The challenge of China women
2 min readWomen’s Dual Responsibilities
In China，women continue to bear the primary responsibility for bearing and rearing children and for doing housework.Unlike the old China，however，women now also are employed.Doing both jobs is not easy；support from families and society is essential.Putting a career first is acceptable behavior for men，but society is less tolerant of this behavior by women.Because the pressure on women to succeed in both roles is increasing，much more education is needed to create a social atmosphereconducive to women’s success.To date，the number of“strong and capable women”in China who have emphasized their career over their roles as wives and mothers is a minority.
Finding a Spouse
Traditionally in China，the husband was the head of the household；his role was to earn money to support his wife and family.The most important thing for a Chinese woman was to find a husband who was rich or capable of earning money.These views are still deeply rooted in the Chinese mentality.Women’s work and careers are still considered secondary to many people.The result is that Chinese women today continue to look for a husband who is more capable and holds a higher position than they do.
Chinese men continue to choose wives on the basis of beauty，gentleness and femininity，virtue and their potential as a good mother，and domestic capability.The result is that some people have trouble finding a spouse.A Chinese saying is，”Good men always get married，while good women re-main single.”Some strong independent women in China choose a career over family and remain single.
A survey conducted by the author substantiated these claims.The young men interviewed indicated that strong women are fine，but not as their wives.Many of the women interviewed admitted that they were looking for a good，capable，understanding husband and were quite ready to put a career second to doing a good job as a wife，mother，and household manager.Because the standard of living is not yet high in China，women expect to work and earn money to supplement the family income；in addi-tion，many do not wish to be totally dependent on their husbands.But overall，the number of Chinese women who plan to focus on careers is limited.
