Family support helps Chinese career women make it to the top

Key factors contribute to the high-profile achievements of Chinese women in the workplace, compared with their counterparts in some other countries, according to experts.

These are: a favorable social environment; working mothers acting as role models; supportive spouses; and an extended family network.

Bettina Al-Sadik-Lowinski, an experienced international executive coach from Germany, said Chinese society is advanced, as it has a longer history of gender equality than some other nations. Most people have grandmothers and mothers working full time, acting as role models in the workplace.

China has a higher proportion of women in senior executive roles than many other countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and Japan.

According to Grant Thornton International, a professional services network, women account for 31 percent of the senior management positions on executive boards in China, compared with 23 percent in the US, 19 percent for the UK and 7 percent for Japan. However, the proportion for Russia is 47 percent.

In 2014, the proportion for China was 38 percent and Grant Thornton said the reason for this could be the number of survey samples taken.

A report in 2017 by the US professional networking website LinkedIn showed that women held 44 percent of senior management roles in companies in China, and this proportion had risen by 18 percent since 2008 in the traditionally male-dominated sector of science and technology.

The report, based on surveys of 25,000 employees－one-third of them with Fortune 500 companies－also found that 35 percent of women became CEOs.

In August, Al-Sadik-Lowinski published a book focusing on 35 women holding such positions with multinational companies in China over the past three years. She wanted to find out how Chinese females had achieved such eye-catching progress in their careers.

She found that most women in her study had parents and parents-in-law to help with household chores and take care of their children.

"Before a child is sent to school at age 3, it's usually difficult for the mother to juggle work and family. So, I think the traditional Chinese system is very good for a career woman to concentrate on her job and fulfill her potential," she said.

"When they get relocated overseas, some even take their parents or sisters with them to take care of the children."

Most married women in her study said they received emotional support from their spouse, and more than one-third of those who went abroad for work were joined by their husbands.

Just seven of these women's spouses have high-profile careers, with the remainder working regular hours, with no business travel and an income lower than their wife's, according to the book.

Nearly 90 percent of these Chinese women are married and 75 percent have at least one child, while more than 70 percent of their counterparts in Germany do not start a family, according to the author's global research based on interviews with 110 women in top management roles worldwide.

Chinese career women's global mindset, a high degree of flexibility, constant learning ability, trustworthy leadership and a positive attitude to competition are also key factors in their career success, according to the study.

Jia Zhenlong, partner at CGL, an international executive search company in Shanghai focusing on hiring senior talent, said women in top managerial roles account for about 50 percent of its clients.

"From our observations, women are no different to men when it comes to stress tolerance, resilience and commitment," he said.

The LinkedIn report also showed that young women have an increasingly strong presence in leadership roles, occupying 51 of 100 senior positions among people younger than 35.

Zhang Jingyi, human resources head at LinkedIn China, said, "Working women should be more confident and never underestimate themselves or set limits for their career paths."

Human resources professionals said they believed women will play a bigger role in the workplace globally. For example, female leaders usually pay more attention to cultivating teams and fostering the members' development, they said.