The stigma of "the third gender": understanding Chinese female PhDs in China and the UK

Over the past few decades, there has been a rise in the number of Chinese women studying for PhDs, both in Mainland China and overseas. These highly educated women are stigmatised as “the third gender” in a Chinese context and are regarded as unmarriageable, rigid, odd, unsophisticated, bad looking, and “abnormal”, very different from ordinary Chinese young women. However, the voices of Chinese female PhDs are still, to a large degree, unheard by the public and also in academic research. Using semi-structured interviews and drawing upon data from 40 participants in Mainland China and the UK, this study aims to explore and interpret the experiences of and attitudes towards being Chinese PhD students. This thesis depicts their detailed and varied everyday lifestyles and values to challenge the social stigma. I reveal that female PhDs are also constrained by traditional gender norms and the patriarchal system. In addition, they embody many positive attributes, including their high academic achievements and professional skills, independence, gender equality, and many other modern values. Nevertheless, these women are living with contradictions. They have internalised some prevailing traditional gender ideals, although they are practising them in an alternative and adjustable way. What they are insisting on, and pursuing, meets and corresponds with the social expectations of a good and successful woman in contemporary China.