Leta Hong Fincher is the author of Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China (2014). She recently completed her PhD in Sociology at Tsinghua University. She has a Master’s degree in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University. Her research on “leftover” women and the property market in China has been cited by many news organizations, including The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio. She is an award-winning former journalist with extensive experience in China and the United States.
In 2007, the Women’s Federation defined “leftover” women (sheng nu) as unmarried women over the age of 27 and China’s Ministry of Education added the term to its official lexicon. Since then, the Women’s Federation Web site has run articles stigmatizing educated women who are still single.