The Maimed "Half Sky"— The Employment Crisis of Women in China

Abstract

Guo Shulan was a worker of the No. 3 Office Products Factory in Shenyang Municipality. In 1982 she was laid off by the factory and came home to live on an allowance equal to 60 percent of her previous wages, that is, 42 yuan a month. At that time, she entertained the wish that some day she might have a chance to return to her former job. By 1988, when she saw more and more women employees being laid off in the name of optimizing the labor structure, she completely lost hope. Unable to bear the financial burden any longer, she destroyed all the furniture in her home on the night of July 18 and, together with her daughter, leaped to her death.1 Guo was one of the many women workers in China that have been laid off. Albeit an extreme rare case, Guo's tragedy clearly reminds us of the employment crisis among Chinese women, at the same time revealing how the job crunch can lead to psychological imbalance. This is a problem we simply cannot ignore.