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Leta Hong Fincher, Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China (10th Anniversary Edition), Bloomsbury, 2023. 280 pgs.
In Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China Leta Hong Fincher, through interviews with a diverse range of women, lets readers understand the rebirth of gender inequality in 21st-century Chinese society. A βleftover womenβ is a derogatory term in China, referring to βan urban, professional female in her late twenties or older who is still singleβ. Fincher in this book focuses on the relationship between βleftover womenβ, the real estate market in China and the gender inequalities that arise from it, such as wealth gaps generated by marital dynamics and parental discrimination. It delves into the evolution of both legislated and customary property rights for Chinese women from the Song dynasty onward. The narrative also makes the case for an enduring correlation between womenβs limited property rights and the increasingly present incidents of domestic violence. The concluding section of the book briefly highlights the resilience of Chinese women challenging societal labels, particularly those associated with being labelled as βleftoverβ. Drawing on an analysis of newspaper reports and extensive data gathered from surveys and interviews, Fincher asserts that the discourse surrounding βageing womenβ is significantly shaped by a state-funded media campaign. This influence prompts many women to hastily enter marriage, foregoing the security afforded by property rights and legal safeguards. The societal pressure on women to marry before the age of 27 rather than end up one of those βleftover womenβ results in them accepting spouses quickly, often without adequate consideration.
A key concern highlighted by Fincher is the current state of home ownership in China. Despite over 70 per cent of women contributing to financing marital home purchases, only 30 per cent of property deeds include the wife’s name, with their financial contributions frequently going unrecognised. Fincher’s research indicates that women seeking property rights within their marriage often face resistance from husbands and in-laws, who portray such requests as unreasonable. Fearing the erosion of their partnersβ masculinity, women often relent. This situation gives husbands greater authority in the relationship, especially in the event of a divorce, as the majority of property deeds are in menβs names. Consequently, if a marriage dissolves, women may find themselves without a home, despite having invested savings and income in property financing.
What stands out most in Fincherβs research is the alarming deficiency in Chinaβs laws on domestic violence. Women face active discouragement from reporting abuse, with those who do so publicly accused of βexposing the ugliness of the familyβ (jiachou buke waiyang). The supposed protectors of vulnerable womenβpolice, doctors, and the Womenβs Federationβappear to be falling short in fulfilling their duty of care. A particularly disheartening case highlighted by the author involves a husband who, despite his wife reporting domestic violence eight times to the police, was given a mere six-and-a-half-year prison sentence in 2009 for the βmistreatmentβ of his wife. As Fincher notes, βmarital rape is not considered a crime in Chinaβ. Despite a decade-long campaign by activists for a robust domestic violence law and the efforts by various organisations to aid women facing intimate partner violence, no such legislation has materialised.
Although in the main profoundly disheartening, the book is interspersed with uplifting life stories of brave women who have confronted egregious discrimination. Concluding with profiles of women dedicated to challenging sexism, including a cadre of female activists and bloggers committed to highlighting China’s entrenched male chauvinism, alongside politically neutral professionals who have opted never to marry in protest against the political and social oppression of women, the book sheds light on a different perspective about marriage. βMarriage in China is a living hell,β expressed one woman to Fincher. Nowadays marriage in China is still considered extremely important for a personβs fulfilment, especially for women. The thing that leaves one most perplexed is that the Chinese term βleftover womenβ is not only used in popular media to taunt women who choose to defy social expectations, but is also used by anxious parents who frequent the marriage markets that now abound in urban parks, in the hope of finding a partner for their daughters before it is “too late”. What is highlighted by Fincher and which reflects contemporary Chinese society shaped by Confucian dictates, is that although a woman may have feminist and progressive ideas, she always takes a step back to comply with her parentsβ wishes, showing her complete devotion and obedience. For this reason some only daughters consider it their family duty to help their male cousins financially, women with brothers frequently consider it their duty to help those brothers, and indeed some would rather help their brother buy a home than buy one for themselves. In this way, they demonstrate filial piety, respect for their parents, a dictum so important to both old and new Chinese Confucian society.
In addition, Fincher illustrates how Chinese women were largely excluded from the most significant real estate accumulation in history, valued at over 30 billion dollars. The βShengnuβ (leftover) campaign gained prominence alongside sweeping legal changes. Notably, in August 2011, the Chinese Supreme Court decreed that the sole owner of a family deed is the individual named, typically a man. This reinterpretation of marriage law marks a regression even before the 1950s when it had initially secured womenβs property rights and subsequent revisions had bolstered the concept of joint marital property.
Another important contribution by Fincher is to have brought the voice of the people through authentic profound interviews that shed light on the current condition of Chinese society. Throughout the interviews, what is the most surprising is the observation that the house is seen as a safe place, not because coming back to it after a long dayβs work lets you feel safe, but because in the current economic situation China is experiencing, a house is a way for men to find a wife and have power, and for women who manage to buy a house, in a manner not to depend on their male counterparts and have a sense of independence, a place to take refuge in difficult times that has their name on the purchase contract. Nowadays, a house is not just a building but a mirror that reflects all the gender inequalities in Chinese society. What can be seen from the interviews Fincher conducts is that even economically emancipated and highly educated women have been swallowed up by this Chinese mass media campaign of the leftover women; they are terrified of becoming one, and therefore agree to marry even men they are not in love with so as to not fall into the category. Moreover, what is outlined in this book is a veiled return to the past, with the notion that men belong outside (in public) and women inside (at home), and a big part of the rights Chinese women had conquered in the past few decades seem to be again lost.
One aspect I found very interesting in the book is the emphasis on language. The author often quotes Chinese words, phrases or expressions together with their English translation, allowing those who know Mandarin to perceive the deeper nuances of the words used by the interviewees, which might be lost in the English translation. This suggested the power of words and how each language has its own unique qualities that reflects the culture of oneβs country, as the author does not always provide a simple translation but explains the meaning of certain terms.
Fincher also emphasises this close link between the fear of becoming a βleftoverβ woman and the trap of falling into a marriage of violence and abuse. The book ends with an interview stating that everything that happens to women is just gender discrimination and that she does not even pay attention to it anymore, denoting a sense of despondency and surrender common to many women all over the world. Alarmingly, some young women interviewed by the author even said they agreed with their husband or their husbandβs families that the coupleβs home should be registered in the husbandβs name, seeing this as only fair if the husband and his parents have invested in the property, even if she has also invested considerable finances herself. Families rarely contribute to buying accommodation for their daughters, as they would rather invest in a male member of the family. They still think that the daughterβs home is the responsibility of the husband and his family.
Leftover Women combines the sociocultural component of the last decades and interviews with Chinese and non-Chinese women that shed light on a reality that is still all too prevalent in Chinese society. The plight of the leftover women, a term much used in the Chinese media, is rendered with great impact in these raw interviews with women who have experienced these gender injustices in the flesh. The response to some of Chinaβs social inequalities by the Chinese society is the actions of some womenβs groups to raise awareness on the issue, talking about the domestic violence that many women suffer, and ending with the minimum score on the exam that gives access to university, which for women is higher than what a man needs to obtain to be accepted into the same university. This inequality at the expense of women is even more evident within the LGBTQ community. From the interview with Xu Bin, who heads the Tongyu, a grassroots rights group for lesbians, bisexual women and transgender people in China founded in 2005, itβs clear how the situation has changed since the 1990s when homosexuality was considered a mental illness in China. Thanks to the emergence of groups advocating for the rights of the entire LGBTQ community, progress has been made towards greater rights, but there is still a long way to go.
Reading this book and all the testimonies of the women interviewed, one cannot help but feel a great sense of helplessness and realisation that what is described by Fincher is not only something related to Chinese society but to societies all around the world, deeply present in human nature. The book is a great cry for help that should be read by everyone and can help to raise awareness.
How to cite: Trimigno, Marika. βA Great Cry for Help: Leta Hong Fincher’s Leftover Women.β Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 29 Feb. 2024, chajournal.blog/2024/02/29/leftover-women.
Marika Trimigno is an MA student in Language and Civilisations of Asia and Mediterranean Africa-curriculum China at Caβ Foscari University of Venice. She graduated from Caβ Foscari University of Venice in 2021 and Beijing Capital Normal University in 2022 (Chinese Studies). From September 2023 to January 2024, she attended Taiwanese society related courses in National Chung Hsing university of Taichung, Taiwan. She is interested in the evolution of Chinese society from post-Mao era until now, with more attention on the religion aspect. She is writing a master thesis on the spread of the goddess Mazu belief in Taiwan to deeply understand the society.
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