Being a woman in China is full of contradictions. On one hand, China’s one-child policy has led to women being more highly educated than ever before. Better education has led to more career success and spending power – and this shows. Chinese women now contribute some 41% to China’s GDP, a higher percentage than women in many other regions, including Australia and the USA. 

On the other hand, women in China still have to contend with societal pressures to shoulder the majority of domestic responsibilities, get married and have children. These attitudes have contributed to China’s widening gender gap: ranked 57th (of 139 countries) in the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap index in 2008, China was 103rd (of 149 countries) in 2019. 

So what does all this mean for brands marketing to Chinese women? In a series of articles, we’ll take a closer look at some of the specific challenges facing Chinese women, and how brands might address this in their marketing. Today’s blog post will look at the phenomenon of “leftover women”.

Leftover women

Sheng nu, or “leftover women”, is a derogatory term popularised by the Chinese government to describe unmarried women in their late 20s and 30s. These young, urban, well-educated, career-focused single women – of which there are around 7 million in China – are some of the greatest contributors to their country’s growth, yet they still face relentless pressure to get married from their families and society at large. 

Yet there are signs that more progressive views are starting to take hold in China. One is the popularity of reality show Sisters Who Make Waves – a take on the popular idol competition genre that aims to create new girl group or boy bands, but featuring female celebrities between 30 and 52 years old. Despite launching with little fanfare on 12 June, the first episode of the weekly series has already drawn more than 420 million views, and has been viewed more than 500,000 times on YouTube. 

The popularity of Sisters shows Chinese women are hungry for content showing empowered women over 25 in a positive light. It shows viewers are responding to the show’s push against negative “leftover women” stereotypes, with the contestants on the show imbuing assertiveness and confidence, and demanding respect for their experience. As actress Nina Jang responded when asked by producers to introduce herself: “Do I still need to introduce myself? All my efforts in the past few decades have been in vain then.”

What this means for brands marketing to Chinese women

In 2016, beauty brand SK-II took on the stigma of leftover women head on in a short-film depicting the types of comments single women receive from their families, and the pain this can inflict. It then shows the women delivering strong messages of defiance and self-assuredness to their parents via signs with statements like, “I don’t want to get married just for the sake of marriage. I won’t live happily that way.”

While the campaign was undoubtedly powerful, and clearly hit a nerve (it has racked up nearly 3 million views on YouTube), not all brands necessarily need to (or should) take on the issue of leftover women in such a direct way.

Instead, brands should be very wary of perpetuating negative stereotypes. Tmall, for example, faced a lot of backlash for their 2018 Women’s Day campaign “Living with Feminine Power”, as apparently their idea of “feminine power” included things like dealing with a blister from a high-heel shoe, and exercising to try to lose weight. Not exactly ground-breaking.

Like Sisters, brands should consider how to show women as confident, empowered beings. Brands must remember that these women are highly educated, independent, intelligent and ambitious – and they want to be reflected that way. 

Brands should also not be tokenistic, or feminist simply for the sake of being feminist. In the end, an impactful campaign is one that builds upon your existing brand identity and storytelling. Consider your brand’s story or proposition, and how it relates to women in a positive way – for example, do you have a female founder? Have women played a significant role in the formation of your brand? More so than provocation, sensationalism or virality, resonance and emotional engagement should be the goal.