Woman and Age

女性的年龄 （Women’s Age）

“我从男人眼睛里 (From men’s eyes)

发现了 (I discovered)

一个万劫不复的数字 (A number that’s doomed eternally)

充满死亡欲的数学” (Dreadful math)

— — 伊蕾 (Yi Lei)

This poem Women’s Age, written by Chinese female poet Yi Lei, vividly captured women’s social relationships with man and the entire society.

There is a new reality show Women in the 30s became very popular in China. This show gathered 30 female actresses who were established and famous. However, as these actresses grow older, it is hard for them to find a job in the industry regardless of their excellent acting.

This show provided them a chance to prove themselves again through performance in a competition for audiences in China.

Soon this show raised huge debate because age discrimination towards women is a long-existing problem in China. Many companies would clarify they only want male employees because females in the age range from 20 to 30 might invest more in their newborn babies instead of the company. Age discrimination is especially server in the film and TV production industry. As soon as an actress turns 30, they only have two choices: either they have taken the role as someone’s mom in film and movies, or they can pretend young and keep their roles as teenage girls. Because Asian culture finds young and innocent as the two most attractive characters for women, there are no fitted characters for 30 years old actresses to showcase their mature charm.

Many people expect this show can open a new general of film production in China to give mature actresses a place to shine. However, the media still only focused on how young they look. “You can’t even tell that she is 36!”, “her face is wrinkleless”, “how can she still have a flat belly after having two babies”. Comments like these flood the internet. No one talked about their outstanding achievements, amazing performances, and personal growth. The topic is always around how ageless they look. The comments are totally against the value this reality show is promoting. It is very pathetic that society’s only recruitment for women in their 30th is to look young. It uncovered this distorted society value in the Asian culture: the society has no expectation of women but to look pretty.

This is not a predicament for just actresses, but all women in China, even in the world. Some long-existing social commentary have established ridiculous examples for young women. Young women in their 20th, for example, me, usually spend a lot of time thinking about what kind of person they want to become when they get older. This trend in China basically educated young girls that the only way they can still be appreciated by society is to take care of their faces. It is very wrong. Society should have the same expectation of women as they have in men. Women should not be limited to their age. People will always grow old and youth should not be only quality to be appreciated.