Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China by Leta Hong Fincher
In China, any unmarried woman over twenty-seven is considered a spinster, or a “leftover woman,” to translate the Chinese phrase more literally. In Leta Hong Fincher's new book, which describes a recent state-backed media campaign to encourage young women to marry, Fincher deftly links the machinations of state power to the headlines gracing the covers of women’s magazines, and the minutiae of family relationships to trends in the real estate industry.
In China, any unmarried woman over twenty-seven is considered a spinster, or a “leftover woman,” to translate the Chinese phrase more literally. “Do Leftover Women Really Deserve Our Sympathy?” asked the headline of an article that went up on the website of the All-China Women’s Federation shortly after International Women’s Day in 2011. “Pretty girls don’t need a lot of education to marry into a rich and powerful family, but girls with an average or ugly appearance will find it difficult,” the piece read. “These kinds of girls hope to further their education in order to increase their