Chinese Women in Leadership

336 Pages·2022·8.923 MB·English

by  Jie Ke, Gary N. McLean

CURRENT PERSPECTIVES ON
ASIAN WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
Chinese Women
in Leadership
Edited by
Jie Ke
Gary N. McLean
Current Perspectives on Asian Women in Leadership
Series Editors
Yonjoo Cho, University of Texas, Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA
Rajashi Ghosh, POLS, University of Drexel, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Judy Y. Sun, The University of Texas-Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA
Gary N. McLean, National Institute for Development Administration,
Bangkok, Thailand
Headed by leading Human Resource scholars, this new series taps into
some of the hottest topics in business — gender, leadership and globaliza-
tion — to explore the unique challenges and opportunities faced by Asian
women in their quest to achieve success in regions which are traditionally
resistant to women’s career advancement.
·
Jie Ke Gary N. McLean
Editors
Chinese Women
in Leadership
Editors
Jie Ke Gary N. McLean
Jackson State University National Institute for Development
Jackson, MS, USA Administration
Bangkok, Thailand
Current Perspectives on Asian Women in Leadership
ISBN 978-3-319-68818-3 ISBN 978-3-319-68819-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68819-0
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Preface
Leadership development theories started in the West but do not have
to end in the West. We are truly grateful to our publisher, Palgrave
Macmillan, for taking interest in women’s leadership development in Asia
and entrusting us to work on women leaders in China as the beginning
of developing international leadership theories and future research plans.
The population of China is expected to reach 1.4 billion by the end of
2022, and women account for roughly half. However, in the 3,500 years
of witnessed history of China, the official promotion of gender equity
has been short. The national policies on developing women and granting
women equal rights and opportunities with men did not emerge until
after the founding of New China in 1949.
Over the past 70 years, although much progress has been made in
developing women’s leadership in China, there are still very few women
leaders in different sectors, especially in the political sector. Mainland
China has never had a women president, nor have any women served on
the Standing Committee, where major decisions of running the country
are made, and only one woman has served for a four-year term as the
head of state during the past 50 years (WEF, 2021). As the second-largest
global economy, China has a much larger gender gap to fill than any other
country of similar economic power: the gender inequality index of China
in 2021 was 0.68, ranking 107th of 144 countries (WEF, 2021); despite
a high women’s labor participation rate of 63.9%, only 17.5% of the key
management positions were occupied by women (UNDP, 2020; WBDB,
v
vi PREFACE
2015). The status of gender inequality and the lack of women leaders
at the top echelons of power in China invited us to take a deeper look
into its contributing contextual factors in society, economy, culture, and
politics. Fortunately, we are not alone in this journey. We are joined by
sixteen competent scholars and colleagues who share the same dream with
us: helping China move toward women’s equality and leadership.
Jackson, USA Jie Ke
Bangkok, Thailand Gary N. McLean
References
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2020). Gender Inequality
Index. Retrieved from https://hdr.undp.org/en/content/gender-inequality-
index-gii
World Bank Doing Business (WBDB). (2015). Enterprise Surveys: What busi-
nesses experience. https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/en/data/exploreecono
mies/2012/china
World Economic Forum (WEF). (2021). The global gender gap report 2021.
World Economic Forum. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2
021.pdf
About This Book
This is the fifth in a 7-book series on Current Perspectives on Asian
Women in Leadership. Based on current literature, empirical studies,
and personal reflections, the authors covered critical components of
the current environment for women’s leadership development in China;
showcase women leaders in the education, business, government and
NOG sectors; and make comparisons in Asian and non-Asian contexts.
vii
Praise for Chinese Women
in Leadership
“In Chinese culture, women are often compared to flowers and water.
Flowers are beautiful, but fragile. Water nourishes all lives but is consid-
ered weak and soft. These metaphors, while expressing appreciation for
women, also indicate that Chinese traditional social structure and culture
do not give women an equal and prominent position, and women’s
leadership often needs to be achieved in a subtle and feminine way.
Modernization and globalization have brought a great impact to Chinese
culture and society. Women’s roles in the family, organization, and society
have also undergone tremendous changes. Chinese women’s leadership
is rising. However, the influence of traditional culture is still strong. To
understand women’s leadership in today’s China, we still need to pay
attention to the impact of its dependency context. Just as we want to
understand flowers, we need to investigate the garden first; to see the
water clearly, we need to study the river. To get a deep understanding of
Chinese Women in leadership, we need to understand Chinese women
in their unique environment. The book, Chinese Women in Leadership , is
like an elaborate museum showing the development of Chinese women’s
leadership in various contexts and sectors. Through diverse perspec-
tives and international comparisons, the authors reveal rich contents and
the current dynamics of Chinese women’s leadership. We can see not
only flowers and water, but also gardens and rivers. Even better, this
book lets us see the graceful butterflies emerging: Based on a profound
humanistic spirit, the authors provide a beautiful outlook and valuable
ix
x PRAISEFORCHINESEWOMENINLEADERSHIP
suggestions for the future development of Chinese women’s leadership
with compassionate understanding and kind wishes.”
—Siqing Pengi, Professor, Guanghua School of Management, Peking
University; Vice president of Chinese Society of Social Psychology
“This is a delightful scholarly book that informs and inspires. The book
debunks the general impression that China has achieved gender equality
since Mao Zedong pridefully declared that “women hold up half the
sky.” The 12 chapters in this easy-to-read book show that women leaders
in China do not yet have the same opportunities to be recognized and
respected in the same degree as men. Their leadership has been hampered
on many levels. The book provides both historic and contemporary data
along with qualitative evidence on the experiences of woman leaders in
different sectors. It is a must-read for both scholars and practitioners
interested in gender equality in leadership opportunities and development
in China. This book offers ideas for scholars to study further the chal-
lenges of woman’s leadership in China and to identify systems that will
unlock Chinese women’s potential to become powerful decision-makers
and influencers. This book inspires both men and women to embrace the
opportunities to lead together in creating a world when gender inequality
is a thing of the past.”
—Anne S. Tsui, Motorola Professor of International Management
Emerita at the Arizona State University, United States
“Chinese Women in Leadership is a must-read for anyone curious about
women’s leadership and the social, cultural, and political forces chal-
lenging and shaping the journeys of Chinese women leaders. Professors
Jie Ke and Gary McLean have assembled a stellar collection of human
resource development scholarship and practical strategies to help us
understand the intersectional forces faced by Chinese women as they
bump up against family structures, educational pressures, politics, and
more in their quest to lead and change Chinese and global society.”
—Laura L. Bierema, Professor, University of Georgia and Immediate Past
President, Academy of Human Resource Development, United States