Beijing: Two Chinese firms are giving single female employees over the age of 30 an additional eight days of annual leave to “go home and date”. Workers at a Song dynasty-themed tourist attraction can take the extra break during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, according to a notice posted by the companies.
Single women in China in their late twenties and early thirties are considered “leftover women,” or shengnu, given long-held traditional beliefs that women who aren’t married off by then are undesirable. But a burgeoning middle class and diversifying economy has led to a growing number of Chinese women focusing on their careers and choosing to marry later – or staying single altogether.
