Women on the Rise: The She Era in China
520 – a special day in China and a special day for China Skinny. Attending the Global Conference on Women and Entrepreneurship hosted by Alibaba in Hangzhou, our team is part of the 800 participants. With 640 million female consumers in China, bringing female entrepreneurs together shows the importance of women’s power for China’s economy.
Excited to be here, we will find out shortly what Jack Ma has to say about Alibaba’s role in this century’s She Era. The room is filled to the roof with a few of the 231 million female customers that shop on Taobao and Tmall.
Arianna Huffington spoke of the importance of women finding their inner self to prevent burnout. With 100 million Chinese suffering from stress and mental diseases, Huffington points out that success lies in staying focused and gives tips and advice how to reach this goal.
Actress and Entrepreneur Jessica Alba emphasized to the importance of understanding your target market and how to reach themthe right way. Producing safe and healthy baby products and detergents, Alba plans to launch on the China market in the near future. With more than 9 out of 10 of Chinese moms having absolute control over what their babies are consuming and 86.5% of spending on children going towards healthy, safe and foreign products, women are the driving spending power in the Chinese baby and toddler market.
Short snack in between: a decorative reminder of the event’s host.
Along with these celebrities, the audience discussed the role of women in China with Chinese stars like Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, Su Mang, UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward, and Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman Mark Schwartz. Marriage was a topic of discussion - a big concern for many of China's “left-over women”, often ambitious women who remain single after 30. With women contributing to just 10% of global GDP growth, there is room for improvement across all industries and countries.
All speakers consistently stated that mind-sets have to change as there is no country worldwide with gender equality. Given the status quo, it will take 81 years to reach economical gender equality. Women are 9% less likely to have saving accounts, assets or take out loans, and building the right infrastructure is one of the Jack Ma's objectives for leading China into the She Era Economy of the 21st century.
Two interesting days with dozens of speeches, hundreds of questions and hot discussions. With this event pointing out discrepancies and bringing entrepreneurs from all over the world together, the trends towards the independent, strong business women in China is on the rise. China Skinny can help you play your part in reaching and appealing to this large and powerful consumer group.
