Female Chinese Bankers in the Asia Pacific
This book explores the simultaneous Asianisation and feminisation of mid-level management in the financial services sector in world and global cities in the Asia Pacific.
Chan draws on 50 in-depth interviews with ethnically Chinese female professionals working in middle or upper management positions in Sydney, Hong Kong, Shanghai and four other cities in Australia and China. She analyses the interplay between geographical location, gender and career mobility. Growing numbers of transnational Chinese live and work in major cities in developed countries. In this context, a new social, economic ecosystem is being created for and by female professionals working in an elite sector of the service industry across the Asia Pacific region. Chan examines the nature of this ecosystem through an examination of the lives and work of such women their role in forming multinational networks in financial service firms, their collective work situation, their daily challenges and their coping strategies in the workplace and at home.
This book provides a compelling comparative study, which will be of great interest to scholars and students looking at the role of gender and ethnicity in globalisation.
Wai-wan Vivien Chan currently is the Director of Chan Institute of Social Studies (Hong Kong) and Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology (China).
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Female Chinese Bankers in the Asia Pacific
Gender, Mobility and Opportunity
Wai-wan Vivien Chan
Female Chinese Bankers in the Asia Pacific
Gender, Mobility and Opportunity
Wai-wan Vivien Chan
First published 2021
by Routledge
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2021 Wai-wan Vivien Chan
The right of Wai-wan Vivien Chan to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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ISBN: 978-0-367-33825-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-32215-0 (ebk)
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Contents
This book would never have been completed if I had not received consistent love, support and encouragement from so many people.
First of all, Id like to thank the 50 Chinese female bankers from seven cities in Australia and China who generously shared their professional experiences and their private life stories. This book is dedicated to them.
I am most indebted to my supervisors, Prof. Carolyn Cartier and Prof. Elaine Jeffreys, for their constructive comments during the writing of my doctoral dissertation from which this book evolved; and also to my colleagues Prof. Anita Chan, Prof. Waning Sun, Dr. Lai-ha Chan and Dr. Christina Ho from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. I acknowledge with gratitude the support I received from the Australian Postgraduate Award and the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship, both funded by the Australian Governments Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.
I would also like to express my special thanks to three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on this book. Their suggestions helped me to refine my thinking throughout the revision process.
In Australia, I am especially grateful to Prof. Peter Drake for his consistent support and his great help in finding Chinese female bankers for my interviews. I deeply appreciate his genuine care and his warm friendship.
I am also indebted to Ms. Daphne Lowe Kelley from the Chinese Heritage Association of Australia, and Ms. Virginia MacDonald and Ms. Carol Au at the Information Department of the Reserve Bank of Australia, who provided me with valuable information from their archives. Their professionalism and their unconditional support of my research on Chinese female bankers in Australia was exceptional.
I would like to express my special thanks to the Gao family: Mike, Carol, Chloe and Jayden. I will always cherish many joyful days and nights spent at their warm house.
In Hong Kong, my deep appreciation goes to Prof. Chan Kwok-bun, my life-long mentor. Over the past 20 years, I have continuously received his unfailing support, concern and encouragement. He always inspires me by sharing his valuable intellectual insights and deep sociological knowledge.
My special thanks go out to good friends: Erica Choi, Hakan Ng, Ross Cheung and Dick Chong in Hong Kong, for their unshakable friendship.
In mainland China, I am very grateful to Prof. Li Xiyuan at Sun Yat-sen University, Prof. Sun Dongchun at South China University of Technology and Dr. Victor Pan in Guangzhou. Without their kind help, it would have been extremely difficult for me to find so many female bankers to interview in China.
From March 2018 to February 2020, I worked as Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts (SoF), Southern University of Science and Technology, China. I am most grateful to my colleagues and friends there. I would like to express my special thanks to Prof. Zhou Yongming, Prof. Wang Xiaokui and Dr. Zhang Jinghong, and friends at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences and Center for Social Sciences; and the 20 other Fellows at SoF. For the past two years, I have gained much new and diverse knowledge from conferences, forums, workshops, seminars and our regular 4 on 4 Salon (salon held at 4 p.m. on Thursdays). I am very grateful to have had a warm, intellectual working environment where I could revise my book manuscript.
