Tech worker activism against gender discrimination in China

Abstract

This article discusses the discriminatory, anti-women workplace culture in China’s tech industry and how tech workers organise online activism in response. In August 2021, an online petition broke out to demand justice for a sexual crime victim at the Chinese e-commerce enterprise Alibaba. This is a powerful example of digital activism leaping beyond the constraints and challenges of labour organising in the global tech sector. The article shows how social media could bring new possibilities to the tech worker movement in both authoritarian and democratic countries.