Considering that this was the week Zhang Ziyi found her name dragged through the mud on the Bo Xilai scandal, there couldn’t be a more topical subject for Sinica than the double standards that are often applied to women in China, and the way Chinese society is often structured to favor men in everything from higher education and home ownership to retirement and even expectations of marital fidelity.
This week on Sinica, we’re proud to have a special episode of the show discussing the state of gender equality in China. Stepping in as guest host is none other than Mary Kay Magistad, correspondent in China for the Public Radio International/BBC program The World. She is joined by sociologist Leta Hong Fincher, who is doing her Ph.D. at Tsinghua University, Didi Kirsten Tatlow of The International Herald Tribune, and Cao Haili, Managing Editor of the upcoming Chinese-language online version of The New York Times.