Abstract
Women scientists are an important part of the community of science and technology (S&T) professionals and are an indispensable force in China's S&T undertakings. Using data relating to women scientists from the ‘Project on the Collection of Historic Data of Chinese Scientists’ Academic Life’, this paper reviews the academic growth processes of women scientists in China. It analyses the complex factors that have affected them (such as family background, education, marriage, choice of major, research environment and social culture) and sums up their experiences of success. Finally, specific measures for boosting the status and role of female S&T professionals are proposed based on the realities and problems that they face in their career development.
Introduction
Female science and technology (S&T) professionals are an important part of China's S&T workforce. The Research Report on the Development of China's Science and Technology Human Resources (2020) showed that women account for 40.1% of the S&T workers in China. Women scientists, with their distinctive achievements in various fields, provide great support for China's S&T professions (CAST, 2021). This can be partly attributed to successive policies that have been adopted in China.
As early as 2009, the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) and 10 other government departments launched the ‘Project on Promoting Research and Policy to Facilitate the Growth of High-Level Female Professionals’, aiming to focus public attention on the development of high-level female professionals and promote relevant research and policymaking in this regard. At the end of 2011, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the ACWF formulated the Opinions on Strengthening the Ranks of Female Science and Technology Professionals (MOST and ACWF, 2011). In April 2021, the ACWF, along with six other ministries and commissions, worked together to formulate the Opinions on Implementing the Program of Women Pioneers in Science, Technology and Innovation (ACWF et al., 2021). In July of the same year, MOST, together with the ACWF and 11 other ministries, issued the Measures to Support Female Science and Technology Professionals in Playing a Greater Role in Science, Technology and Innovation (MOST et al., 2021), with a view to promoting the career development and growth of female S&T professionals. However, although the total number of women in S&T professions has increased, the proportion of leading women scientists is still relatively low. For example, the percentage of female academicians was 6% in the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019 (CASAD, 2019), and 5% in the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, 2023). This clearly shows the under-representation of female S&T professionals at high levels.
To date, there has been much research relating to women scientists in China. Most of these studies have focused on investigating the current situation of those scientists, including gender structures (Huang and Zhao, 2018), research timeframes, research projects, research outputs (Yu et al., 2018), and promotion paths and career expectations (Cheng, 2020). The factors that affect the success of women scientists in China are also a popular subject of study. For example, some studies have concluded that factors such as the traditional mindset regarding the male–female division of labour, the difficulties faced by women in balancing family and work (Zhang et al., 2019), gender bias in education (Guo, 2017), and the Matilda effect (Zhu and Zhao, 2017) are key impediments to the development of female S&T professionals in China.
This paper focuses on the academic growth of the older generation of women scientists in China. It aims to summarize the experiences of these scientists to provide historical lessons and help contemporary Chinese female S&T professionals to stand out in their fields, break the ‘glass ceiling’, and enter the decision-making circle and the upper levels of the S&T pyramid.
The data examined in this paper comes from the ‘Project on the Collection of Historic Data of Chinese Scientists’ Academic Life’. The data-collection project was officially launched by the National Leading Group for Science and Education in 2010. It is led by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and jointly implemented by 11 ministries and commissions, including the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Ministry of Education and the MOST. It is a project dedicated to collecting, compiling, preserving and studying data relating to the academic growth of Chinese scientists. It seeks to record and present the research careers of individual scientists and the development history of modern S&T in China. The project has already provided a large amount of first-hand information that can be used for studying the growth patterns of S&T professionals and promoting the achievements of outstanding scientists.
As of 2020, the project had gathered academic growth data relating to 572 individual scientists. For this paper, 32 women scientists (see Table 1) were selected for study, and the research method of collective biography was used to establish and statistically analyse commonalities in their academic growth processes. In-depth analysis is taken from six perspectives: family background, education experience, tutor–student relationships, research environment, family support and personal qualities. The historical experiences that shaped the successful research careers of these women scientists are also explored.
List of the 32 women scientists in the data-collection project up to 2020.
List of the 32 women scientists in the data-collection project up to 2020.
It takes several stages for an individual to grow into a great scientist. In the cases of the 32 women scientists listed in Table 1, there are three common external factors that have enabled them to become S&T elites: a positive upbringing and enlightened support from their families during adolescence; high-quality S&T education and amicable tutor–student relationships in their youth; and an enabling research environment and the support of family members during the pursuit of their careers.
Support and a positive environment provided by the family
Pierre Bourdieu put forward the theory of social capital. He divided the capital of students’ families into three types: economic capital, which is symbolized by money, and two non-material types, social capital and cultural capital. These three types of capital run through almost the entire educational careers of students and have a large impact on their growth and success. Among them, the concept of cultural capital is the most important (Bourdieu, 1986). Cultural capital refers broadly to any tangible or intangible assets related to culture and cultural activities, and it takes three basic forms: physical, institutional and objective (Vollmer et al., 2019). Family cultural capital is an important concept derived from cultural capital and refers to the strengths of a family in terms of temperament, interests, cultural atmosphere, and ways of doing things. It focuses on the far-reaching impact of family background on individual success. It is argued that people shaped by a sound family culture from childhood are more likely to succeed in life. If a person is backed by the powerful economic and cultural capital of their family, it is easier for them to enter a virtuous cycle: enjoying higher starting point → having high-quality primary-school education → receiving elite education in first-class schools → obtaining a diploma from a prestigious university → working in a better job → acquiring a higher social status (Zhu, 2007). Historical facts show that the cultural capital provided by a person's family is indeed the first key element in the success of the older generation of women scientists in China, and this is outlined in the next few paragraphs.
First, compared to most Chinese women of their times, most women scientists born before the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) came from relatively well-off families, and their parents had stable incomes and open minds. Among the 32 women scientists considered in this paper, the occupation and education of at least one of the parents could be traced for 24 of them. The majority (23) came from well-off families, and their parents, especially their fathers, had high intellectual or social status: politics, education, science and business were their main occupations. Among them, five were involved in politics, eight in education and science, and nine in business. For example: Wang Yening's father was the director of the Ministry of Justice and Administration and president of the Administrative Court of the Kuomintang; Shen Yucun's father was the director of the local post bureau; Xia Peisu's father ran a school and a business in Jiangjin County, and her mother, Huang Xiaoyong, was the principal of Jiangjin Girls’ Primary School; Lu Wanzhen's father was a textile industrialist who had returned to China after studying abroad, and her mother was from a prestigious local family; Shi Yifan's father was a customs clerk; Yan Renying's father was a government employee; and Zhang Lizhu's parents were both university-educated, and her father was a lawyer who was also engaged in politics.
Second, the parents of the 32 women scientists all supported them in receiving a good education rather than subjecting them to the traditional gender ethics of the ‘Three Obediences and Four Virtues’ or training them to be ‘good wives and mothers’. This laid the first important foundation for their success.
Among them, Xia Peisu's grandfather was a late-Qing-dynasty scholar who raised money to found more than 200 elementary schools and several secondary schools. This was the result of his belief in the philosophy of ‘education without discrimination’. Convinced that education could lead people away from ignorance, Xia's father supported and encouraged his daughters to study and further their education, and he did his best to raise money to pay for their tuition. Xia's mother, Huang Xiaoyong, was a student of modern education. She believed that women's intelligence is in no way inferior to that of men, and that they should have the same rights to education and work as men because that would benefit both them and the nation. Being a hardworking and thrifty woman, Huang never pampered her children and devoted significant effort to their education. Not only did she teach them traditional knowledge, such as ancient poetry and sewing and embroidery, but she also focused on teaching scientific ideas and knowledge, asking colleagues to teach them algebra, plane geometry, three-dimensional geometry, trigonometry and other middle- and high-school subjects. This provided Xia Peisu with a solid foundation in mathematics. In addition, Huang bought portraits of world-famous scientists so that her children would learn about scientists such as Newton, Einstein and Madame Curie from a young age (Han et al., 2020).
Dong Yuchen also came from a family that valued education. Her grandfathers on both her father's and mother's sides gave strong support to their children's education. Under the influence of such a positive family atmosphere, Dong did not fall victim to the traditional conception that ‘a woman without knowledge is a woman of virtue’. As a hardworking and good student, she was often used as a role model by the family elders to spur on other children (Tan et al., 2017).
Zhang Lizhu's father, Zhang Yao, studied law at Tokyo Imperial University and actively threw himself into the democratic revolution after returning to China; her mother, Zhao Wen, studied early-childhood education at Tokyo Women's Normal University in Japan. Zhang Lizhu was born in 1921. During the same year, her mother joined her third aunt and others in initiating the establishment of the Chinese Women's Commercial and Savings Bank to promote women's employment and economic independence (Tan, 1990). Her third aunt studied in Japan in her early years, stood for women's rights, and remained unmarried for life (Wang and Chen, 2017). Being brought up in a family that advocated equality between men and women, Zhang received a modern education from childhood, and she never had the life goal of being a ‘good wife and mother’.
Third, some of the women considered in this paper had parents who were themselves researchers: both of Wen Yumei's parents, Yin Wenying's father, He Zehui's father and Wang Jingkang's father were all researchers. Of these, He Zehui was born into a ‘scientist family’. Her grandmother was devoted to women's education and founded the Zhenhua Girls’ School. All the girls in her family studied in that school before moving on to higher education. He's four uncles made pioneering contributions to China's S&T disciplines, including physics, mathematics and metallurgy, and two of her cousins contributed to the early development of physics in China; the eldest one of the two, Wang Shoujing, was taken as a role model by He. He's father attached equal importance to the education of his eight children, and he supported all of them to receive higher education and pursue further studies abroad. Influenced by this family environment, his eight children each had great successes in fields including physics, metallurgy, medicine, biology and textiles (Liu, 2013).
Wen Yumei's parents were both graduates of Tsinghua University and received PhDs from US universities. Her father taught in the Department of Anatomy at Peking Union Medical College after returning to China, and her mother, the first female psychiatry expert in China, had worked in the Second Military Medical University in Shanghai. Wen's father died when she was five years old. Nonetheless, she always remembered that he could draw with both hands and in a symmetrical way when he was teaching her anatomy and embryonic development, and she was notably impressed by this skill. After his death, her mother took on multiple jobs, teaching and working part-time in several schools and clinics. Taking her mother as her first idol, Wen, who was only a middle-school student herself, also tried to earn money by teaching English to other students as a way to share the family's burden (Gao et al., 2021).
It can be seen that these parents and even grandparents had profound influences on their daughters and granddaughters in terms of research-topic selection, research experience and personal qualities. A ‘family culture of science’ shaped by a sound family environment also contributed to the intellectual relay between the two generations, creating the prerequisites for their later successes (Jia and Rao, 2009).
In summary, for these women, a good family background was a prerequisite for having the opportunity to receive higher education and then embark on a path in S&T. During their early lives, the traditional male–female division of labour was deeply rooted in people's minds, and being ‘a good wife and mother’ was the mainstream expectation for the role of women in society. Under such circumstances, the support and positive environment provided by the family can be said to be a key factor in determining whether they could embark on a path of scientific research and build successful careers.
High-quality secondary and higher education
Secondary education
Of the 32 women scientists considered here, 23 could be traced to their exact primary and secondary schools. Table 2 shows that they all received the modern form of primary or secondary education, and most of the secondary schools they attended were among the best in the local community or were otherwise highly reputable. These distinctively featured schools were all supportive of female education and encouraged girls to develop their moral, intellectual and physical qualities and to undertake social responsibilities.
List of the junior and secondary schools attended by the women scientists.
List of the junior and secondary schools attended by the women scientists.
The secondary schools listed in Table 2 provided the 23 women scientists with a diverse mix of training. Among them, Zhenhua Girls’ School, where He Zehui was enrolled, put great emphasis on basic subjects, opened courses in Mandarin, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, physical education, painting and music, and paid particular attention to science, art and physical education. Its principal, Wang Jiyu, believed that the school should serve the development of students by equipping them with the academic abilities needed to pursue higher education and creating the conditions for more female students to enter university and receive higher education. For those who could not enter university due to a lack of financial resources or learning abilities, Wang believed that the school should equip them with the skills to serve society and should encourage female students to take up the important tasks of serving their country and society in the future (He, 1981). At Zhenhua Girls’ School, He's talents in sports, music and art were all fully developed and displayed (Gao et al., 2021).
At St Mary's Hall in Shanghai, the enlightening teaching style and open academic environment cultivated Wen Yumei's ability to read and think on her own and inspired her interest in science. She recalled: I remember when I was in high school, there was not much academic burden. Teachers had no ‘standard answers’ and encouraged students to explore, read, think and discuss freely. With this ‘launchpad-style’ education philosophy, everyone could choose their future path based on their own interests. When I graduated from high school, some of my classmates enrolled in music schools, some went to financial schools, some went to kindergarten teacher training, some chose journalism as their lifelong profession, and I also had my ‘torch lit up’ by my lifelong idols, Madame Curie and Dr Bethune. (HROD, 2012: 27–28)
The Nanyang Model Middle School in Shanghai, which Xu Xiaobai attended, focused on the all-round training of students. Xu benefited from the school's English teaching atmosphere and its tradition of emphasis on physical education and cultural activities. She became a good player of basketball and volleyball, which helped her to develop a strong body. She also loved music, actively participated in theatre performances and performed well as a soprano (Hu et al., 2018).
Yang Fuqing attended Wuxi No.1 Girls’ High School, which also had a good reputation. She believed that studying at that school was an important stage of ‘enlightenment, foundation building and start-up’ in her life. She was grateful to her teachers for inspiring her interest in knowledge and unleashing her potential (Zhang, 2016).
Chongqing Nankai Middle School, where Xia Peisu and Lu Wanzhen were enrolled, paid particular attention to scientific experiments. What impressed Lu most was the school's rich atmosphere of experimentation and the guidance of the chemistry teacher, which played a determining role in the choice of a chemistry major by Lu and many of her schoolmates in their college applications. Of all the students that went to the school in the same year as Lu, 10 were admitted to the Department of Chemical Engineering of the National Central University, accounting for one-third of the students enrolled into the chemical engineering class of the university in 1946 (Chu, 2013).
All of the 32 women scientists received university education in China. Regarding their choice of major: 15 chose physics, chemistry, biology, or other sciences; nine chose medicine-related subjects; and eight chose engineering. Among them, 13 received their master's or doctoral degrees from foreign universities or institutions (Table 3).
Highest academic qualifications of the women scientists.
Highest academic qualifications of the women scientists.
As Table 3 shows, all 32 women graduated from leading Chinese and international universities. Among those who studied overseas, He Zehui graduated from the Technical University of Berlin. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Germany led the world in S&T, and its military technology and S&T education were second to none. He first received guidance and assistance from Friedrich Paschen (1865–1947), a German professor of spectroscopy, before entering the Department of Technical Physics, which was led by Professor Ulrich Kranz, a German mathematician and physicist and a pioneer of modern ballistics. Due to the advanced age of Professor Kranz, He received most of her professional guidance from Hans Geiger (1882–1945), who was famous for inventing the Geiger counter. By studying at one of the world's leading institutions, He was able to stand at the forefront of her academic field (Liu, 2013).
Li Minhua and her husband, Wu Zhonghua, attended a PhD programme in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1944. Mechanical engineering has always been an important discipline for MIT, and it has occupied an indispensable place since the founding of the institute. In 1933, after being appointed as the head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jerome C Hunsaker initiated major changes to the direction of the department, adding aeronautics courses, merging hydraulics courses into fluid mechanics and modernizing the laboratories. He also introduced a series of new courses to the institute's curriculum, including dynamics, heat transfer, and mechanics of materials, along with new teaching materials (Mao and Wang, 2015). Joining MIT during this period was extremely important in the professional development of Li.
Other famous international universities at which these women studied included Cornell University and Johns Hopkins University in the United States (US), the Kharkov Agricultural College in the Soviet Union, the University of Waterloo in Canada and the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom (UK). At the time, all these institutions had a strong research focus or expertise in related academic fields.
The remaining 19 women who received their undergraduate, master's or doctoral degrees from Chinese universities also received high-quality professional education. Among the institutions awarding their degrees, the National Central University, despite its humble premises, had extremely strict requirements for teaching quality and a very ‘cruel’ elimination system. The Zoology Department at which Yin Wenying studied had a class of 12 students when she entered the university, but only she and one male student stayed to graduation. When the male student took sick leave, she was left alone to enjoy the ‘treatment of a postgraduate’ (Zhang, 2016). During the war against Japanese aggression (1937–1945), the National Central University provided shelter to many of the leading experts and scholars in China, and they persisted in teaching and research with full enthusiasm and perseverance. The university, which was providing high-quality education in the country, became a very prominent educational institution, with the largest scale, the most complete range of disciplines and the best teachers in China (Wang, 2006). During this time, Yin Wenying, Xia Peisu, Lu Wanzhen and Wang Yening all studied there, and they gained solid knowledge in their majors, laying the foundations for their future research.
The Department of Chemical Engineering of Tianjin University, where Wang Jingkang studied at the undergraduate and master's levels, was formed by a merger of the chemical engineering departments of Beiyang University, Nankai University, Peking University and Tsinghua University. Having employed four Soviet experts, the university had a strong faculty, a rapidly expanding curriculum and a high quality of basic education. While undertaking training of undergraduate and postgraduate students, the university was also tasked with training chemical engineering teachers in some of the colleges and universities, and this provided a strong impetus for the development of chemical engineering in China at the time (Tianjin University, 2022). In addition, Zhang Shuzheng, Hu Yamei, An Jingxian, Zhang Yan and Zhang Lizhu also graduated from prestigious institutions such as Peking University, Tsinghua University and St John's University School of Medicine, all of which were strict in their training in academic theories and experimental techniques.
In conclusion, all the 32 women scientists received good secondary and higher education, and their secondary education had a positive impact on the cultivation of their overall qualities and strong characters, prompting them to develop a wide range of interests, adopt a positive and optimistic attitude and embrace the spirit of scientific exploration. The knowledge and methodology acquired during their higher education in China and its consolidation during their overseas studies provided very strong foundations for their future work; the abundant ‘scientific capital’ accumulated in their secondary schools and universities (DeWitt et al., 2016) had a decisive impact on their later scientific work.
Most of the women scientists received guidance from professional mentors or appreciation from key figures in their research fields, both during their higher education and after they entered the workplace. This enabled them to gain recognition and affirmation for their professional abilities and led to successful beginnings to their academic careers. By combing through the collected data for 20 of these women, we were able to trace key figures who influenced their research careers (Table 4).
Mentors whom the women scientists met during their studies and work.
Mentors whom the women scientists met during their studies and work.
During the pursuit of studies, a sound teacher–student relationship is vitally important for the cultivation of professional knowledge and even character. In 1942, when Lu Wanzhen entered the Chemistry Department of the National Central University, she was lucky enough to be a student of some of the best teachers at the time, including Du Changming, Zhang Jiangshu, Ni Zexun, Zhao Tingbing, Gao Jiyu and Shi Jun. Inspired by the tutoring of these famous teachers, Lu not only established a solid foundation in chemistry and chemical engineering but also exposed herself to cutting-edge academic topics and developed a keen interest in chemistry. Under the rigorous training of her teachers, the chemical engineering class of 1946 in which Lu was enrolled produced four academicians of the CAS, including her. Her class also produced numerous professors with distinguished academic reputations both in China and worldwide (Mao and Wang, 2015).
When studying at Tsinghua University, He Zehui received training from Zhao Zhongyao, Ye Qisun, Zhou Peiyuan, Wu Youxun and other famous teachers, which provided her with a solid intellectual foundation for her further studies and research (Liu, 2013). Having been deeply affected by the research style of her doctoral supervisor, Jacob Pieter Den Hartog, Li Minhua dedicated herself to the Göttingen school of applied mechanics (Mao and Wang, 2015). Chen Wenxin's mentor, Chen Huagui, conducted pioneering research on the microbiota of paddy/upland rice fields and the biological cycle of nutrients, while Chen Huagui's mentor, Zhang Jingyue, created and developed the disciplines of plant morphology and anatomy in China. From her mentors, Chen Wenxin inherited the fine academic tradition of exploration and innovation (China Science Communication, 2016). Yan Renying pursued her studies under the famous obstetrics and gynaecology expert Lin Qiaozhi, whose strict training gave her a solid theoretical foundation in the field. On Lin's recommendation, she also attended an internship programme at the maternity hospital affiliated to the Beiping First National School of Midwifery founded by Yang Chongrui, and she went on to develop a series of innovations in the field of perinatal care (Luo, 2014).
Winning the appreciation and support of senior researchers after entering the research profession also constituted an important factor in the success of the above-mentioned women scientists. For example, when Zhang Shuzheng was transferred to the Comprehensive Industrial Experimentation Institute of the Ministry of Heavy Industry in the early 1950’s, she was mentored by Fang Xinfang, who came to the institute to guide its work. Under the guidance of Fang, who was the founder of industrial microbiology in China, Zhang's research capability was enhanced and recognized, and she was introduced to work for the Strain Conservation Committee of the CAS in 1954. After that, Zhang stayed in the committee for more than 60 years and made a series of outstanding scientific achievements (Cheng, 2013).
When recalling her professional career, Xia Peisu mentioned the influence of Hua Luogeng. In 1952, Hua, who was the director of the Institute of Mathematics of the CAS, proposed the development of electronic computers in China. To this end, he selected three scientific and technological personnel specializing in telecommunications and electronics from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University. Xia was one of these people, and she joined the computer research team. She once said, ‘There are often important turning points in one's life that could change one's fate. For me, this important turning point came on the night in the fall of 1952 when I saw Professor Hua Luogeng for the first time.’ It was this turning point that led her onto a path towards becoming a major pioneer of computing technology development in China (Zhang, 2016).
According to Xu Xiaobai, Liang Shuquan and Liu Dagang had the biggest impact on her academic growth. After graduation, she worked as an assistant at the Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, doing research under analytical chemist Liang Shuquan. Following this training, Xu systematically mastered the basic methods for conducting chemical research and built a solid foundation for scientific research. Later, Xu worked in physical and inorganic chemistry research under the guidance of Liu Dagang, which marked a new turn in her career trajectory. Following Liu's lead, she moved from the Institute of Physical Chemistry in Shanghai to the Institute of Applied Chemistry in Changchun, and she later returned to the Institute of Chemistry of the CAS in Beijing. Xu and Liu had forged a relationship not just as teacher and student, but also as friends.
Yin Wenying recounted the academic influence of the British fish parasitologist Nora Georgina Sproston. As an assistant, Yin received guidance and assistance from Sproston and began her own research on fish diseases. For a period of five or six years, the two were inseparable in work and life, and they treated each other like mother and daughter (Zhang, 2016).
Mentors can be both knowledgeable and experienced, and they are often able to introduce students to the latest developments and academic resources in their field, providing concrete and effective research guidance. For example, when Zhang Shuzheng first came to work in the Comprehensive Industrial Experimentation Institute as a technician, she found that the education she had received in college had not adequately prepared her for the job. After being transferred to the Strain Conservation Committee of the CAS with the help of Fang Xinfang, she was tasked with research on strain classification. Subsequently, Fang invited her to participate in his experimental project on brewing, from which Zhang began her research examining different species of Aspergillus fungi in the alcohol industry (Cheng, 2013).
It is evident that the mentorship of a good tutor plays a key role in the academic growth of a scientist. Additionally, a background of higher education or experiences of learning in other countries—factors that are often considered important—can be seen as ways to obtain or expand mentorship. The guidance and academic legacy of mentors during study or work can form a basis for individuals to join the academic community and seek their own achievements in scientific research.
Gender environment
From the end of the nineteenth century, some women in China began to achieve physical and mental emancipation after the abolition of foot-binding and the promotion of women's education. With the national awakening that recognized the role of women in propelling the prosperity of the country and the self-awakening of a woman to become an independent person, increasing numbers of women were being freed from the ethical shackles of the ‘Three Obediences and Four Virtues’ of traditional Chinese society. This was the social background that enabled the 32 women scientists considered in this paper to receive a new type of education, escape family chores and grow into professionals.
Since the founding of the PRC, the social status of Chinese women has further improved. On the political front, the new Chinese government implemented a series of major initiatives to promote women's political participation. Among them, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, introduced in September 1954, stipulates that women have equal rights to vote and to be elected, which ensures women's meaningful participation in the country's governance. The subsequently promulgated Law of the People's Republic of China on Election clearly defined women's political rights and notably enhanced women's political status. In 1988, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the ACWF jointly formulated the Opinions on Strengthening the Training and Selection of Female Cadres in Reform and Opening-up, which increased the proportions of women in all cadres and led to a more standardized and institutionalized selection process for women to participate in political affairs.
On the economic front, in the early years of the PRC, the CPC led women out of the private sphere of the family and gradually ended their economic dependence on men. In terms of education, the policy of ‘serving the workers and peasants’ and the new school system of ‘opening doors to the workers and peasants’, as well as the implementation of the people's scholarship system and the nationwide college entrance examination system, provided cultural and institutional support for the development of women's higher education. Literacy campaigns in both urban and rural areas not only raised the literacy levels of women, but also helped them appreciate the deeper meaning of the concept of equality between men and women and the idea that ‘women can hold up half of the sky’. The spread of these conceptions contributed to the awakening of women's subjective consciousness and enabled them to see their important role and great potential in the development of society.
Regarding marriage and childbirth, with the Marriage Law of 1950, women's emancipation reached the private sphere of day-to-day life. Women not only achieved freedom of marriage but also gradually moved towards spiritual independence. Most of the women scientists in the data-collection project got married or had children between the 1940’s and 1960’s—a period when China encouraged women to work so that they could help to grow the economy. To address their worries, the government issued a number of policies and regulations requiring various organizations to actively build childcare institutions. For example, Article 51 of the Draft Amendment to the Rules for the Implementation of Labour Insurance Regulations of the People's Republic of China, implemented in 1953, states that ‘If there are 20 or more female workers and employees that have children under the age of four in an enterprise covered by the labour insurance scheme, the enterprise is required to establish a childcare centre, either individually or jointly with other enterprises’ (MHRSS, 1953). Because of this policy, most childcare centres in this period were welfare institutions sponsored by government and public institutions or enterprises. This meant that they were both inexpensive and focused on collective responsibility, and this was especially true of those set up by universities and research institutions. Through the fully-fledged services provided by these institutions, female S&T workers who were in the ascending stages of their careers could better balance work and family life and devote themselves wholeheartedly to scientific research.
Research environment
Generally, the research environment can be divided into ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ environments. The hard environment encompasses the working conditions for carrying out activities and includes the physical research facilities, materials and equipment; the soft environment includes areas such as research funding, research time, collective consciousness, and research rewards and punishments (Wu, 2015). Among these, a shortage of research facilities and materials in the hard environment was a common problem faced by the older generation of scientists in China. For example, when Qian Sanqiang and He Zehui went to work at the newly established Institute of Atomics of the Beiping Research Institute, their research funds were squeezed by hyperinflation, and there was only enough money to buy a dozen vacuum tubes. Looking at the empty laboratory, they took matters into their own hands: they went to all the flea markets in the city on their bicycles to seek equipment, and they even bought a used machine tool from a Tianqiao market to make some simple instruments (Qian, 1994). Similarly, when the Strain Conservation Committee of the CAS was established, it also had little budget for the purchase of instruments and equipment. Zhang Shuzheng and her colleagues thus had to use a scrap car battery and the DC power supply of a transmitter to make an electrophoresis instrument. Without spending a single penny from the government or hiring any experts, they built the desired instrument with their own hands; this was a situation faced by most Chinese scientists at the time (Zhang, 2016). Despite these extremely harsh conditions, many scientists persisted in their research work.
In the soft environment for scientific research, at the macro level, the launches of various S&T programmes in China and the urgent demand for research professionals in the country provided possibilities for women to embark on scientific research and even obtain key research positions. From the institutions at which the 32 women scientists worked after their undergraduate or graduate studies, it can be seen that many joined the top universities or research institutions in China at that time (Table 5).
Institutions at which the women scientists had their first jobs.
Institutions at which the women scientists had their first jobs.
At the meso level, as China normalized diplomatic relations with European countries and the US, the development of international research exchanges and cooperation provided an enabling environment for innovation, and this helped the scientists considered here to broaden their research horizons and keep up with international cutting-edge research. Among them, Ye Shuhua and her colleagues successfully promoted the ‘Asia–Pacific Space Geodynamics’ (APSG) programme and made the Shanghai Observatory the home of its secretariat. As one of the few international cooperation projects initiated and hosted by Chinese scholars, APSG gained the support of NASA and colleagues from other countries, and it gave a boost to academic research and exchanges in the Asia–Pacific region. Recalling her experiences, Ye concluded, ‘My deepest feeling is: if you want to go faster in science, self-reliance is important, but international cooperation is equally important’ (WCSSES, 2005: 7).
Zhang Shuzheng had a more profound experience of international academic exchange. For almost half a century from the mid-1950’s, international academic exchanges played an important part in her scientific career. Through active participation in the limited number of academic presentations by foreign experts in China and extensive participation in international conferences and visits to Japan, Hungary, the US and many other countries and regions, Zhang found inspiration for her new ideas. In her biography, she particularly thanked her international friends and scientists of Chinese descent (Cheng, 2013).
Some of the women scientists joined international academic collaborations with their teams to promote the growth of more S&T professionals. For example, Wen Yumei actively communicated with her American counterparts and established cooperation between Chinese and American academic institutions, sending key laboratory personnel to different laboratories of the National Institutes of Health for internship programmes lasting one to two years. After completing their studies, these personnel returned to China and rapidly established methods for analysing the genes of the hepatitis virus, viral peptide analysis, and methods for the culture and filtration of various viral cells, along with techniques for related animal experiments (Gao et al., 2021).
The scientific research system of China, especially the mechanism of joint research for major projects, created opportunities for the academic growth of women scientists; through the advancement of these projects, they were able to accumulate and improve their academic experience.
In 1959, the Daqing oilfield was discovered in China. However, due to the technology limitations of the time, the crude oil extracted from Daqing could not be quickly processed into high-quality petroleum products. Therefore, the Ministry of Petroleum Industry set the goal of acquiring process technologies in five areas, including fluidization, catalysis and cracking, as soon as possible. This would be achieved mainly through China's own technical strengths and with the absorption of advanced foreign refining technology. It was in this context that Lu Wanzhen joined the project team, and she began to work for the development of the platinum reforming process in 1956. She established an analytical method for determining the detailed composition of the reforming feedstock and evaluated several reforming feedstocks, which provided detailed basic data for research into reforming catalysts. In 1964, China's home-designed and manufactured platinum reforming device was put into pilot operation in the Daqing Oil Refinery. Lu joined the expert group as the team leader for oil-product analysis. In 1965, the device was officially put into operation, and the development and industrialization of these new refining technologies solved the urgent needs of China's petrochemical industry. By participating in these major research projects, Lu and the other analytical researchers were able to fully apply their knowledge in a practical context (Chu, 2013).
In the 1980’s, Huang Cuifen started to participate in the ‘863’ project (a project for high-technology research), with the task of developing genetically engineered vaccines for diarrhoea-causing micro-organisms and genetically engineered drugs and antibodies such as a prourokinase and a tissue-type plasminogen activator. In the 1990’s, she started to work on tumour-related research, and she was involved with the ‘973’ project (a project for basic research) and other major research projects. At the end of 1990, the MOST began preparations for the launch of a major national basic research project: the Climbing Project. Taking this opportunity, Ye Shuhua proposed the ‘Modern Crustal Motion and Geodynamics Research’ project. With the joint efforts of more than 130 scientists and technicians spanning a period of 10 years, the project finally produced the first quantitative images of crustal motion in China. In 2002, the project won the first prize of the Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award, and this earned Ye her reputation in the field of earth motion (Mao and Wang, 2015).
At the micro level, the sound academic atmospheres and institutional environments of scientific research institutions also provided the conditions required for the academic growth of the women scientists considered here. In 1958, when the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) was founded, the Department of Applied Mathematics and the Department of Computing Technology were established at the same time. Xia Peisu, who was only 36 years old at that time, was appointed as the first part-time director of the Computer Science Teaching and Research Office. Compared with other teaching or research departments at the time, the one led by Xia had certain distinctive features.
First, the staff were all young: none was over 30 years old, and most were single. Zhong Jinli, the oldest teacher, was only 28.
Second was the ‘four-no’ background of the staff. There were no dedicated administrative staff in the office—no director, CPC secretary, data-room manager or equipment-ware house manager—and the staff in the office who undertook these jobs were all working part-time. There were no lecturers or teachers with a higher title, only teaching assistants and laboratory technicians. There were no teachers holding master's or doctoral degrees or returning from foreign universities (Jiao Tongli, who studied in the Soviet Union and returned to China in 1962 after graduation, was the first ‘returnee’ in the office). Finally, there were no graduates with a computer science major; except for the ‘returnees’, all of the staff had changed their professions from mathematics, mechanics, electrical machinery, mechanics or electronics, or graduated from the computer training programme of the Institute of Computing Technology.
Third, the staff consisted of three types of people: USTC teachers and researchers, part-time teachers from the Institute of Computing Technology, and trainees from other universities.
The unique staff structure produced a youthful and lively research atmosphere in the department. Looking back on her research experience in the Computer Science Teaching and Research Office, Xia could never forget Dean Hua Luogeng's dedication to computer teaching or Deputy Dean Jiang Qinghai's collective thinking, diligence and kindness. The young people of the department devoted their energy to their work in an atmosphere of ‘unity, focus, seriousness and liveliness’. Despite the busy work and hardship, Xia still felt that it was the most memorable and beautiful time of her life (Han et al., 2020).
To sum up, in the 1950’s, a large number of S&T professionals were needed for China's development, and most patriotic intellectuals were convinced that they could serve the country with S&T. In the meantime, inspired by the idea that ‘women can hold up half of the sky’, the passion for work among Chinese women was mobilized as never before, and the new awareness of gender equality struck a deep root in people's hearts. These factors provided favourable research and gender environments for female S&T professionals to obtain appropriate employment and put their talents to use. In the early stages of the development of China, although the ‘hard’ conditions of scientific research were difficult, the research enthusiasm of various institutions was high. Under the whole-of-nation system of scientific research, the research ethos of uniting to overcome difficulties provided an enabling environment for the growth of women scientists and evoked their awareness of participation in science. After the launch of China's reform and opening up, international academic exchanges became more active in the context of the national strategy of rejuvenating the nation with science and education and strengthening the country with S&T. Many women scientists gained important research opportunities through the implementation of joint research projects.
As the work of Harriet Zuckerman and others shows, many successful women scientists are married to fellow members of the scientific community (Zuckerman, 1979). Of the 32 scientists considered here, 22 were married, two were unmarried, and eight did not mention their marital status. Among the married, having a like-minded partner in science is not uncommon, accounting for 59% of the total (Table 6).
Women scientists and their spouses.
Women scientists and their spouses.
Having a like-minded ‘partner in science’ can be helpful for women scientists in the pursuit of their scientific work; this is because a partner who is also a scientific researcher can fully appreciate the special features and values of their spouse's professional work. They can also provide moral support and encouragement, and they may even support their spouse in choosing a research direction or conducting research work.
If both members of a couple were involved in scientific research, women scientists could enjoy, to some extent, the understanding and spiritual support of their families. For example, when Ye Shuhua became a team leader in the institute and became busier with her work, her husband, Cheng Jitai, took up the duties of a ‘part-time secretary’. Ye said, ‘I am glad that I have a husband who supports me in my career and cares about me in life. The astronomy profession I am engaged in requires me to devote my life to it. In our life, it's hard to have it both ways, and if you want to focus on your career, you have to give up on other things. The goal I set for my life requires me to make this choice’ (Ning, 2017: 169–170).
Another woman scientist, Xie Xide (data about whom was not collected in the project), had a similar experience. Her husband, who was also a famous scientist, took on the task of raising a five-month-old child on his own when Xie left Shanghai Jiao Tong University for Peking University to prepare for the establishment of a semiconductor physics consortium (Guangming Daily, 2021). Chen Ruyu and her husband, He Binglin, worked together at the Central Industrial Experimentation Institute in Beibei District, Chongqing. Throughout studying at the National Southwest Associated University and Yunnan University, then working at Nankai University and subsequently pursuing additional education in the US, the couple always stood by each other's side and gave each other encouragement and support in both their lives and research work (Zhang, 2016).
When conducting research work, a scientific couple can also give each other additional assistance. For example, when studying at college, Li Minhua had a difficult time in the chemistry department; Wu Zhonghua, who later became her husband, encouraged her to switch to the mechanical department, believing that mechanical engineering could also contribute to production work in the future. As a result, Li transferred to the Department of Mechanical Engineering in September 1937, choosing her major based on Wu's suggestion (Mao and Wang, 2015). He Zehui and her husband Qian Sanqiang, both nuclear physicists, were classmates at Tsinghua University. After their marriage, they conducted experimental research in atomic nuclear physics at the Laboratory of Atomic Chemistry and Curie Laboratory of the Institut de France, and they began their scientific careers together. Qian was appreciative of the significance of He's experimental results, while He learned about nuclear latex by joining Qian's research team; the improvement of nuclear latex production technology thus became an important area of her research. The couple discovered the ternary and quaternary fission phenomena in the uranium nucleus, triggering an in-depth discussion on the universality of nuclear fission (Liu, 2013). Although Xia Peisu retired from the front line of computer science in her later years, she still closely followed the progress of computing technology. At that time, quantum computing was an area of significant interest, but it was mainly studied by physicists, and computer researchers found it difficult to understand the subject. Under the guidance of her husband, Yang Liming, Xia spent about a year reading more than 100 academic papers to learn about the basic concepts of quantum mechanics, and she finally wrote a review article, ‘Quantum computing’, which was well received and widely cited by Chinese computer scientists (Zhang, 2016).
The nurturing and support of their families of origin, high-quality secondary and higher education, guidance and support from a good mentor, favourable gender and research environments, and the understanding and support of their own families are all important external factors that helped the 32 women scientists discussed in this paper to achieve personal success in scientific research. However, not all of those who experience such external conditions will become outstanding scientists. Each experienced setbacks and difficulties in their lives, but they all had a strong patriotic spirit and dedication to ‘serving the country through scientific research’. They each also had the courage to innovate in challenging conditions and the personal qualities of perseverance and persistence. Without these qualities, it would have been difficult for them to accomplish great achievements in S&T.
Strong patriotic fervour supports the pursuit of a research career
Women scientists who were born in the Republic of China (ROC) period (1912–1949) and witnessed the scourge of war in their childhood often had a deeper love for their home country, and they often went overseas to study with the dream of saving the country with science. After completing their studies, they tended to be eager to return to China at the first possible opportunity and contribute to the country's development. One of them, astronomer Ye Shuhua, recalled: The founding of the PRC called on us young people to join the construction of the motherland. My husband and I bid farewell to our relatives and came to Shanghai in 1951, where I joined the Xujiahui Observatory, the predecessor of the Shanghai Observatory. Many people could not understand why I gave up the privileged living conditions in Hong Kong and returned to the mainland. Perhaps, words are not enough to make young people understand the choice of our generation. Only those who have experienced what it is like to be a slave of a fallen country will know what the patriotic zeal of young scientists means, understand why we are able to endure the harsh political struggle at home, and get the true meaning of the saying that science has no national borders, but scientists have home countries. (WCSSES, 2005: 5)
Xia Peisu saw first-hand the racial discrimination by British people during her study and life in the UK, and some British people considered her unworthy to be a teaching assistant of the British. Seeing how China's image was so unfavourably presented in the textbooks used by the children of her British landlady, Xia deeply felt the humiliation suffered by China because of its backwardness. She would rather see China being hated and feared than being looked down upon by other countries. Her experience in the UK made her even more determined to return to China after completing her studies (Han et al., 2020). In 1989, Wang Ying went to Canada for an international academic exchange programme. She was promised excellent conditions and treatment by the research institutions in the US and Canada, and her foreign colleagues and friends also asked her not to go back to China. Wang smiled and said, ‘There is a big gap between China and the advanced countries in the world, which makes it even more important for us to go back. I am a Chinese! My ocean research career is in China!’ (Shi, 2019). In the face of setbacks, difficulties and even temptations, the patriotic fervour of women scientists and their motivation to contribute to the development of China were important internal factors driving their career success.
A spirit of innovation guides the pursuit of a research career
The courage to innovate was the main internal driving force behind the success of the women scientists considered in this paper. Xia Peisu always stressed the importance of independent innovation. Overcoming various hardships, she explored innovative research ideas and design methods to develop the general design and the logic, engineering and reliability of computer 107, which was China's first indigenous general-purpose electronic digital computer and was finally launched in 1960 (Zhang, 2016). Yang Fuqing also showed a strong innovative spirit in her study and research work. When designing a compilation program, she found that program verification was tedious and time-consuming, so she proposed a reverse verification method, which greatly reduced the workload of verification. Under the guidance of her supervisor, Yang wrote a paper titled ‘Analysing programs’ (about reverse compilation). After being published in the Journal of Automation Essays of Moscow University, the paper attracted the attention of international academic circles. Western journals called it ‘an excellent early work in program automation’.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, to solve the problem of the application of scientific computing to oil exploration and other industries, China urgently needed to independently develop a high-performance mainframe computer. To this end, the State Council gave Peking University the task of developing an integrated-circuit computer capable of 1 million calculations per second (code name DJS11, known as prototype 150) in December 1969. Peking University, together with Beijing Cable and Telecommunications Factory (Plant 738) and the Exploration Bureau of the Ministry of Petroleum, set up a research team and appointed Yang Fuqing as the head of the operating system (OS) team. Despite having limited technical information, Yang and her team worked day and night and tried numerous innovative approaches. During the joint tuning stage, the hardware was not yet completed, so Yang led the team to install a self-designed simulation program on prototype 108B, which had a computing speed of 20,000 operations per second; this was used as a virtual prototype 150 to test the system software. The team completed the OS debugging and performed simulation joint tuning in just 23 days. The method of conducting a simulation using a virtual machine ensured the synchronization of the system software and hardware manufacturing. The debugging of the system software also promoted the debugging of the hardware system, and this solved a series of critical technical problems, such as resource sharing and the coordinated operation of multichannel programs. In 1973, China successfully developed its first large-scale computer OS with powerful functions and support for multi-channel programs (the prototype 150 operating system). Prototype 150 was successfully applied to oil exploration, which led to the first ‘digital revolution’ in data processing and produced significant economic and social benefits. This achievement attracted the National Science Congress Award in 1978 (Zhang, 2016).
Perseverance and persistence sustain the pursuit of a research career
Scientific research is a process involving countless hardships, and remaining persistent and dedicated is the only way to overcome these obstacles. After 12 failed attempts to conduct invitro fertilization, Zhang Lizhu went on with her research experiments and finally achieved success with the 13th subject. In 1988, the first ‘test-tube’ baby in China's mainland was born in the Peking University Third Hospital (Wang and Chen, 2017). Zheng Ruyong spent years in the specimen room, designing the packaging of specimens by herself and carefully working on the production, recording, sorting and identification of every specimen. Having dedicated four years to behind-the-scenes research, Zheng believes that it was this job that introduced her to the world of scientific research and provided her with the necessary experience for her later work; her persistence and perseverance allowed her to take her career further than others (Zhang, 2106).
Women scientists tend to face many practical difficulties relating to marriage and childbirth, and they have thus needed greater persistence and perseverance. Crop scientist Wu Mingzhu ‘was working in Tuyugou canyon, in the middle of the Flaming Mountains in Xinjiang, when she was pregnant with her first child. Even in the hallway, the reading of the thermometer could reach 50 degrees Celsius. Suffering from serious pregnancy reactions, Wu quickly lost weight to only 35 kilograms, but she still crossed the Great Gobi desert on a donkey, and, less than three months after childbirth, she asked her mother to take the baby back to raise in her hometown’ (Wu, 2013). Due to the changes and challenges brought by childbirth, women who have children need greater persistence and endure more sacrifices than men to achieve career success as scientists.
Main problems and suggestions
Currently, the numbers of women scientists and engineers in China are growing, the workforce structure is constantly improving, and increasing numbers of women are taking up important positions and making outstanding contributions to the country's innovation-driven development. When compared with the older generation of women scientists, the difficulties that women in science face today are both similar to and also somewhat different from those faced by their predecessors. As things stand now, they face the following main problems. First, there remains a serious gender imbalance in the distribution of disciplines in higher education, and there are relatively low proportions of women in S&T majors. Second, after graduation from doctoral programmes, women still face hidden discrimination in employment. Third, women in S&T still face difficulties in balancing their ‘golden period’ of scientific research and their best period for childbirth. Finally, the implementation of special support policies for the development of women in S&T still needs to be strengthened.
Main problems
Gender imbalance in the distribution of disciplines in higher education
When compared with the lives of the women scientists examined in this paper, family conditions are to a large extent no longer a decisive factor preventing Chinese women from pursuing scientific research today. As a matter of fact, most Chinese families are now paying attention to girls’ education. The development of women's careers, which first started during the ROC period and increased in pace after the founding of the PRC, as well as the promotion and implementation of the national policy of gender equality, have led to the achievement of gender equality in at least junior, secondary and university education. Since the beginning of China's reform and opening-up, the average income of Chinese families has generally increased, and the penetration rate of higher education is much greater than that during the ROC period. By 2020, the number of female postgraduate students in Chinese universities had reached 1.599 million—accounting for 50.9% of all postgraduate students—and the numbers of female undergraduate students in regular and adult higher education institutions reached 16.742 million and 4.506 million, respectively, accounting for 51.0% and 58.0% of the respective totals (National Bureau of Statistics, 2021).
However, it is worth noting that, even among women who have received higher education, there are still a large number of female students who have not chosen to enter S&T fields. American scholar Karen Bradley analysed the gender distributions of disciplines in 51 countries from 1965 to 1990 and found that, over the course of nearly 30 years, female students in these countries were mostly studying social sciences and humanities such as education, arts, law, literature and history, while male students were notably focused on engineering, science and agronomy (Bradley, 2000). The situation is very similar in China, where a study based on data from the Beijing College Student Panel Survey found that only 37.2% and 28.8% of female students were enrolled in science and engineering majors, respectively (He, 2018). As the gender ratios of some college majors in 2018 show, male students were mostly studying S&T majors (Sohu, 2018). For example: in the School of Mechanical Engineering of the Dalian Institute of Technology, the male to female ratio was 13 to 1; in the vehicle engineering, mechanical design, manufacturing and automation, and electronic engineering majors of China Agricultural University, the proportions of male students were all over 70%; in the mechanical design, manufacturing and automation majors of Tianjin University, the male to female ratio was even as high as 133 to 8.
The division of male and female students in their choice of disciplines can be traced back to the division of arts and science classes in high schools. Some studies have found that, even excluding possible differences in abilities and interests and the influence of family background, there is still a notable gender difference in the division of arts and science classes in high schools and in the choice of college majors: about 80% of male students and only half of female students choose science in high schools (Ma et al., 2016). On the surface, women's choice of different disciplines is only a process of self-selection; however, this is a very complex social issue and it is caused not just by women's physiology and psychology but also by factors such as the culture, traditions, customs, and gender stereotypes of society (Hu, 2016).
Women with higher education suffer from implicit gender discrimination in employment
Women who have received higher education in S&T, even those who have obtained doctoral degrees, still face implicit gender discrimination in employment and promotion. According to the Survey Report on the Current Status of Chinese Women in the Workplace (2017) released by Zhilian Zhaopin (2017), over 20% of the women surveyed said they had suffered from gender discrimination in employment; for the group of women with master's degrees, the proportion was above 40%; during job interviews, the number of women who were asked about their marital status was twice as high as the number of men (Zhilian Zhaopin, 2020); and 59% of the women cited gender discrimination as the main impediment to their employment (HROD, 2012). In many high-technology positions, there are even fewer employment opportunities for women. According to data released by World Semiconductor Trade Statistics in March 2022, women accounted for less than 30% of mid- to high-end semiconductor professionals in China over the previous three years (Liepin, 2022). Women with a background in higher education also have relatively few opportunities to participate in further education or training, mainly because they have difficulties in balancing work with family chores such as childcare, and they therefore often miss out on opportunities. When it comes to promotion, nearly three-quarters of women say they are treated differently because of their gender (Wei, 2021). As this data suggests, even to this day, marriage, childbirth and especially childcare remain impediments to women's employment and career development.
In recent years, with the adjustment of China's fertility policy, the conflict between childbirth and career faced by Chinese female S&T professionals has become more evident. A survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development shows that female researchers have faced more rather than less family and social pressure in recent years, and the conflict between family and career has become more prominent (Li et al., 2018). It is worth noting that women reach the common age for childbearing soon after graduating with a PhD, which is why many employers ask female applicants about marriage and pregnancy. This is because childbirth will inevitably affect a woman's career. More importantly, for a scientist, the first decade after graduation from a doctoral programme is a critical stage to progress and move up the research ladder. As one scientific study reported in the Guangming Daily shows, the optimal age for major scientific discoveries is no more than 37 years (Liang and Li, 2010). In other words, age 25–35 is the ‘golden period’ for researchers to accumulate experience and leap forward in their careers, but it is also the best time for women to give birth. Given this harsh reality, many women have to postpone childbirth to keep their research careers, while others have to devote less energy to research because of having children. Some are able to get help from their families and society to lessen the conflict between work and family, but others are overwhelmed by the double burden of work and family, and they can suffer major setbacks in their research careers.
The policy environment for the development of female S&T professionals needs to be optimized
China has long implemented a policy of gender equality in S&T, and the rights of women in this area are protected by basic laws and regulations regarding gender equality and equal pay for equal work between men and women. After the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the Chinese academic community introduced the results of gender studies relating to S&T in other countries to China. They also carried out investigations and research to examine the current situation of female S&T professionals in China. Against such a background, the development of female S&T professionals has attracted growing attention, and successive gender-sensitive policy initiatives based on gender differences have been introduced. Among them, Article 53 of the Law on Scientific and Technological Progress (Amendment), which came into force in 2008, clearly states that women in S&T shall enjoy equal rights to men, and, in 2009, the ‘Project on Promoting Research and Policy to Facilitate the Growth of High-Level Female Professionals’ was launched for the purpose of promoting the growth and development of female professionals, including advanced female professionals in S&T. The Outline of the National Medium- and Long-term Plan for Talent Development (2010–2020) published in 2010 identified the rationalization of gender structure as one of its strategic goals, and, in 2011, the Outline on Women's Development in China (2011–2020) included a special section on female S&T professionals. In November of the same year, the MOST and the ACWF jointly published the Opinions on Strengthening the Ranks of Female Science and Technology Professionals, which was the first policy document directly targeting the development of women in S&T in China.
Considering the physiological differences between men and women and the reality that women have to bear the responsibility for childbirth, some specific policy incentives have also been rolled out. In 2010, the China Association for Science and Technology lifted the age limit for female candidates for the China Youth Science and Technology Award from 40 to 45 years. In 2011, the Natural Science Foundation of China lifted the age limit of female applicants for the Young Scientist Fund (YSF) from under 35 to under 40. It also stated that women with children could extend the deadline for project completion, and it gradually increased the number of female members in the expert review panel; in 2012, the newly added YSF projects also applied different age limits to male and female applicants; specifically, under 38 years for men and under 40 years for women.
The implementation of these policy initiatives has produced positive results. However, due to the actual conditions of research work and the differences between men and women in their biological and social roles, the relevant policies and regulations are not always faithfully implemented when it comes to specific research institutions. For example, the Measures to Support Female Science and Technology Professionals in Playing a Greater Role in Science, Technology and Innovation, released in 2021, suggests that, in terms of the actual situation in China's S&T fields, supporting measures such as flexible working hours, maternal rooms and childcare services still need to be further improved. However, a unanimous view is yet to be formed in society regarding some of the favourable policies for female S&T professionals, especially the quota system and exclusive funding policies. According to a survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development in 2018, 51.3% of the respondents believed that ‘China already has enough favourable policies for female researchers’. However, 83.9% of female researchers still hoped to see more policies in the future, such as a special funding programme to help them return to their research work after giving birth (Li et al., 2018).
Suggestions
The 32 women scientists considered in this paper were able to choose science, engineering, agriculture and medicine-related professions and become high-end S&T leaders for a combination of reasons. These included not only the needs of the times and the historical background of women's emancipation, but also the support they received in their education and careers, and national policy decisions. In view of the practical difficulties faced by female S&T professionals in China and the historical experiences of the older generation of women scientists, particular efforts should be made in areas such as education, childcare systems and policy to promote the development of female S&T professionals.
Education is the precondition for women to enter and achieve success in S&T, and it is crucial to eliminate gender stereotypes in the choice of disciplines
From the educational backgrounds of the women scientists in the data-collection project, we can see that most received higher education in the period from the 1920’s to the 1940’s. This was a period when the women's emancipation movement and girls’ schools were developing rapidly, the idea of ‘saving the country through science’ was widely popular, and the reform of higher education led to major progress in S&T majors. Some women scientists, influenced by the idea of women's emancipation, made a firm decision to study S&T majors, which were widely considered unsuitable for women but suitable for saving the country through the development of industries or science. More than 80% of them went on to have overseas academic experience, and 40% travelled abroad to pursue master's or doctoral degrees. It can be said that breaking the gender stereotypes relating to disciplines, making rational choices of majors, actively responding to the country's needs and aligning scientific research with the country's development were key factors in realizing their personal values and achieving growth (Liu, 2020).
Some scholars have reviewed the research literature on gender stereotypes in disciplines written by both Chinese and international scholars, and they have generally concluded that such stereotypes are prevalent among teachers, parents, students, textbooks and the mass media, and that this has adversely affected women's study of science, technology and engineering. Although female students are provided with equal educational opportunities and receive the same education as males, they are just not treated in the same way at the spiritual and implicit levels, which locks women's potential and restricts their development in science and engineering (Song et al., 2012).
To eliminate the gender stereotypes of disciplines, we must first create a culture suitable for the development of women. Social education, mass media and school education—from elementary, middle and high schools to higher education—should pay attention to gender sensitivity and recognize that gender stereotypes could be constructed and their negative influence should be eliminated. For example, it is important to create a social climate of gender equality across society, and, in particular, to criticize the notion of determinism based on biological differences. We need to implement training programmes to strengthen ‘gender sensitive’ training for media professionals and teachers and to convey appropriate gender perspectives through media and education. In the curriculum of school education, gender-equality courses for students with different educational levels should be introduced as appropriate to gradually change students’ perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of both sexes in society. We need to better promote the life stories and scientific achievements of women scientists, establish a positive image of them, encourage young women to build confidence to learn and participate in science, and make good use of the impact of role models. In the employment process, we need to strengthen the guidance relating to women, reinforce awareness of gender equality and help female students better appreciate their values, broaden their avenues of employment, and choose their jobs with greater liberty.
Being free from trouble at home is a prerequisite for women being able to devote themselves to scientific research, and it is crucial to establish a social childcare system as soon as possible
As discussed above, most of the women scientists in the data-collection project got married and gave birth to their children in the 1940’s to 1960’s—a period when the government encouraged women to work for the purpose of growing the economy. To address their concerns, the government issued several policies and regulations requiring various organizations to actively build childcare institutions. In 2021, the Decision on Optimizing Fertility Policy to Promote Balanced Population Growth in the Long Run was issued, which clearly states that each couple can now have three children. Subsequently, an amendment to the Law on Population and Family Planning stipulated that ‘the government will take financial, tax, insurance, education, housing, employment and other support measures to reduce the burden of childbirth, child raising and education on families’. In August 2022, the National Health Commission and 16 other government departments jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Further Improving and Implementing Maternity Support Measures, proposing to develop a universal childcare service system, improve the mechanism of maternity leave and welfare treatment, build a maternity-friendly environment, and alleviate the work–family tensions faced by women (National Health Commission, 2022). The introduction of these macro policies has provided an enabling environment for mitigating the fertility pressure and work–family conflicts faced by women in S&T.
However, policy initiatives aimed at creating a childbirth-friendly research environment are yet to be developed or implemented. They include: communicating to the public the measures employers must undertake to protect pregnant and nursing women through S&T and popular science organizations at all levels, consistent with the provisions on supporting the research work of women in S&T during their pregnancies and nursing periods as laid out in the Measures to Support Female Science and Technology Professionals in Playing a Greater Role in Science, Technology and Innovation in 2021; encouraging research institutions to provide supporting staff for female S&T professionals during their pregnancy and nursing period; establishing a funding programme to help women scientists return to their professional fields after childbirth; encouraging social service agencies to provide commercially run domestic services for women in S&T; promoting the system of paternity leave to alleviate the gender discrimination caused by childbirth; and raising men's awareness of family responsibilities and obligations to share the burden of childcare. All of these policies have yet to be implemented on the ground by various research institutions.
Support of S&T policies, projects and funds is a catalyst for the growth of female S&T professionals, and it is crucial to promote gender mainstreaming in S&T in an all-round way
The older generation of women scientists considered in this paper devoted their lives to science. They maintained high levels of performance during their studies and worked tirelessly at the front lines of research after graduation. This is why they were able to seize the opportunity at the most critical time to participate in the construction of research institutions or major research projects of China. The resources provided by government institutions and projects also kept them motivated in their research and helped them realize their personal values, thus forming a virtuous research cycle. For example, after returning from her studies in the US, Li Minhua devoted herself to the establishment of the Institute of Mechanics of the CAS and became a pioneer of plastic mechanics in China; He Zehui graduated when the country was just starting to build its nuclear industry and participated in several large-scale projects, making indelible contributions to the successful development of atomic and hydrogen bombs in China.
Although the individual efforts of women are very important, the support of a friendly research environment is indispensable. Considering the actual problems faced in the career development of women scientists in China, greater efforts are needed to ensure the implementation of policies to keep them motivated in their research work and give them confidence in ‘scaling the mountain’ of science (Huang and Yan, 2022). For example, we could give preference to women in granting professional titles such as ‘academician’, ‘Chang Jiang scholar’, ‘outstanding young scientist’ and ‘excellent young scientist’ and in reviewing their applications for major national scientific research projects; S&T awards for women scientists could be created, more awards could be given to women scientists, the scope of the awards for young Chinese women scientists could be expanded, and policies tilting towards women in the selection of candidates for awards such as the Qiushi Distinguished Youth Award and the China Youth Science and Technology Award could be implemented (Bai and Gao, 2018); the proportion of women in the ‘Young Talent Support Project’ could be increased, ladder-type project support for women could be provided, and they could be encouraged to improve their self-competence and accumulate project experience step by step, creating a gender-inclusive research ecology in S&T. In addition, we could formulate regulations relating to gender quotas in S&T institutions, demanding that higher education institutions, research institutes and S&T enterprises keep a certain quota for women in front-line research work and in management positions at senior and all other levels. This would help to gradually achieve gender balance in S&T. Also, drawing on the historical experiences of Li Huanying, who was one of the first officials of the World Health Organization, and Lin Qiaozhi, who was an adviser to the Medical Advisory Board of the World Health Organization, we should also support Chinese women scientists in taking up positions in international organizations and raise the profile of Chinese female S&T professionals in international S&T affairs.
Conclusion
The world needs S&T, and S&T needs women. In recent years, Chinese women have become increasingly visible in S&T and have made remarkable contributions to their development worldwide. Both history and present reality show that, to find a place and a position in the development of S&T, women need to overcome various difficulties and limitations, both from within themselves and from society. Thus, the government and society need to give them greater encouragement and support through various channels. Only by helping women to overcome their practical difficulties and giving full play to their unique role in scientific research can we do a better job in ensuring gender equality and the healthy development of S&T.
Changing people's thinking and mentality to suit modern times is the key to solving China's S&T gender problem; if this can be achieved, then there will be much less resistance to the exploration and improvement of policies and initiatives at the operational level. Such changes in thinking and mentality must take place in three areas. First, this must happen in the traditional perceptions of science and gender. We must understand that both science and gender are products of social construction: science is not an objective field in which values are irrelevant, and biological sex is not a determinant of the gender division of labour. Second, change must occur in the perception of the relationship between science and gender. We must understand the openness and diversity of scientific practice. Starting with the source of innovation, gender has always been relevant to science, and the absence of gender analysis will have a negative impact on the development of science. Third, there must be change in the traditional perception of gender equality. We must understand that making men and women the same is not gender equality; rather, a more rational choice is to introduce gender-sensitive and tilted S&T policies that recognize and respect gender differences. Only with these understandings can we break the social myth that science is unrelated to gender and unsuitable for women. This will give more women the courage to choose and contribute to science, and will make it possible to implement gender-mainstreaming measures and gender-innovation principles in S&T.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
This study was funded by a research project of the National Social Science Fund of China ‘Modern Science and Technology Culture of China: A Gender Perspective' (grant no. 20BZX042).
Author biographies
Meifang Zhang is a professor and vice president of the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing. Her research interests include the history of modern science in China, science communication, and gender and science.
Yanyang Ma is a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing. Her research interest is the history of modern science in China.