“When nobody listens, go online”: The “807” labor movement against workplace sexism in China's tech industry

Abstract

An online petition, signed by more than six thousand Chinese tech workers in August 2021, is the latest example of an online labor movement in the authoritarian context of China. Combining interviews and publicly available information, this article provides a descriptive account of an activist movement, explains workers' demands, and discusses the characteristics of online labor activism. It explores how Chinese tech workers fight collectively against a gender‐discriminatory workplace culture as they strive to bring justice to a sexual crime victim without affiliating themselves with official political organizations. The research findings suggest that while rising feminist consciousness has the potential to motivate collective action by workers, such motivation is highly dependent upon individual experiences at work and tends to be event‐based and of limited continuity. It argues that rising awareness of women's rights provides a new kind of legitimacy to labor activism, and a new way to express labor concerns in a context of increased criminalization of labor organizational activities in China today.

Sexually harassed, assaulted, silenced, and now heard: Institutional betrayal and its affects

“…This conclusion is similar to those drawn in recent work by Liu (2022). Liu (2022) explored a case of successful online activism in response to a grievous act of sexual violence committed at Alibaba in China.…”

“…This conclusion is similar to those drawn in recent work by Liu (2022). Liu (2022) explored a case of successful online activism in response to a grievous act of sexual violence committed at Alibaba in China. The victim/survivor (Ms. Zhou) refused to be silent when her superiors failed to take her complaint seriously and uphold company policy.…”

“…In Sofia's circumstance, it was clear that her perpetrator perceived that he would get away with it, and he did. This conclusion is similar to those drawn in recent work by Liu (2022). Liu (2022) explored a case of successful online activism in response to a grievous act of sexual violence committed at Alibaba in China.…”

“…The very policies and practices written and enacted to protect employees legitimized an unsafe status quo for an already marginalized woman. We expose the labor victim/survivors that are burdened with and observe this in the example analyzed by Liu (2022), but note that this labor was unrecognized in Liu's work. In Sofia's case, this involved first questioning one's own role in the situation, then trying to repel the perpetrator, avoid him, stop him, report it to the division head, report it to HR, report it to police, and fight for her position within the team.…”

“…Like the work of Yarrow and Pagan (2021), our paper weaves together a dialog between ourselves and Sofia and the relevant extant literature. We extend the work of Liu (2022), who explored a single case of sexual harassment in detail and the victim/survivors' actions after her employer compounded the injustice of her sexual assault by attempting to silence her. Our decision to deeply consider one example draws focus to the outsized impact of citizenship, race, positional power, and gendered imbalances within the organization in this example.…”