The Heart-Wrenching Truth Behind China’s “Leftover Women”

    Empowering A Revolution In many places around the world women haven’t always been treated with the respect they truly deserve. To some extent every country has had...



 
 

Empowering A Revolution

In many places around the world women haven’t always been treated with the respect they truly deserve. To some extent every country has had to evolve from the way they use to do things especially when it comes to women’s rights. For example, in America women back in the day were never allowed to vote, they never were not able to participate in the army, and so on, but Americans have grown from that way of life. Americans are working their way to have women be completely equal to men and society has come a long way since then, but it still has a long way to go. However, in other countries such as China, women are still not getting the respect and freedom that they deserve.

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In China, since the socialist revolution, the rights of Chinese women have been written into the country’s constitution. Under the rule of Mao, women in full force joined the workforce and they were seen as “iron girls.” But now, so much has changed that China is watching women’s rights dwindle. How so? Well to take a sneak peek into Chinese culture, if you are unmarried by the age of 27 you are considered to have totally disrespected your parents and are stigmatized as Sheng Nu meaning “leftover women.” This means the you are not wanted and shunned from society. As a women you are expected to drift away from your flourishing career to focus on your husband and family and if you don’t do so, you are considered different, a “leftover.” You are the talk of the town and let’s just say Chinese New Year where everyone is asking you how old you are and if you are married is not the most pleasant time.

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But that’s all about to change, watch how women are changing the way society thinks, by saying they are okay with being different and single. They want to take control of their careers and be in charge of their own destiny! And to do so they attend the typical Chinese women market where you can find elders arranging marriages. They go around looking at pictures of single women and basically say if they are good enough to get married based on their looks and accomplishments…for the wrong reasons.

Shanghai's marriage market

However, the “leftover women” of China are setting everyone straight and are breaking the way society views them by posting their picture in the market, not asking for their marriage to be arranged, but to show that they are single, proud, and looking for a partner to live a happy life with! They wish to decrease the pressure on women to marry for the wrong reason. Women in China and all around the world, should be able to marry because they want to – not because of pressure from society. This is China’s movement for women to be treated with the respect they deserve…Check it out!