Independent, adventurous, competitive and ambitious, such words were often used to describe men, but today they are commonly used on post-1980s college girls.
According to a research conducted by East China Normal University, nearly one third of college girls show a mixed personality with strong masculinity and feminity, and the proportion among the post-1970s college girls is only 14 percent.
The post-1980s generation are mostly single children, who are brought up under the joint care of both parents and grandparents. As they don't have brothers or sisters, it is natural for them to have an independent character, which endows the girls with the character that used to be exclusively seen on men.
Chinese women used to be encouraged to be the assistants of their husbands rather than to have careers of their own, but post-1980s girls are different, who are known to always tend to seek a high income and enjoyable lifestyle. To them, freedom is one of the most important things in life, thus they won't allow themselves to be bound by men or family chores.
Besides, it is necessary for people to have some masculinity to survive such a highly marketized society, be they men or women.
(Chinanews, December 7, 2007)
