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Colonel Wang Yaping is a pilot in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. He’s a space veteran, now making his second trip to orbit. As China’s space station glides around Earth at 17,100 miles per hour, she will become the first Chinese woman to walk in space in the coming weeks.
Still, as he embarked on a six-month assignment in central China last week, ambitious space program, official and news media attention focused as much on the comparative physiology of men and women, their menstrual cycles, and the achievements of the 5-year-old daughter she left behind. (No one asked about the children of the two male colleagues.)
Shortly before launch, China National Space Administration official Pang Zhihao reported that a cargo capsule delivered sanitary napkins and cosmetics to the orbiting space station.
“Female astronauts may be in better shape after wearing makeup,” he said. Warnings It is shown on the state television network CCTV.
Colonel Wang, 41, is a model of gender equality in a country that Mao Zedong famously said “women hold half the sky” and is the object of a hidden current of sexism and contempt that runs through Chinese society, business and politics.
There is only one woman, Sun Chunlan, in the 25-member Politburo of the Communist Party of China, the country’s ruling political body. Discrimination remains pervasive workplace, Where is the woman hired for appearances and dismissed or demoted when they are pregnant.
Facing an nascent #MeToo movement in China push back from the courts and online government censors. A Chinese gold medalist in the shot put at the Tokyo Olympics in August on the air for its “masculine” appearance, marriage and family plans.
“A great power like China gives women a chance to go into space,” said Lu Pin. activist Feminist Voices, which set up an online forum in China, has since been scrubbed from the internet by authorities. “On the other hand, she tells everyone that even if you’re a woman who has become an astronaut, you still have to play the role of a traditional woman.”
Today in China it is rare for women outside the world. entertainment industry To achieve public fame like Colonel Wang.
When they manage to overcome obstacles, their success is often seen through the prism of gender.
Although China sent its first women into space nearly a decade ago, Colonel Wang’s mission was covered as a novelty in official statements and in the state media. The Soviet Union sent the first woman into orbit in 1963: Valentina TereshkovaShe remained the only woman to spend three days in space and fly solo. The first American woman, Sally Ride, rose in 1983.
The reaction in China mirrors what previous pioneers have faced. Doctor Ride challenging questions about menstruation, motherhood, and whether she wants to wear a bra in orbit. “It’s too bad our society isn’t further ahead,” he said later.
Colonel Wang radiated similar confidence in a brief television report showing his training for the upcoming spacewalk, saying he hoped the mission on the new space station called Tiangong would be “brighter than my face.” He also hinted at the obstacles he had to overcome.
“For me, being an astronaut isn’t a job, it’s a career, and it’s such a big love that it’s a big love for me,” he said. “This love is enough for me to overcome all difficulties, overcome all obstacles and even sacrifice my own life.”
Colonel Wang was the backup for the mission in 2012. bearing first Chinese woman in space, Colonel Liu Yang, another military pilot. Colonel Liu was part of the crew on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, which spent 20 days in orbit and docked with a prototype of the current space station. A year later, Colonel Wang took his chance by boarding the Shenzhou 10.
Colonels Wang and Liu were among the top 10 women selected for China’s astronaut training program, in part because they were already married — on the theory that space travel could negatively affect their fertility and that “married women will be more mature physically and psychologically.” According to the statements of the authorities at the time.
At the time, space management officials openly questioned the viability of women on space missions.
“This is our first attempt to send a female astronaut into space; will cause problems for the team’s mental cohesion,” Wu Bin, then director of the astronaut center at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, said. said In that case. “During training we will be asked to work as a team and we will observe and evaluate how well they cope with each other.”
Years later, in 2020, Colonel Wang was the only woman selected when the space agency announced its new pool of 18 astronauts for missions to Tiangong or Heavenly Palace.
By contrast, NASA’s 2013 astronaut class, equal numbers of men and women. That doesn’t mean NASA is eliminating its own business. subtle gender biases. Had to postpone it in 2019. First all-female spacewalk On the International Space Station because there were no space suits that fit either woman. operation finally dead seven months later.
Colonel Wang was formally lauded along with his two crew members: Major General Zhai Zhigang, the mission commander who traveled to space with Shenzhou 7, and Colonel Ye Guangfu, who made his first voyage into space. An execution is planned spacewalk during the mission.
Even so, his post has resulted in awkward comments from officials and sarcasm online. Yang Yuguang, a researcher at the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, suggested in an interview with state media that “pairing between men and women is good for solving many of the psychological problems that may arise during longer spaceflights in the future.” ”
Controversy has erupted online about whether men and women are fit for the same physical tasks, including a grueling spacewalk.
“Most girls can’t work hard or sweat,” wrote one user on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. “Women must confront this feature of their gender.” Others suggested that she needed to cut her hair before the mission began, or that she was wondering how to wash it.
Colonel Wang expressed his pride in his achievements as the second Chinese woman to go into space and the first Chinese woman to go twice, in images that have been heavily covered in the state media.
Colonel Wang grew up in Yantai, a port city on the Yellow Sea. After graduating from high school in 1997, he entered the Air Force Aviation University in Changchun, located in the northeastern Jilin province. As an Air Force pilot, he accumulated 1,600 flight hours before being selected as a taikonaut, which the Chinese call an astronaut.
While in space in 2013, he taught space physics for schoolchildren in an auditorium; Transferred to 60 million students. She later said she hoped this would inspire others to aim high, but at the same time put her in an archetypically sexist role as a “space teacher.” This time he is expected to teach a lesson again.
Some online reviewers scolded her obsession with her looks, makeup, and periods rather than her achievements.
“It’s like women can’t live their lives without cosmetics and skincare,” one user wrote under a news article about the supply mission to Tiangong. “This has already blurred Wang Yaping’s essence as a hero.”
Claire Fu and joy dong contributed to research.
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