UC Berkeley

Western researchers have produced significant insight into sexual harassment in Western contexts, but sexual harassment in Chinese society remains largely unexplored. To address this comparative inquiry, this project explores the development of an understanding of workplace sexual harassment and the legal regulation thereof in China—a state with a socialist legal system that has characteristics specific to its context. The data presented in this research project is primarily drawn from 78 semi-structured interviews I conducted (2020-2022) with Chinese employees who experienced workplace sexual harassment, supplemented with data collected through participant observation. In addition to collecting primary data, I marshal evidence published online in major news outlets and draw data from legal documents to provide readers with information and context relevant to the Chinese work environment and sexual harassment practices therein. The results reveal the characteristics of sexual harassment issues in Chinese workplaces, the shifting of sexual harassment from normalization to a social concern, the development of sexual harassment legislation over the past two decades, and how individuals and employers as well as the interactions between them construct the meaning of sexual harassment in Chinese contexts.