Chinese academic women in economic transformation

After the chaos of the ten-year Cultural Revolution, the People's Republic of China embarked on a course of economic recovery and transformation. By opening the previously government controlled economy to free-market mechanisms, the leaders of the Chinese government promised a speedy economic growth, and a significant improvement in the material living conditions of its people. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the economic transformation on the lives of Chinese academic women. A group of forty-eight women faculty members and researchers from seventeen academic institutions in Shanghai were selected as subjects. The method used for data collection was in-depth personal interviews. The study focused on the following questions: What are the changes taking place in the professional and personal lives of academic women during the economic transformation? What are the attitudes of academic women toward such changes and how are they coping with the changes? Are young women academicians more receptive to the changes? Are women academicians with experience abroad more receptive to the changes? The study found that Chinese women academicians are generally in support of the decision made by the government to steer away from a past of political turmoil and to focus on the economic development of the nation. However, they are worried that the fast-paced, unbalanced economic development which China has experienced, so far, is breeding social unrest. From the perspective of their individual lives, the women academicians acknowledged that the economic transformation has brought dramatic changes. The newly established financial responsibility system has not only generated competition and pressure at work, but linked academic activities to business enterprise. At the same time, a commercialized market with high inflation is actually weakening the financial position of Chinese academic households. Faced with the challenges, the academic women in this study expressed passivity. Exceptions were young women academicians looking for career alternatives, and women academicians with experience abroad exploring career development opportunities at the international level.