Women Managers Head Internet Companies in China

Chinese women have contributed quite a lot to the development of China's internet economy.

In 1995, Zhang Shuxin set up the Infoway Company, the first Internet Service Provider in China. In just one year, it became a well-known brand name among the flock of soaring web companies.

In Guangdong province, Zhang Jingjun set up the free 163.com which fast turned into a popular website. She also played a vital role in developing another wetsite, netease.com.

TCL Corporation, with total sales volume of 15 billion yuan last year, is one of the three biggest electronics companies in China. Wu Shihong, the general manager of the newly set up information industry group, joined the company after leaving IBM and Microsoft.

The ratio of women in web-related jobs in China is higher than in all other trades except textiles. And now, the spotlight is on the growing number of women managers behind these thriving companies.

Experts say the remarkable success of these women can be tied directly to the range of educational opportunities available to them.

And getting ahead in the newly surging Internet world requires a leap away from traditional Chinese thinking. Unlike most other male-dominated industries in China, whoever has the initiative in the Internet game takes the lead in the new times of information.

"The fast changing information age tends to obscure the distinction between genders and push the women dreamers to the front of the industrial revolution," said Wang Zhenmin, a professor with the Enterprise Culture Study Center with People's University of China.

"In China, women managers saw the birth and growth of the Internet economy. The phenomenon has suggested that women may have played a leading role since the beginning of the Internet," Wang said.

If that is the case, the sociological implications of women's roles in China's Internet growth cannot be underestimated. Perhaps the Internet ignores gender -- and even favors women.

A survey overseas among well-known websites in 1995 showed that only one-fourth of their managers were women, but in 2000 the proportion had been doubled.






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