Familiar barriers put China’s women scientists a long way from the top
- Is China doing enough to reverse its shortage of women in the highest ranks of science and technology research?
- Female representation in scientific roles decreases with seniority for many of the same reasons in many countries
By most measures Zhong Xuefeng is a success story. After completing a PhD overseas, she is now a professor at China’s Anhui Medical University. But the price she paid for that success has left her guilt ridden.
Like professional women the world over, Zhong faced a choice between career and family, leaving behind her daughter and husband for five years to study overseas, which took her to the US and Thailand as well as a stint as a research fellow at Australia’s Monash University.
“For men, it would be normal for them to focus on their career and spend less time with their family,” she said. “But as a wife and mother, I have always regretted not having taken care of my family and child when I was overseas.”
Still, Zhong acknowledges that if she had stayed home “I might have missed the international training and networking opportunities which benefited my career”.
Zhong’s struggles are not unusual, according to Unesco’s 2021 science report, which shows the barriers to women scientists in China are similar to those in other countries – citing diminishing career prospects as well as the gender pay gap for the lack of women in senior positions in science.
Wang Xiaoyun, one of the few females to be admitted to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, agrees.
