal succession applied, and women enjoyed inheritance rights only by default, in the absence of brothers and sons.’ (p.8). Chapter 4 leaves itself open to critiques of reductionism by merely discussing property rights without considering the corresponding social economic context.
The dominant discourse among the Chinese media and public currently focuses on how women strategise to add their names to the deeds without paying for or paying very little for property. This book engineers to reverse the abovementioned discourse by discussing how women are disadvantaged in the real estate market. Unfortunately, by intertwining the ‘leftover women’ discourse and real estate market, the author’s intention to create a novel approach to demonstrate how women are disadvantaged in contemporary China fails to meet its purpose due to its reductionist approach, the not well-grounded evidence, and the insufficiently supported arguments.
Above all, this book looks likely to be controversial. Nonetheless it has the potential to be a bestseller due to the timeliness of the topic, Fincher’s eye-catching arguments, and the already established reputation of the author, regardless of how selective the views encapsulated in this book may be. Once again, it is worth saying that the author should be recognised for bringing together the rarely-discussed issues of women’s property rights, the rights of LGBT groups, and domestic abuse.
From LSE Book Review http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofboo...
April 28, 2024
I decided to read Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China as it appeared on a Guardian list of five of the best books to understand modern China. First published in 2014, it's a brutal account of gender inequality in China based on detailed research. Fincher demonstrates unbearable pressures on young women from government propaganda and their own families to marry young, have children young, subordinate their careers to those of men, and give up their financial independence and assets to their husbands. A particularly grim detail is government media blaming women having babies over the age of thirty for a rise in birth defects:
It seems there was greater gender equality during the Mao decades, albeit this included equal shares in oppressive work targets and political persecution. Chapter 4 argues that a legal change in 2011 has left Chinese women with fewer inheritance rights to property than they had a thousand years ago, during the Song dynasty:
The title of chapter two sums it up succinctly: 'How Chinese women were shut out of the biggest accumulation of real-estate wealth in history'. Later chapters also examine the implications of China having no specific laws that protect women and children from domestic violence, as well as the impact of gender inequality on queer people. The final chapter discusses resistance to gender inequality in China, organisation of which is stifled by the authoritarian regime. Fincher posits that the government pressures women to marry young, having children young, and subordinate themselves to men as a means of discouraging social upheaval and deal with the huge demographic gender imbalance created by the one child policy.
Throughout the book, points are argued using a combination of quantitative data where available (e.g. a survey found in 2010 that only one in fifteen single women in China owned their own home) with in-depth interviews undertaken by the author. Fincher skilfully brings out the themes in this qualitative data. I notice that a ten year anniversary edition of the book has been published with a new preface, which I'd be interested to read. My understanding from media reports is that political repression in China has increasingly incorporated surveillance technology in the decade since initial publication. China has also seen the disruption of prolonged and extremely strict covid lockdowns, as well as a continued fall in birth rates. I found Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China eye-opening and insightful, highly accessible yet based on rigorous academic research.
A related report by the official Xinhua News Agency in September 2012 says that more than 900,000 babies are born with birth defects every year, citing Ministry of Health statistics. The Xinhua News report refers to unnamed experts who say that the rise in birth defects is linked to the withdrawal of compulsory premarital health exams in 2003 and rising numbers of women having children 'at an older age'. The state media generally make little or no mention of scientific studies indicating that China's rise in birth defects is related to extreme levels of pollution, especially in areas of the country that are heavily reliant on coal-fired power plants. [...]
The state rhetoric on preventing birth defects through promoting earlier marriage and premarital health screening - as opposed to scientific reporting on the ill effects of pollution - strikes fear into the hearts of Chinese women in their twenties who hope one day to have a child.
It seems there was greater gender equality during the Mao decades, albeit this included equal shares in oppressive work targets and political persecution. Chapter 4 argues that a legal change in 2011 has left Chinese women with fewer inheritance rights to property than they had a thousand years ago, during the Song dynasty:
Whereas daughters in twenty-first century China have no recourse when their parents favour their brothers or male cousins in acquiring property, Song dynasty law a thousand years earlier provided an extraordinary range of state support for women's property rights, including the preservation of assets for underage girls as well as boys. [...]
Moreover, when in the Song dynasty women married, the law allowed them to keep their property indefinitely, including after divorce or widowhood. The speciail legal treatment of women in the Song state 'transmitted unprecedented assets through daughters and gave women unforeseen economic independence and mobility within marriage and beyond,' writes [historian of the period] Birge. [...]
In today's China, when some parents prefer to give money to their nephew rather than to their own daughter to buy a home, they are reverting back to the practice from the Ming dynasty, when, in the absence of sons, daughters had less of a claim to property than nephews.
The title of chapter two sums it up succinctly: 'How Chinese women were shut out of the biggest accumulation of real-estate wealth in history'. Later chapters also examine the implications of China having no specific laws that protect women and children from domestic violence, as well as the impact of gender inequality on queer people. The final chapter discusses resistance to gender inequality in China, organisation of which is stifled by the authoritarian regime. Fincher posits that the government pressures women to marry young, having children young, and subordinate themselves to men as a means of discouraging social upheaval and deal with the huge demographic gender imbalance created by the one child policy.
Throughout the book, points are argued using a combination of quantitative data where available (e.g. a survey found in 2010 that only one in fifteen single women in China owned their own home) with in-depth interviews undertaken by the author. Fincher skilfully brings out the themes in this qualitative data. I notice that a ten year anniversary edition of the book has been published with a new preface, which I'd be interested to read. My understanding from media reports is that political repression in China has increasingly incorporated surveillance technology in the decade since initial publication. China has also seen the disruption of prolonged and extremely strict covid lockdowns, as well as a continued fall in birth rates. I found Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China eye-opening and insightful, highly accessible yet based on rigorous academic research.
December 12, 2024
Каквото и да казва Китайската комунистическа партия, в Китай няма "гнили" жени - израз, с който официалната пропаганда нарича неомъжените представителки на женския пол над 27-годишна възраст, в опит да ги притисне да се придържат към консервативните ѝ социални виждания - т. е. да се омъжат (без значение дали мъжът е читав или не) и по възможност да си стоят у дома, и да раждат, и отглеждат деца (най-добре да са 3, само че трудно ще убедиш съвременно китайско семейство да има толкова "много" хлапета), името им да не стои върху нотариалния акт на семейното жилище, да търпят унижения и домашно насилие от съпрузите си и техните семейства, а когато потърсят помощ от полицията, болниците и правосъдието да бъдат посрещнати с ледено мълчание.
За сметка на това в Китай има 30 (според някои оценки 40) милиона мъже, които никога няма да си намерят партньорка, защото,ами, жените просто не достигат - трагично съчетание от политиката на едно дете и традиционното предпочитание на синовете пред дъщерите. Не желая да ги наричам "гнили" - те нямат вина за деянията на обществото по време, когато още не са се родили. Но не са и невинни, защото повтарят поведението на родителите си.
В книгата на Лита Хонг-Финчър, потомствен синолог, има някои дразнещи повторения, но и много неизвестни (поне до този момент и за мен) факти, които ми помогнаха да доизградя за себе си картината на модерен Китай - пленителна земя, бореща се за мястото в света - и ужасите, които още се случват в нея. На вашето внимание не е някой шедьовър, а просто четиво, необходимо за познаването на света. И живота на жените. Проблемите, с които се сблъскваме, са в частност различни, но по същество еднакви навсякъде.
За сметка на това в Китай има 30 (според някои оценки 40) милиона мъже, които никога няма да си намерят партньорка, защото,ами, жените просто не достигат - трагично съчетание от политиката на едно дете и традиционното предпочитание на синовете пред дъщерите. Не желая да ги наричам "гнили" - те нямат вина за деянията на обществото по време, когато още не са се родили. Но не са и невинни, защото повтарят поведението на родителите си.
В книгата на Лита Хонг-Финчър, потомствен синолог, има някои дразнещи повторения, но и много неизвестни (поне до този момент и за мен) факти, които ми помогнаха да доизградя за себе си картината на модерен Китай - пленителна земя, бореща се за мястото в света - и ужасите, които още се случват в нея. На вашето внимание не е някой шедьовър, а просто четиво, необходимо за познаването на света. И живота на жените. Проблемите, с които се сблъскваме, са в частност различни, но по същество еднакви навсякъде.
October 31, 2014
So angry. A table flipping inducing book.
March 30, 2019
This is a very good book that states the current issue on single women who are under pressure to get married. I believe, this issue is rising among many Asian societies, but not in the West(they must have overcome it already long ago). Asian traditions and cultures tend to incline to patriarchy and gender inequality, and this has led to issues of Asian women having one more big problem in their lives, additional to many others also related to gender inequality, which I dont want to list here. In Mongolia, this is a current issue as well, many young women, in their early 20s already feel pressured from the society the obligation to find someone "good" to marry and start a family. I wonder when will Asian societies overcome this patriarchal societal issue, like the Westerns did.
April 11, 2018
I absolutely loved this book and will never think about gender relations in China the same way. I was skeptical about gender equality there after my own experience, but Hong Fincher shows how much greater that disparity has become in the last decade since the property boom and new laws came into being. The book flowed well and was well organized. It was less about the leftover women themselves than what it would mean to be without a spouse in China or how women go into marriages so they can own property, yet it’s never really theirs. This is a quick read and one you won’t forget. Looking forward to her new book later this year.
Read
November 4, 2020Een tijd terug las ik Eileen Changs De Liefde van een Half Leven, een prachtig boek waar ik tegelijk woedend van werd. Centraal in het boek stond de spanningen tussen traditionele en moderne waarden, en met name de positie van de vrouw. Ik kon mijn woede verlichten door mezelf te vertellen dat het een schets was van een wereld die niet meer bestaat, dat het nu beter gaat.
En in de maoïstische periode zijn er wel degelijk stappen gezet naar meer gendergelijkheid, maar helaas blijken de traditionele (mogelijk Confucianistische?) waarden toch vast verankerd, en leven ze op in recente jaren.
Volgens Hong Fincher heeft dit allemaal te maken met geld en vastgoed: wie het geld verdient, maar veel belangrijker nog, wie het huis bezit, heeft de macht in het gezin. Haar betoog gaat lang niet over alle vrouwen: het zijn de rijke, hoogopgeleide vrouwen, degenen waarvan je zou verwachten dat ze de winnaars zijn in de samenleving. Maar zelfs zij kunnen niet op tegen een wereld waarin er verwacht wordt dat vrouwen voor hun 27e trouwen, dat ze gehoorzame echtgenotes zijn, dat het huis op naam van de man staat, ook al betaalt de vrouw of dier familie het meeste geld.
En de obsessie voor huisbezit onder jonge Chinezen is enorm groot. Het is het bewijs dat je degelijk middenklasse bent. Maar dit betekent dat vrouwen afhankelijk worden van hun partners, die het huis bezitten. Scheiden is gigantisch moeilijk, omdat dat in veel gevallen dakloosheid betekent. Deze afhankelijkheid betekent dat ze veel moeten dulden, ook geweld.
Erger nog is de volledige afzijdige houding die politiek, handhaving en samenleving heeft voor huiselijk geweld; Hong Fincher somt vele anekdotes op van vrouwen die zwaar mishandeld worden, zonder dat politie er iets aan doet, omdat het over een privéaangelegenheid gaat. Verkrachting binnen het huwelijk is eveneens niet illegaal, wat nog kwalijker wordt wanneer je bedenkt dat veel vrouwen door sociale druk gedwongen worden om te trouwen. Deze sociale druk is ook nog via staatsmedia gecreëerd om, volgens de auteur, het mannenoverschot niet uit te laten lopen tot een reden van sociale instabiliteit.
Toch zijn er lichtpuntjes die Hong Fincher aanstippelt, namelijk dat vrouwen vocaler worden in hun verzet. Zelf las ik deze week nog over de opkomende populariteit van vrouwelijke stand-up comedians, die veel kritiek over zich heen kregen wegens hun belachelijk maken van gendernormen.
Een boek dat misschien iets te veel leunt op anekdotes in plaats van statistiek, maar haar premisse lijkt redelijk sterk te staan. Het beschrijft een zorgelijke ontwikkeling wat meer aandacht verdient, zeker onder feministen.
En in de maoïstische periode zijn er wel degelijk stappen gezet naar meer gendergelijkheid, maar helaas blijken de traditionele (mogelijk Confucianistische?) waarden toch vast verankerd, en leven ze op in recente jaren.
Volgens Hong Fincher heeft dit allemaal te maken met geld en vastgoed: wie het geld verdient, maar veel belangrijker nog, wie het huis bezit, heeft de macht in het gezin. Haar betoog gaat lang niet over alle vrouwen: het zijn de rijke, hoogopgeleide vrouwen, degenen waarvan je zou verwachten dat ze de winnaars zijn in de samenleving. Maar zelfs zij kunnen niet op tegen een wereld waarin er verwacht wordt dat vrouwen voor hun 27e trouwen, dat ze gehoorzame echtgenotes zijn, dat het huis op naam van de man staat, ook al betaalt de vrouw of dier familie het meeste geld.
En de obsessie voor huisbezit onder jonge Chinezen is enorm groot. Het is het bewijs dat je degelijk middenklasse bent. Maar dit betekent dat vrouwen afhankelijk worden van hun partners, die het huis bezitten. Scheiden is gigantisch moeilijk, omdat dat in veel gevallen dakloosheid betekent. Deze afhankelijkheid betekent dat ze veel moeten dulden, ook geweld.
Erger nog is de volledige afzijdige houding die politiek, handhaving en samenleving heeft voor huiselijk geweld; Hong Fincher somt vele anekdotes op van vrouwen die zwaar mishandeld worden, zonder dat politie er iets aan doet, omdat het over een privéaangelegenheid gaat. Verkrachting binnen het huwelijk is eveneens niet illegaal, wat nog kwalijker wordt wanneer je bedenkt dat veel vrouwen door sociale druk gedwongen worden om te trouwen. Deze sociale druk is ook nog via staatsmedia gecreëerd om, volgens de auteur, het mannenoverschot niet uit te laten lopen tot een reden van sociale instabiliteit.
Toch zijn er lichtpuntjes die Hong Fincher aanstippelt, namelijk dat vrouwen vocaler worden in hun verzet. Zelf las ik deze week nog over de opkomende populariteit van vrouwelijke stand-up comedians, die veel kritiek over zich heen kregen wegens hun belachelijk maken van gendernormen.
Een boek dat misschien iets te veel leunt op anekdotes in plaats van statistiek, maar haar premisse lijkt redelijk sterk te staan. Het beschrijft een zorgelijke ontwikkeling wat meer aandacht verdient, zeker onder feministen.
August 25, 2025
对我这个社会学小白来说很好读！以被官方虚构并大力宣传的剩女现象为关注点，分析中国社会的①国家话语——政府和主流媒体合谋；②市场经济，尤其是有关“居住性房产作为保障女性自主的资产之一，被法律与市场规则共同锁定给男性”；③传统父权——家庭＋社会把女性的价值绑定给昏因，这交织的三者如何压迫城市职业女性并推其进入昏育，以满足维护国家政治体制稳定的需求和逻辑。第一次了解了是Kim女士推动了中国反家暴法的立法进程，这类“不同国家不同种族但同为女性”的抗争故事读来依然很震撼，很有力量。最后讲到了几个中国民间女权组织及其发起的草根女权活动，边读边感叹在此地行动就是这样不易，而且我们已经经历了这么多了。也很开心有提到同作为少数群体，女性与男性面对的社会议题不能混为一谈，比如女同相较于男同承受了更多压力，比如同妻现象。
April 30, 2014
This is definitely a four star book! Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Equality in China by Leta Hong Fincher makes me think of the 1950s in the United States. That was when women were encouraged to be home and take care of the family, instead of competing with men for a high paying jobs. Even though they had proved their ability by putting together airplanes and ships, they were suddenly relegated to the kitchen, to take care of the children and to keep their husbands happy.
This was a big step backwards for women's equality. But in China, this step backwards is a much bigger step, a more dangerous step.
Leta Hong Flincher proves her point about the "sheng nu" or leftover women in China's current society. There is a tremendous pressure to get married while you are still in your child bearing years. In China, only the man's name is on the bank account and on the registration for the house. There is much more pressure to buy a house than here. That pressure is from family and friends but also by the government campaigns. And those campaigns are not limited to that one area.
The Leftover Women are those unmarried women or in our culture, "old maid". They can be only twenty-five years or older, vibrant and intelligent professional women but they are portrayed as dried up old women. There is tremendous pressure to not be a leftover woman.
What does the extraordinary real estate boom, the consequences of the one child policy and the government non acceptance of lesbians and gays have to do with this backwards slide? The author did two and a half years of care research and found out how this is happening.
The writing style is clear and easy to read although just a bit repetitive. I had visited China back in 1998 and think this is a clear change from the way it was then. I highly recommend this book to all who are interested in China.
I received this advance reading copy as a win from FirstReads but that in no way influenced my thoughts or feelings in my review.
November 24, 2014
A sobering and fascinating look at gender dynamics in present day China. It is absolutely amazing to me how people can be pressured into doing things that blatantly go against their own self interest thanks for governmental, family and media influence. This book reminds me yet again about the major differences between China and the West and makes me doubly appreciate living in the United States. Written in a clear way appropriate for both scholars and non-scholars alike, Leftover Women was a relatively quick and interesting read. Note: I received this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program.
October 1, 2016
I learned some few things, but this book - which seems to be a PhD dissertation - reads like one.
September 16, 2019
似乎以房产拥有情况讨论性别不平等，中间还掺杂了一位给人按摩还是做什么的女性，犯的问题都是文化旁观者抵不住诱惑，将有趣的见闻都杂糅进有限的主题中。
不过感觉作者同主题的博士毕业论文是国际化剩女研究的开山之作，所以尽管有瑕疵，在婚姻、家庭领域依然有较大的影响力。
不过感觉作者同主题的博士毕业论文是国际化剩女研究的开山之作，所以尽管有瑕疵，在婚姻、家庭领域依然有较大的影响力。
June 22, 2020
I read this after reading Betraying Big Brother also by Leta Hong-Fincher, as it's one of my favourite non fiction books, about an area I previously knew very little about. I don't think it is clear from the blurb, but this book is mostly about real estate in China and how the gender division of this is both a problem in itself and indicative of the larger problem of a resurgence of gender inequality in China. Overall, very accessible and interesting, well worth the read, particularly if this is an area you're just starting to learn about!
May 9, 2019
I had to read this for class (all I read nowadays is for school) and it was clear enough, but it was 100 pages too long.
May 3, 2021
Very interesting and depressing read about the womans rights struggle in china.
March 16, 2025
In het kort: Het gaat totaal niet goed met vrouwen onder Xi. Als groep krijgen vrouwen de schuld toegeschoven van het kinder tekort, mannelijke eenzaamheid en de liberalisering.
Lijkt wel wat in te zitten, de tweede helft van het boek is meer anekdotisch.
Lijkt wel wat in te zitten, de tweede helft van het boek is meer anekdotisch.
July 30, 2024
Concise, eye opening and confronting
February 8, 2018
I really wanted to love this book - in the Venn diagram of women's rights and contemporary China I am firmly in the middle. There were several aspects that held me back, and would have likely deterred someone with less of an aggressive enthusiasm for the subject matter.
The text is not about the resurgence of gender inequality in China as much as it is about specific ways in which a particular subset of women in China are being commodified and denied rights. These are urban, affluent, educated, and assumedly (although this is not mentioned) Han women. Leta Hong Fincher's overarching narrative, albeit unclear at times, is that such women are desired as suitable mothers to future populations by the Party, and as such the furious propaganda efforts that created the concept of 'Leftover Women' causes them to feel intense pressure to marry and have children. She goes on to discuss at length the way in which women often don't include their names on houses purchased with their husbands, and as such are denied legal protection. I couldn't help but feel that this is somewhat of a privileged scenario for many. The book does go into the unique struggle for lesbian and bisexual women, which was great, but where were the minority women, or the rural women, or the women in urban areas who couldn't afford to go to university? They form a critical part of the picture of gender inequality in contemporary China, too. It took quite a specific gaze in a way that was quite repetitive at times, as mentioned in other reviews. The book at times read like a thesis, which is what it was, at one point.
The best part of the book is the smattering of personal testimonies by young Chinese women, although I felt these could have been organised more clearly. I also really enjoyed the way that Hong Fincher examines the way that the Party utilises female bodies through the lens of biopolitics, although I felt this deserved to be fleshed out more, particularly considering how much attention was given to a discussion of housing prices in Chinese first tier cities.
All in all, it's a good not great, which may come down to my interest in the area more than anything.
The text is not about the resurgence of gender inequality in China as much as it is about specific ways in which a particular subset of women in China are being commodified and denied rights. These are urban, affluent, educated, and assumedly (although this is not mentioned) Han women. Leta Hong Fincher's overarching narrative, albeit unclear at times, is that such women are desired as suitable mothers to future populations by the Party, and as such the furious propaganda efforts that created the concept of 'Leftover Women' causes them to feel intense pressure to marry and have children. She goes on to discuss at length the way in which women often don't include their names on houses purchased with their husbands, and as such are denied legal protection. I couldn't help but feel that this is somewhat of a privileged scenario for many. The book does go into the unique struggle for lesbian and bisexual women, which was great, but where were the minority women, or the rural women, or the women in urban areas who couldn't afford to go to university? They form a critical part of the picture of gender inequality in contemporary China, too. It took quite a specific gaze in a way that was quite repetitive at times, as mentioned in other reviews. The book at times read like a thesis, which is what it was, at one point.
The best part of the book is the smattering of personal testimonies by young Chinese women, although I felt these could have been organised more clearly. I also really enjoyed the way that Hong Fincher examines the way that the Party utilises female bodies through the lens of biopolitics, although I felt this deserved to be fleshed out more, particularly considering how much attention was given to a discussion of housing prices in Chinese first tier cities.
All in all, it's a good not great, which may come down to my interest in the area more than anything.
November 10, 2017
Fincher's Leftover Women offers a rare insight into China's perennially overlooked problem of gender inequality, manifested in the most representative phenomenon of shengnv or "leftover women", a derogatory term which, according to Fincher, referred an urban, professional female in her late twenties or older who are still single -- a definition, albeit not perfectly comprehensive, did encompass most of the problems entailed.
The book relies predominantly on interview transcripts, news reports, as well as social media contents that were relevant to the topic. As such, the overall credibility of the book shouldn't be questioned -- this, as a firsthand witness of many of the events described, I can verify that as much as Fincher attempted to dramatize the situation, she didn't fabricate or overly exaggerate any of those listed in the book.
For the past 2 or so decades, it seems that media focus on China's meteoric rise has concentrated primarily on its economic spectrum; and while attentions were paid to many of the social challenges China has been facing, very few regards were put to the growing tension of gender inequality. Fincher demonstrated that, while China's contemporary obsession of persuading women into marriage at all cost and discouraging females from pursuing higher career goals has its root in Chinese traditions and people's mindset, it also corresponds with China's looming demographic disaster as a result of the prolonged One-Child Policy. More significantly, the subjugation of women corresponds to the level of economic freedom they enjoy, which couldn't be better manifested other than their ownership of properties in the ever-booming real estate market of China. This is indeed a quite novel perspective of looking at the problem, although I do find this particular part of discussion, namely Chapter 2, failed to establish concrete causal relationships between Chinese women's attitude towards marriage and their lack of presence in the profit-hunting process of the real estate mania. Fincher seemed to progress towards two different themes, the social phenomenon of shengnv and women's property rights and subsequent consequences, while trying to form some self-evident connections between the two. This at large does sound reasonable, but the book fall short once the reader looks closer into the chapters for details and evidences.
Fincher's observation of contemporary Chinese society was sharp and incisive, she pressed the poignant issue of widespread gender inequality frequently without downgrading to repetitive emotional ramblings or redundant anecdotes. The tone set in the book was amazingly neutral and analytical, which made the otherwise sentimental topic much more readable. The dozens of stories revolving around chapters were truthful and representative; particularly worth mentioning was Fincher's highlight of China's slowly-maturing LGBT movements within the larger context of gender rights, which was seldom covered by western authors and journalists.
Although a fairly short book, the contents were highly relevant to the challenging reality of China's contemporary feminism and various other civil right movements. Fincher deserves the praise she received over the past few years, as the awareness she helped raise has then gained quite some momentum not only in China, but across Asia. Personally, I believe the book could also serve as an awakening call for many Chinese youths whose lives have not yet been disturbed by the dark reality of marriage and gender inequality.
The book relies predominantly on interview transcripts, news reports, as well as social media contents that were relevant to the topic. As such, the overall credibility of the book shouldn't be questioned -- this, as a firsthand witness of many of the events described, I can verify that as much as Fincher attempted to dramatize the situation, she didn't fabricate or overly exaggerate any of those listed in the book.
For the past 2 or so decades, it seems that media focus on China's meteoric rise has concentrated primarily on its economic spectrum; and while attentions were paid to many of the social challenges China has been facing, very few regards were put to the growing tension of gender inequality. Fincher demonstrated that, while China's contemporary obsession of persuading women into marriage at all cost and discouraging females from pursuing higher career goals has its root in Chinese traditions and people's mindset, it also corresponds with China's looming demographic disaster as a result of the prolonged One-Child Policy. More significantly, the subjugation of women corresponds to the level of economic freedom they enjoy, which couldn't be better manifested other than their ownership of properties in the ever-booming real estate market of China. This is indeed a quite novel perspective of looking at the problem, although I do find this particular part of discussion, namely Chapter 2, failed to establish concrete causal relationships between Chinese women's attitude towards marriage and their lack of presence in the profit-hunting process of the real estate mania. Fincher seemed to progress towards two different themes, the social phenomenon of shengnv and women's property rights and subsequent consequences, while trying to form some self-evident connections between the two. This at large does sound reasonable, but the book fall short once the reader looks closer into the chapters for details and evidences.
Fincher's observation of contemporary Chinese society was sharp and incisive, she pressed the poignant issue of widespread gender inequality frequently without downgrading to repetitive emotional ramblings or redundant anecdotes. The tone set in the book was amazingly neutral and analytical, which made the otherwise sentimental topic much more readable. The dozens of stories revolving around chapters were truthful and representative; particularly worth mentioning was Fincher's highlight of China's slowly-maturing LGBT movements within the larger context of gender rights, which was seldom covered by western authors and journalists.
Although a fairly short book, the contents were highly relevant to the challenging reality of China's contemporary feminism and various other civil right movements. Fincher deserves the praise she received over the past few years, as the awareness she helped raise has then gained quite some momentum not only in China, but across Asia. Personally, I believe the book could also serve as an awakening call for many Chinese youths whose lives have not yet been disturbed by the dark reality of marriage and gender inequality.
April 2, 2016
An important book. Offering a close look at the real estate boom and how property rights are practiced, Leta Hong Fincher offers a comprehensive overview of the ways women's rights are undermined today in post-socialist China. It's hard to read without feeling overwhelmed by outrage by the constant discrimination women face. Hong Fincher clearly documents how the forces of the market economy, the authoritarian state, and old-fashioned patriarchy converge to undermine women's autonomy, support male power, and maintain compulsory heterosexuality. She clearly shows the institutional nature of women's oppression, such as in the lack of protections from abuse and in the case of divorce. I appreciated that her discussion touched on the lives of lesbians and gay men, in addition to heterosexuals. Her prose is very readable, and the inclusion of ample real-life examples and direct quotes adds to the urgent and persuasive nature of the narrative. Her writing does, at times, feels slightly repetitive; some sentences that offer glimpses into future chapters crop up later with very similar wording. Overall, it was an excellent read that I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in women's rights.
NOTE: I received a free advance reader's copy of the book through Goodreads' First Reads program.
NOTE: I received a free advance reader's copy of the book through Goodreads' First Reads program.
November 16, 2023
Loved reading this book. It hit close to home as I am also an adoptive mother of a daughter from China. The stereotype of the clueless white mother with a white savior complex was a bit trite. It did however, showcase how naive many Americans were when first adopting. Satisfying themselves with the fact our daughters were abandoned, when now we know so many babies were actually taken and put up and put in orphanages - either by the fathers or grandparents and sometimes the government. The desire for a son was real. The book does a nice job showcasing the sense of loss and abandonment many if not most adoptees feel and the grief of not knowing why. The book does show the power of a mothers love, both the biological and the adoptive mother
August 1, 2018
Very very insightful book. I've learned a lot just going through it and rereading sections at a time to more efficiently consume all of the information within this book. Prior to reading this, I've had a general idea the concept of "Leftover Women" and have gone to art exhibits in the past that have touched on the idea of "Leftover Women" but never to this extent.
I will definitely come back to read this text again and possibly want to dive into more texts revolving the realm of feminism and activism within China and in Asia in general.
I will definitely come back to read this text again and possibly want to dive into more texts revolving the realm of feminism and activism within China and in Asia in general.
July 11, 2016
A lot of interesting ideas, statistics, and stories in here, but it ended up being much more about women's property rights than I had expected. I appreciated the chapter on LGBTQ Chinese, though.
November 8, 2019
4.5
Eye-opening and infuriating.
Eye-opening and infuriating.
January 24, 2020
Very clear and organized. Easy to read but hard to stomach.
June 9, 2019
Through ‘Leftover Women’, Leta Hong Fincher shares an important message and she deserves credit for this, but I have several problems with the book itself.
Firstly — and I say this while I understand that gathering quantitative research data about China is difficult — this book takes cherry-picking to the extreme. This is not so much about the women of China, but rather about the select number of women who replied to the author’s Weibo post — a group of around three hundred.
The author politicize their quotes and leads it all back to society’s stigmatization of leftover women — even when the respondents don’t clearly mention it. One women said she quit her job to become more appealing for marriage — which the author uses to prove that government propaganda causes highly educated women to quit their jobs. There is no question about how rare this case is or not. Women quoted saying they want to marry and have kids are also labelled ‘pressured by society’. I understand that dissecting culture is a messy, if not impossible job — but this is careless.
And it’s this bias that is felt throughout the book: Regulations that changed in women’s favor are questioned or belittled, but the regulations that work against women never get this same treatment — making the whole book feel extremely one-sided from the start.
There’s actually just one chapter about the stigma of leftover women, and it doesn’t run that deep. Two chapters are about home ownership (whereas one would have been enough), and the last two feel like random notes added to push the book to 200 pages.
One chapter consists of history; but what’s the point of comparing China 1,000 years ago to now? Again, the evidence is extremely anecdotal, covering dozens of centuries by a few excerpts from books. The other chapter is about LGBT rights, which feels slightly random and biased too.
A final annoyance for me; if you’re going to parade your Chinese skills and add pinyin words every now and then, at least do it well and add the tones.
It is clear that to be a woman in China comes with many difficulties and reading the book it angers me how unfair women are treated. There’s no doubt on my mind that it is important to share this with the world. But to me the shallowness and bias of the book don’t help. To convince others of the importance, we need strong and realistic evidence that speaks for itself. It is exactly in this where the book ‘Leftover women’ fails.
Firstly — and I say this while I understand that gathering quantitative research data about China is difficult — this book takes cherry-picking to the extreme. This is not so much about the women of China, but rather about the select number of women who replied to the author’s Weibo post — a group of around three hundred.
The author politicize their quotes and leads it all back to society’s stigmatization of leftover women — even when the respondents don’t clearly mention it. One women said she quit her job to become more appealing for marriage — which the author uses to prove that government propaganda causes highly educated women to quit their jobs. There is no question about how rare this case is or not. Women quoted saying they want to marry and have kids are also labelled ‘pressured by society’. I understand that dissecting culture is a messy, if not impossible job — but this is careless.
And it’s this bias that is felt throughout the book: Regulations that changed in women’s favor are questioned or belittled, but the regulations that work against women never get this same treatment — making the whole book feel extremely one-sided from the start.
There’s actually just one chapter about the stigma of leftover women, and it doesn’t run that deep. Two chapters are about home ownership (whereas one would have been enough), and the last two feel like random notes added to push the book to 200 pages.
One chapter consists of history; but what’s the point of comparing China 1,000 years ago to now? Again, the evidence is extremely anecdotal, covering dozens of centuries by a few excerpts from books. The other chapter is about LGBT rights, which feels slightly random and biased too.
A final annoyance for me; if you’re going to parade your Chinese skills and add pinyin words every now and then, at least do it well and add the tones.
It is clear that to be a woman in China comes with many difficulties and reading the book it angers me how unfair women are treated. There’s no doubt on my mind that it is important to share this with the world. But to me the shallowness and bias of the book don’t help. To convince others of the importance, we need strong and realistic evidence that speaks for itself. It is exactly in this where the book ‘Leftover women’ fails.
November 8, 2022
Leftover Women is an excellent book about the way the government of China restricts women's lives. It was written in 2013 but I suspect that conditions are worse, not better, as they are for most Chinese people. In a retreat from the expressed though not always realized ideal of promoting women's equality with men, the Supreme Court a decade ago ruled that real property belongs only to the person whose name is on the deed. The only name is almost always the man's. That restriction is particularly critical because most wealth in China is in real estate and the value of real property has escalated since 2000, lifting many urban property owners into or above the middle class.
As well as studying government and private statistics, Hong Fincher interviewed many Chinese women and men. She learned that even when the woman's family or the woman herself provides much of the money for a house purchase, only the man's name goes on the deed. Most women accept that as his due, but many women want their name included and are pressured to acquiesce. This leaves them vulnerable to losing all stake in the property in divorce and to therefore submitting to domestic violence. Hong Fincher has a whole chapter on domestic violence. The police and the courts almost never support abused women.
Moreover, as more women got advanced degrees and earned more money, the government, including official women's organizations, began a campaign to stigmatize women over age 27 as "leftover women" who need to rush to enter marriages even with men they don't want or risk being spinsters. Women have been derided for wanting a man who is as educated as they are or wanting to find a man they can love. This tactic unfortunately works. Why is the government doing that? Because there is a surplus of "leftover" men, not women, due to the one child policy that was in effect for many years. And because government officials believe that married people are less likely to care about politics and challenge state policy.
Hong Fincher also looks at how these policies affect lesbians and has a chapter on the few but impressive feminist activists.
Leftover Women is easily readable although it presents a wealth of information.
As well as studying government and private statistics, Hong Fincher interviewed many Chinese women and men. She learned that even when the woman's family or the woman herself provides much of the money for a house purchase, only the man's name goes on the deed. Most women accept that as his due, but many women want their name included and are pressured to acquiesce. This leaves them vulnerable to losing all stake in the property in divorce and to therefore submitting to domestic violence. Hong Fincher has a whole chapter on domestic violence. The police and the courts almost never support abused women.
Moreover, as more women got advanced degrees and earned more money, the government, including official women's organizations, began a campaign to stigmatize women over age 27 as "leftover women" who need to rush to enter marriages even with men they don't want or risk being spinsters. Women have been derided for wanting a man who is as educated as they are or wanting to find a man they can love. This tactic unfortunately works. Why is the government doing that? Because there is a surplus of "leftover" men, not women, due to the one child policy that was in effect for many years. And because government officials believe that married people are less likely to care about politics and challenge state policy.
Hong Fincher also looks at how these policies affect lesbians and has a chapter on the few but impressive feminist activists.
Leftover Women is easily readable although it presents a wealth of information.
January 21, 2024
This is an interesting and rather depressing book on what happens when a society does not provide basic safety nets to its vulnerable population (policies such as social security, pensions, rule of law, legal protections for equality etc that bolster individual autonomy). The result is that women have to succumb to patriarchy and are pressured in all sorts of ways to stay in unequal, unhappy, sometimes even abusive marriages in order to survive. It poses an interesting contrast to the philosophy embraced by Nordic countries The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life.
The book makes an interesting point that the government's efforts to bolster artificially inflated property prices was one way to keep people politically quiescent. When the state propaganda blares about how property ownership is essential for marriage and adulthood, young people are pressured to aspire to home ownership and work tirelessly to pay for it, thereby supporting the economy and sapping them of energy to cause trouble otherwise. And once they have reached that coveted goal, they have a stake in maintaining stability since they have bought into the system. However, that bargain may be reaching its end as the property market is shaking, and young people, facing more dismal job prospects than before, are despairing of ever reaching that kind of middle-class life. We can see similar parallels in the West, where the capitalist-consumerist white-collar lifestyle of working hard so to have disposable income to spend, kept people tethered on a tolerable hamster wheel unhappily. We are careening into an unpredictable future, which is not reassuring at all.
The book makes an interesting point that the government's efforts to bolster artificially inflated property prices was one way to keep people politically quiescent. When the state propaganda blares about how property ownership is essential for marriage and adulthood, young people are pressured to aspire to home ownership and work tirelessly to pay for it, thereby supporting the economy and sapping them of energy to cause trouble otherwise. And once they have reached that coveted goal, they have a stake in maintaining stability since they have bought into the system. However, that bargain may be reaching its end as the property market is shaking, and young people, facing more dismal job prospects than before, are despairing of ever reaching that kind of middle-class life. We can see similar parallels in the West, where the capitalist-consumerist white-collar lifestyle of working hard so to have disposable income to spend, kept people tethered on a tolerable hamster wheel unhappily. We are careening into an unpredictable future, which is not reassuring at all.
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