Amid China’s intensifying youth unemployment problems, one especially striking and disturbing aspect stands out: the discrimination faced by adult graduates entering the workforce.  ,
Yun highlighted that discrimination against younger ladies is deeply rooted in political and company attitudes.
” Companies view young ladies as quote-unquote, less perfect workers in that they believe these people are distracted by family commitments”, Yun said.  ,
Chinese women today face contradictory pressures, creating what Yun described as “impossible choices” . ,
On one hand, community and family stress them toward marriage and motherhood, defining these tasks as vital to their names. On the other hand, the desire lingers that they remain financially effective.
” We know that people in China also carry the dominant lion’s share of maintenance work and housework. All these various pushes and expectations, contradictory in essence, create this feeling of conflict as they try to envision what their own place in society is be”, explained Yun.
Friedman even describes this occurrence as contemplative of” conflicting feelings” within government policy itself.  ,
He points out that China’s government has historically championed higher female labour market membership. But instantly, as the socioeconomic crisis deepens, standard messaging extremely pressures women into earlier marriage and motherhood.
” When you have that kind of communication in a context where there’s very some legal safeguards for women in the workplace … it puts them in a very tough place”.
As Friedman noted:” Discrimination against women with respect to pregnancy is really well-documented … you will see employers however advertising jobs and saying you can just take this task if you’re not going to include a baby”.
For young graduates like Xiao Duo, a 21-year-old Business English major from Hunan Modern Logistics Vocational and Technical College, this reality resonates painfully.  ,
” Women lack a sense of security”, she said, explaining that employers often prefer men due to fears of women taking maternity leave.  ,
Xiao says the discrimination is even more common in rural areas, compounded by traditional attitudes.  ,
” Even though they have received higher education, they are unable to realise their self-worth”.
Yun urged policymakers to prioritise legal protection against gender-based workplace discrimination.  ,
” The protection against various forms of labour discrimination is and should be at the heart,  , as we think about the labour landscape that young adults face in contemporary China”.
As Friedman remarked,” Women are outperforming men academically. Yet women continue to underperform men in the labour market”.
For Xiao Duo, the struggle is worsened by the stigma surrounding her difficult job search.
” Most ( graduates ) are forced by circumstances to take jobs that are completely inconsistent with their true value, and they are further derided by traditional views that claim studying is useless”.
Analysts say that without meaningful, rigorously enforced anti-discrimination measures, even well-educated women will remain marginalised, their talents undervalued and potential unrealised.  ,