Gender Discrimination at Work in Urban China: The Paradox of Equality and Difference in the Women's Liberation Movement [Hardcover]

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 (19491978) 2. Patterns of Gender Discrimination at Work in Reform Period China (19801990 and 19902000) 3. Patterns of Gender Discrimination at Work in Post-Reform Period China (20002010 and 20102024) 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.

This book explores gender discrimination and womens movements in China  from 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 the 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 and discrimination in the workplace in China.

This book explores gender discrimination and womens movements lcE