To eliminate traditional gender roles completely in China is going to take time. The idea that men are strong, and women are weak contributes heavily to the gender gap. A core value in Chinese culture is respect for ones elders such as parents or grandparents, which makes it difficult to challenge social norms as it may be viewed as disrespectful. In order to reconstruction relative norms and beliefs social change amongst men and women together will amplify results. Three steps of actions that can equalize the playing field between men and women as listed:
Step 1: Improve women’s socioeconomic status, which is mostly done through education. For example, in 1982 the percentage for receiving postsecondary education was 1.24% for men and 0.64% for women. Though this has improved a large amount for women to 5.63% it still is not nearly what it should be.
Step 2: Employment in the workforce. On average women in the workforce earn 35% less than men for the same work. Some companies will choose to only hire women who have had children to avoid maternity leave. From this employers sometimes use maternity leave to deny women of employment. In a survey, 72% of women stated they were not hired due to gender discrimination.
Step 3: Change marriage behavior in China by increasing the age at which a woman elopes. The practice of women marrying by age 20, a man of higher social status has been a traditional practice. In previous years this was achieved by women marrying men with a higher education obtain a stable future. If women can gain access to higher levels of education, less pressure will be put on them to marry young and rely on a husband.
