The resurgence of ‘ignorance is women’s virtue’: ‘Leftover women’ and constructing ‘ideal’ levels of female education in China

IF 2 3区教育学 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Gender and Education Pub Date : 2022-09-16 DOI:10.1080/09540253.2022.2123897

Yun-feng You, Charlotte Nussey

引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper considers the construction of an ‘ideal’ level of female education in China by reflecting on the social phenomenon of ‘leftover women’, and the perpetuation of this stigma by both Chinese state media. It contributes an in-depth engagement with the educational dimensions of ‘leftover women’ through innovative discourse analysis that examines the content of one of the most popular Chinese dating shows in the last decade. This analysis reveals the role of ‘experts’ in preserving myths about being or becoming ‘leftover’, as well as the influence of family, in particular mothers, on young Chinese women’s choices and self-perception. This paper argues that by attending to popular discourses and their reframing of older Chinese ideas, in particular, ‘ignorance is women’s virtue’, we can offer qualitative insights to the relatively lower numbers of Chinese women at doctoral education levels.

查看原文本刊更多论文

“无知是女人的美德”、“剩女”和构建中国女性教育的“理想”水平的重新抬头

本文通过反思“剩女”这一社会现象，以及中国官方媒体对这一污名的延续，来思考中国女性教育“理想”水平的构建。它通过创新的话语分析，深入探讨了“剩女”的教育层面，研究了过去十年中最受欢迎的中国相亲节目之一的内容。这一分析揭示了“专家”在保留“剩女”或成为“剩女”神话中的作用，以及家庭，特别是母亲对中国年轻女性选择和自我认知的影响。本文认为，通过关注流行话语及其对中国旧思想的重构，特别是“无知是女性的美德”，我们可以对中国女性在博士教育水平上相对较少的问题提供定性的见解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Gender and Education EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH-

CiteScore

5.20

自引率

9.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Gender and Education grew out of feminist politics and a social justice agenda and is committed to developing multi-disciplinary and critical discussions of gender and education. The journal is particularly interested in the place of gender in relation to other key differences and seeks to further feminist knowledge, philosophies, theory, action and debate. The Editors are actively committed to making the journal an interactive platform that includes global perspectives on education, gender and culture. Submissions to the journal should examine and theorize the interrelated experiences of gendered subjects including women, girls, men, boys, and gender-diverse individuals. Papers should consider how gender shapes and is shaped by other social, cultural, discursive, affective and material dimensions of difference. Gender and Education expects articles to engage in feminist debate, to draw upon a range of theoretical frameworks and to go beyond simple descriptions. Education is interpreted in a broad sense to cover both formal and informal aspects, including pre-school, primary, and secondary education; families and youth cultures inside and outside schools; adult, community, further and higher education; vocational education and training; media education; and parental education.