Everywhere I turn nowadays, it seems like I'm seeing articles that are releasing "new findings" or yelling about "surprising analysis" about the state of women in the world today. Marketers are surprised that we make the majority of household purchase decisions, financial advisors are excited that we are more serious about our financial futures than previously thought (and more financially conservative/open to financial advising as well), social media gurus are aiming for us--knowing that we are the heaviest users of social media networks.
Some of the most interesting things that I've read recently though are more about the traditional values that women are transforming. I read an article called "Asia's Lonely Hearts", where recent (shocking!) findings show that Asian women are getting married later. The reason? Because they're enjoying their freedom, because the government allows them more financial independence when they're single than when they're married, and because they're beginning to see the value in putting their careers first before diving into the more traditional things that are expected of them after marriage (career pausing, babies, etc.).
What does this mean? Well, it means there is a whole generation of eligible bachelors (a lot of them the only children of their families) struggling to find a woman and start a family, a pursuit that is critical in Asian society. It also means that, because the pool is smaller, the demand is greater, and the competition is fiercer. A lot of the youth in Asia (I speak mostly from my knowledge of south east China specifically, mostly Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore) are typically migrating to the cities in search of jobs and ways to potentially better themselves through jobs or connections. In these cities, only the most influential, wealthy or well-established find mates. In the countryside, where the youths are already less educated, there is becoming less and less of an opportunity for them to progress to the levels where their families would make an investment in sending them to the cities. This pause leads to overall stagnation, and with a growing working-age demographic...the government should begin to worry about the potential future progress of their society.
Flash over to Japan, and I read this recent article ("Land of the Wasted Talent") about Japanese firms that have only now begun to realize the brain drain that is happening when they fail to appeal appropriately to women. The article claims that nearly half of Japanese university graduates are female but only 67% of these women have jobs, many of which are part-time or involve serving tea. The most worrying part of this article (in my opinion) is the following phrase: "Most companies have rules against sexual discrimination. But educated women are often shunted into dead-end jobs. Old-fashioned bosses see their role as prettifying the office and forming a pool of potential marriage partners for male employees."
Beyond my initial horror at the word "most" in the first sentence and the entire last sentence, I understand how this could happen. Old-fashioned bosses are not viewing women as their full potential as workers, and this probably manifests itself in other ways too-- inflexible work schedules, no concessions to ameliorate the life of a woman that potentially has to care for children and aging parents (caring for your parents, often in the same home, is very common in asian cultures)--which would drive women away. Where do these women go? Interestingly enough, a lot of them go to the more "westernized" locations-- some women in the article mentioned moving to Hong Kong, where "career women are admired and nannies are cheap", which is good to bolster the ecnonomic strength and progressive perceptions in southeast asia. However, not all women can go there, so where does the majority go? To foreign firms, where such concessions (nannies, flexible work schedules, maternity leave, etc.) are common or expected. This is primarily good for the United States and Europe, where there is a wealth of highly educated talent waiting to be wooed away, but this could spell disaster for an economy where the working force is quickly aging and there has already been signs of a changing "traditional" lifecycle (schooling, marriage, children).
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