Topic: Empowered in Business or Penalised in Marriage: Experiences of Single Female Entrepreneurs in China

Speaker: Jing SONG

Date: 10 March 2023 (Fri)

Time: 12:30pm – 13:20pm

Venue: Room 763

Abstract:

Associate Professor Jing SONG has been invited to speak at the Brown Bag Seminar on March 10, 2023. The topic she will be discussing is “Empowered in Business or Penalised in Marriage: Experiences of Single Female Entrepreneurs in China.”

This study sheds light on the challenges that single female entrepreneurs face when pursuing entrepreneurship in China, where it remains a non-traditional career for women. Our interviewees revealed that they were stigmatized for their choice of profession, and they responded differently by balancing their career aspirations against societal expectations of marriage and family formation, justifying their being single based on their entrepreneurial achievements, or using their economic capability to compensate for their deviance and fulfill other family roles.

This research highlights the importance of recognizing women’s fluid and interactive agency in response to gendered penalties in non-traditional careers. With China’s market-oriented reforms, persisting gender beliefs and the socialist legacy, the experiences of these women provide valuable insights into the challenges faced by women in entrepreneurship.