China's "Leftover Women"

Women have traditionally been compelled to swim upstream against society's powerful currents. In the United States, glass ceilings become tough to endure. Successful actresses routinely and reasonably complain about the ruthless combination of sexism and ageism in the entertainment business. Pressure to bear and raise children, in spite of career goals or personal exploration, can become relentless.

Conscientious Reading and Study
PRC Stamp Issued 1975

As bad as those scenarios are, American women don't get hammered the way their unmarried Chinese counterparts do. A recent BBC article points out that the dreaded birthday for single Chinese women is 27. If they're not married by that age, they're washed up. The Chinese phrase for this phenomenon is sheng nu, or "leftover women." The signals for this societally sanctioned dismissal are not subtle ones in the People's Republic.

As an example, the BBC report cites a piece published by the All-China Federation of Women titled Leftover Women Do Not Deserve Our Sympathy. It presented the following opinion with a straight face:

Pretty girls do not need a lot of education to marry into a rich and powerful family. But girls with an average or ugly appearance will find it difficult. These girls hope to further their education in order to increase their competitiveness. The tragedy is, they don't realize that as people age, they are worth less and less. So by the time they get their MA or PhD, they are already old -- like yellowed pearls.

Well, how does the writer really feel about the issue, eh?

I suppose a limerick sums up the situation:
It just won't do
To be sheng nu.