Club Lunch- ‘Men Only’ and ‘Beautiful Girls’: Gender Discrimination in Job Ads in President Xi’s China

Mr. Roth introduced the organization’s new report on gender discrimination in job advertising in China. As the #MeToo movement expands globally, this report looks into government and corporate recruitment practices that facilitate the creation of workplace environment conducive to sexual harassment. Many job ads specify a requirement or preference for men. Some job posts require women to have certain physical attributes – with respect to height, weight, voice, or facial appearance – that are irrelevant to job duties. Others use the physical attributes of companies’ current female employees to attract male applicants. The report highlights gender discriminatory and sexually objectifying job ads published by Chinese technology companies with international listings and global ambitions. Human Rights Watch calls for the Chinese government and private Chinese companies to end their use of such ads and for Chinese authorities to enforce legal prohibitions against gender discrimination in employment.

Kenneth Roth is the executive director of Human Rights Watch. He has previously served as a federal prosecutor in New York and also for the Iran-Contra investigation in Washington, DC. A graduate of Yale Law School and Brown University, he has conducted numerous human rights investigations and missions around the world.