Lower Barriers and Higher Social Status? — Chinese Women Working in E-commerce

Abstract: With the recent development of Internet technology, the e-commerce industry is booming. However, under this rapid development, various inequality issues are hidden. Inspired by Goldin's (2002) study on declining gender significance, this paper focuses on the gender inequalities faced by female employees in the e-commerce industry in China. This paper focuses on one of the representatives of the e-commerce industry, Internet companies, to investigate the barriers and social status of female employees working in Chinese Internet companies. Using a qualitative research approach, this paper interviewed eight employees of Chinese Internet companies through semi-structured interviews. Acker's (2006) inequality regimes are then used to extract and analyze information from the responses given by the interviewees and finally draw conclusions. The study found that female employees of Chinese Internet companies do face lower barriers, such as lower physical requirements that make it easier for women to enter the industry and higher salaries that make women more likely to be financially independent. However, as one digs deeper, higher barriers emerge, such as segregation by gender between positions or within positions, and different hierarchies. In terms of social status, women in Chinese Internet companies have not managed to gain a higher status, as the gender hierarchy created by the particular Chinese Confucian culture keeps women in a disadvantaged position. The development of e-commerce has not substantially changed the status of women in the cultural system.