Xi's “childbearing culture” (and three other stories)

Four reads about gender (in)equality and the backlash against feminism.

Dear readers,

Last week, there were local elections in the UK, including mayoral elections in London. For The Persistent, an excellent new woman-focused outlet, I interviewed Natalie Campbell, a political outsider, on what it was like to run as an independent. Spoiler alert: it’s not pretty.

And now to the reads….

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1) Xi’s “childbearing culture”

Ignore the oh-so-New-York-Times headline and references to “bookish women” going to bookshops, this report on the backlash against feminism in China is worth a read. Alexandra Stevenson looks at how women are responding to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s push for a “childbearing culture” to shore up the country’s birth rate:

Women in Shanghai, and some of China’s other biggest cities, are negotiating the fragile terms of public expression at a politically precarious moment. China’s ruling Communist Party has identified feminism as a threat to its authority. Female rights activists have been jailed. Concerns about harassment and violence against women are ignored or outright silenced.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has diminished the role of women at work and in public office. There are no female members of Mr. Xi’s inner circle or the Politburo, the executive policymaking body. He has invoked more traditional roles for women, as caretakers and mothers, in planning a new “childbearing culture” to address a shrinking population.

2) A tradwife escapes

On Unherd,

Mary Harrington

speaks to Lauren Southern, a former tradwife and alt-right influencer who ended up trapped in an abusive marriage and ultimately questioning some of her beliefs. Here is a snippet:

Southern’s story might easily serve as a cautionary tale for how socially conservative talking-points can lead women into danger. For where I lost my twenties to commune life and niche sexualities, she left media at 22 to embrace a socially conservative template for women: the lifestyle often idealised by social media influencers as “tradwife”. Except it wasn’t all Fifties pinafores and cute cupcakes; it was a living hell. Nor, as she has learned, was she the only conservative woman in this position.

Comparing our experiences, though, two things emerge. Firstly, that this is not simply a matter of the Right being uniquely toxic for women — though, as Southern’s story reveals, there’s plenty of scope for toxicity. It’s rather that purist ideologies as such map at best uneasily onto the practical realities of life as a woman – and especially as a mother. And secondly, that the simplifying, polarising incentives baked into the contemporary internet are increasingly warping the ideologies of both Left and Right into such extreme forms, that any sincere effort to apply these in real life will almost inevitably be the stuff of nightmares.

3) Who does remote working benefit?

The ability to work from home has “unlocked a world of opportunity,” writes Soumaya Keynes in the FT, making it easier for mothers to do paid work. Did the pandemic increase in remote working, with all that time freed up by not commuting, do good things for gender equality? Keynes writes:

What do men and women do with their extra time? There is some evidence of shifting balances within the household, though not always in a direction I would personally relish. Whereas men devote a higher share of the time that they save from commuting into childcare and outdoor exercise, women plough more of their saved time into household chores. (When writing this from home I considered resisting the laundry in the name of feminism, but ultimately caved.)

4) A French MeToo moment

On The Persistent, Josie Cox writes about the very particular trajectory of the MeToo movement in France, following the news that the actor Gérard Depardieu will be tried over allegations of sexual assault. Here is a snippet:

To many it could feel like déjà-vu, a mere French iteration of the harrowing #MeToo stories that have been unfolding in other parts of the western world for years; but to dismiss it as such underplays the significance of this moment. After all, France has often allowed repugnant misogyny to pass as men just being men.

And also:

….many have sprung to Depardieu’s defense. In December, more than 50 French actors, writers and producers put their name to a letter defending him which was published in Le Figaro. Signatories included Carla Bruni the singer and former first lady, Depardieu’s former partner Carole Bousquet, and the actors Pierre Richard, Charlotte Rampling and Victoria Abril. That same month, French President Emmanuel Macron sparked fury when he said that Depardieu “makes France proud.”

Thank you for reading. See you next time.