Paper short abstract:

China's educated women has become an upwardly mobile group. However, some have international trajectories, and their aspirations are realised in the Western countries. This paper analyses if Chinese women mobility is an empowerment strategy to cope with the Chinese hegemonic femininity.

Paper long abstract:

In the 21st century, there are new mobilities of Chinese women to Europe. These more recent female migrants are defined by motivations and objectives closely related to their social position in Chinese society. The Chinese government’s economic policies have favoured the emergence and growth of the urban middle class, which is legitimized by the discourse of quality (suzhi 素质) and related policies, such as the One-Child Policy. These policies—which encourage the intensive education of urban only children—have had a great demographic and social impact on China and contributed to increasing the social and gender inequality gap between rural and urban areas. Daughters of urban families benefitted from the One-Child Policy. Therefore, the number of university-educated women has been growing throughout the 21st century, in parallel with the number of international students. Despite having good jobs in China, some high-skilled professional women decide to come to Europe to develop their careers, often in the business sector. China's growing global economic and social position has made it easier for these women to be among the most upwardly mobile group of women in society. However, their trajectories are international, and their aspirations are realised in the Western countries to which they move. This paper explores how Chinese women cope with Chinese hegemonic femininity through mobility and emotional distance from social and family obligations.