Work

Gender inequality in the Chinese legal profession

Year: 2009

Type: book-chapter

Abstract: In China's urban context of labor retrenchment, women are faring poorly relative to their male counterparts. Is the same true in China's incipient, dynamic, and expanding legal profession? Findings from four sources of quantitative data suggest that gender inequality in China's private and highly market-driven legal profession is a microcosm of larger patterns of female disadvantage in China's evolving urban labor market. Although employment opportunities for women lawyers have greatly expanded quantitatively, their careers are qualitatively less successful than those of their male counterparts in terms of both income and partnership status. In the Chinese bar, women's significantly shorter career trajectories are perhaps the most important cause of their lower incomes and slimmer chances of becoming a law firm partner. Future research must identify the causes of this significant career longevity gap between men and women in the Chinese legal profession.

Source: Research in the sociology of work

DOI: 10.1108/s0277-2833(2009)0000019015

Author: Ethan Michelson

Institution: Indiana University Bloomington

Language: English

Topic: Gender Diversity and Inequality

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality, Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

Funder: Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete