Leftover Women. The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China by Leta Hong Fincher (review)

In this work, developed out of her PhD thesis in sociology, Leta Hong Fincher analyses gender inequalities in urban China, linking the issue of pressure on young women to get married to that of wealth accumulation through real estate investment. This original approach represents an important contribution to literature on gender relations in China.

According to the author, Chinese women’s urgent quest to find a husband by age 27, age 30, is the result of a government propaganda campaign on shengnuor “leftover women” orchestrated since 2007 and relayed by the state’s All-China Women’s Federation. In stigmatizing women who remain single beyond age 27, putting them in a specific category derogatorily named in reference to spoiled food, this problem is part of a wider resurgence of gender inequalities in contemporary Chinese society. As we know, the state birth control policy in effect since the early 1970s brought about a drastic fall in fertility rates and worked to skew the sex ratio at birth in favour of boys. This situation, according to the author, has not actually improved women’s position in society as they now have to confront a paradox: encouraged as young girls to become educated, cosmopolitan and independent, they are later subjected to heavy pressure to get married by age 30 at the latest to ensure perpetuation of the family line. Leta Hong Fincher also explains how many surrender power to their spouse-to-be during marriage negotiations, particularly when it comes to inscribing their name on the property deed for their “marital home” and therefore officially sharing ownership. She contends that in contemporary Chinese society, the inflation of real estate prices, resurgence of traditional norms, the fall in women’s participation in the labour force and a 2011 interpretation of the Marriage Law specifying that upon divorce, the couple’s real estate property belongs exclusively to the person(s) whose name(s) are on the property deed have all worked to tip gender power balances in favour of men. This deepens young women’s vulnerability within the couple, particularly those who marry young, as they are often financially dependent on their spouse.

Hong Fincher’s analysis is supported by data from interviews with 151 women and 132 men aged 25 to 30 living in nineteen different cities, who contacted her through her microblog. All interviewees are university-educated and middle class. Hong Fincher also draws on 60 in-depth interviews with 36 women and 24 men living in Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an. And she has analysed an entire corpus of secondary literature, including media content. It is nonetheless frustrating for specialized readers that this last aspect was not given greater emphasis. In fact, there is a problem with the notes: the numbers in the endnotes refer to pages but no note numbers appear in the body of the text.

Hong Fincher begins the book with portraits of young “leftover” women. Once again, these are women with a university education or who have succeeded so well professionally that they have the financial means to purchase an apartment themselves. As the author explains, the official campaign targets just such independent women, glorifying the roles of spouse and mother, the aim being to bring these women back to the domestic sphere. As she sees it, the Party-State promotes marriage both to counter the risk of social instability that might result from the forced singlehood (due to the skewed sex ratio at birth) of an increasing segment of the male population, and to ensure that the most educated segment of the population will marry, with the understanding that their children, being born of “high quality” parents, will further strengthen the country’s economic position.

But as Fincher explains, returning to the domestic sphere tends to weaken these women’s economic position since few own their home. This argument, central to her thesis, would certainly be stronger if supported by academic primary sources. It is hard...