Rong Zhao ( Hunter College, City University of New York)

How does gender-based discrimination play out in the workplace? What are the overt and covert forms of gender discrimination existing in the Chinese and Western societies? What have been done and what more need to be done to address this profound inequality that has held generations of women back in gaining independence and equal rights? Drawing on economic, sociological, and feminist organizational theories, this talk analyzes: 1) how women have been kept in the low-paying secondary professions and the lower level of organizations; 2) how the discrimination in the workplace is related to the state-led patriarchal society that purposefully restricts women in the domestic world; and 3) what kind of social policies need to be developed and implemented to address this pressing issue. In the end, the speaker will also speak about strategies that individual women may adopt to mitigate the negative influences of gender discrimination on their career development.