“Leftover Women” Reject Sexist Stigma
The term “leftover woman” has become de rigueur in China, where it is used to denote women in their late-20s and older who have not yet married. The exact origins of the term are murky. It was given official sanction in 2007 by the supposedly feminist state agency, the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF). However, the TV show “New Era of Marriage,” starring Taiwanese actress Rene Liu, has also been credited with spawning it.
By and large, leftover women, or ladies, refers to upwardly mobile, educated and career-minded women who don’t see the need to rush into marriage. Although this grates with traditional mores in Chinese society, there is evidence that the phenomenon is becoming more accepted in modern metropolises.
A recent survey revealed that 7 percent of college-educated women in Shanghai are still single at 45. Official statistics showed marriage registrations falling 17 percent last year, and the number of 20-something single women has tripled over the last 15 years. Similar statistics can be found in Beijing, where an estimated half-million women of a (rather vaguely defined) marriageable age are single. As China continues to modernize, experts expect the figures to grow, following the pattern of East Asian neighbors Taiwan, Japan and Korea.
拒絕性別污名的剩女
「剩女」一詞在中國已司空見慣，過去指的是廿多歲且未結婚的女性。該詞的確切起源不明。二○○七年，這個詞得到應是主張男女平等的國家單位──中華全國婦女聯合會的正式認可。不過台灣女演員劉若英所主演的電視劇《新結婚時代》也被認為是傳播這個名詞的推手。
總的來說，剩女指的是積極向上、受過教育且事業心強，不急著投入婚姻的女性。儘管這與中國社會的傳統習俗相牴觸，但是這種現象很顯然在現代都會區已被廣為接受。
最近的一項調查顯示 7% 受過大學教育的上海女性在 45 歲時仍為單身。官方數據顯示去年的結婚登記件數滑落了 17%，而過去 15 年間，廿多歲的單身女性人數則增加了三倍。北京也有類似的數據：估計有 50 萬名適婚年齡（該定義頗為模糊）的女性仍為單身。隨著中國持續現代化，專家預料該數字將跟隨台灣、日本和韓國等東亞鄰國的模式繼續成長。
資料來源：biz 互動英語電子報
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