Gender Inequality in China – Yun Zhou

Chairman Mao famously proclaimed that “women hold up half the sky,” and there are many ways in which women’s status, rights, and opportunities have improved under CCP rule.  That said, patriarchal ideas about the role of women have continued to find robust expression in China, in different and evolving ways, since 1949 and through the reform & opening period.  In this episode, Brown University sociologist Yun Zhou discusses with Neysun Mahboubi the landscape of gender inequality in China, with special attention to the implications of the one-child policy and its repeal, as well as the Chinese #MeToo movement and feminist advocacy more generally.  The episode was recorded on November 5, 2018.

Yun Zhou received her PhD in Sociology from Harvard University.  She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University’s Population Studies and Training Center.  Her research examines social inequality through the lens of gender, marriage, family, and reproduction.  Her most recent work on China’s universal two-child policy, “The Dual Demands: Gender Equity and Fertility Intentions after the One-Child Policy,” was just published in the Journal of Contemporary China.  Dr. Zhou also writes extensively for popular audiences on the topics of gender inequality, sexual violence, and reproductive rights in China.  Her work has been featured in Tengxun Dajia, Pengpai, Renwu, The South China Morning Post, and Boston Metro, among other outlets.  She has also served as a volunteer with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center since 2016.  You can follow her at @yunjulietzhou.

Music credit: "Salt" by Poppy Ackroyd, follow her at http://poppyackroyd.com 

Special thanks to Nick Marziani, Kaiser Kuo, and Yue Hou