White-collar beauties and country girls

– Foreign companies in China focus on youth and beauty when they recruit new employees, and it is common to specify both gender and age in job announcements, says Merete Lie, professor at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture at NTNU.

Along with Ragnhild Lund she headed the research project “Norwegian companies in a global economy - strategies and adaptations”. The project has looked at Norwegian companies that have established branches in China. She is also a co-editor of the book Making it in China, which was published this spring, in which both Norwegian and Chinese researchers contribute with articles.

White-collar beauties

China is today immensely important to the global economy, and even a small country like Norway has become a significant partner within trade, industry and research. But how does the establishing of foreign organisations in China affect the Chinese? Lie finds both development and exploitation in the interaction between global companies and the locals.

To some women the international organisations represent new opportunities in the labour market, and the trend is so clear that researchers believe a new social group has sprung up in the aftermath of foreign investments in big cities like Shanghai.

“White-collar beauties” is the popular term; it refers to a group of women who speak English and who are educated, beautiful, well dressed, work in modern office buildings, earn a lot of money, and have a rising consumer power.

– One reason why these women are attractive to companies is that Chinese women traditionally are the ones who study languages, and in the cities there are many educated young women who want to work for international corporations, says Lie.

She and her colleagues have interviewed women in leading positions in these companies. They found that Norwegian organisations have a good reputation among the women.
– They felt that Norwegian companies have a modern view on women and that they offer plenty of opportunities for educated women. But Norwegian companies don’t pay as well as for instance American corporations do.

In the women’s opinion gender is rather insignificant at work.
– The women feel that the companies don’t treat them differently because they are women. They are expected to work hard and be ambitious, and several of the women said they were treated “like men”, an expression that in this context had a positive ring to it.

However, Lie believes that the emphasis on youth and beauty in the hiring of women shows the opposite; that gender is in fact an important aspect. But because being a young woman in this situation is an advantage, it might not be so apparent to the women themselves.  

The ideal women

Only a small number of Chinese women hold leading positions in international corporations. Still they play an important role in society, as representatives of modern Chinese women.
– These women have become role models for China, and get a lot of media coverage, says Lie. 

Urban Chinese women are familiar with Chinese editions of Cosmopolitan and Elle and the white-collar women are portrayed as role models for other women when it comes to fashion and life style.

– There is a striking generation gap in China. Here we have women raised under Mao, in a time when Mao suits and industrial labour were the ideals. Now their daughters are expected to be feminine and dolled up, says Lie.

She emphasises that other factors have contributed in giving Chinese women more independence. In the book Henning Kristoffersen describes how the one-child policy that Mao’s successor Deng Xiaoping implemented in 1979 has helped liberate young women.

– When families only have one child it is important that the child receives a good education, regardless of gender, says Lie, who adds that parents often need financial support from their children when they get older. Many families therefore strongly encourage their daughters to focus on their career.

The women move

White-collar girls go to cafés and restaurants, spend a lot of money on clothes and makeup and can afford a maid and a nanny if they get married and start a family. But most women in China live a life far from this reality. The women hired in international organisations are usually industrial workers who make a fraction of what the administrative staff does. Lisbet Sauarlia and Wang Jufen have conducted a study of women who migrate from the countryside to the cities to do industrial work.

– These women move in order to earn money that they can send home to their families. Sauarlia and Jufen have looked at women from different areas and the patterns vary. Some places women move before they get married, often together with others so that they won’t get too affected by the city life. Other places married women move to the city with their husbands while any children they might have remain with the grandparents.

These migrant women speak of a monotonous work and everyday life. They have no consumer power in the city, and few feel that they learn anything that can be of use at home in the village. Several of them still say they prefer the tough city life to the tough life in the countryside – because they make money.– The new jobs for foreign companies are poorly paid, but they offer the opportunity for a better life, says Lie.

However, she is sceptical towards the low wages of the industrial workers and their lack of mobility within the company. Previous studies from Malaysia show that such working conditions not necessarily further development for the masses.

– We have conducted studies on Norwegian companies in Asia since the 80s and see the long-term picture. In one project we followed a newly established organisation in Malaysia, which was where Norwegian companies went before they turned to China.

Rise and fall

The company followed the typical pattern with many women employees, low wages and incentives in stead of a fixed salary.

– At first we found that the company brought with it positive changes for the women who worked there. They became more independent and had more influence even though they of course made very little money.

– When we returned eight years after the establishment of the company the area had undergone economic growth, and around two thirds of the interviewed women had continued working after getting married.  This was something they did not expect when we first interviewed them, says Lie.

But the third and last time Lie and Lund returned to the company the situation was different.

– When we went there a few years ago we found stagnation. Most of the women had stopped working. And despite the area’s fast economic growth the industrial workers and their families were among the very poorest. The industry had become stagnant, wageswere low and migrants from poor neighbouring countries had replaced the local workers.

Lie thinks that these observations should be kept in mind.
– Low wages stall development, and in China the wages remain low because of the constant flow of work migrants from the countryside.

Since companies compete for the educated, wages go up within this group. That way global enterprises contribute to large and increasing social differences.
- Ideally the companies should focus more on training and on giving all employees the chance to climb the career ladder, says Lie.

A Nordic model?

Norwegian companies in China have been the focus of Lie’s project. But to what degree do these companies differ from other foreign organisations – is there any trace of the Nordic welfare model in these companies? Are they less hierarchical, do they offer their employees more rights or more democracy? Lie has looked into these questions.

– Based on my visits I would say that the Norwegian companies are similar to the others; there are few signs of the Nordic system, says Lie. She explains that most companies usually adhere to the laws of the country in which they operate.

Lately it has been revealed that several people have died during work for Telenor’s subcontractors in Bangladesh. Lie believes it is our duty to watch the activity of Norwegian companies in poor countries and she wants to do more research on the global chains of production.

Earlier most Norwegian companies moved their entire production to another country. Now it is becoming increasingly common to produce the various parts in different places, and China is often the last link in the chain. It would be interesting to study in detail such a chain of production, says Lie.

Translated by Vigdis Isachsen.