What is the WeChat persona of Professional Women?

Building on the literature of “doing gender” and the symbolic interactionist perspective, we argue that the WeChat persona of professional women is a gender performance that is perceived, negotiated, and practiced through a series of dynamic social interactions.

Do women feel pressured to adopt a 'professional woman' on WeChat?

Based on in-depth interviews, we found that many women feel pressured to adopt an online persona for gender performances on WeChat, and many sought advices on how to appear as a professional woman. This reference to “professional woman” highlighted the gender issues related to workplace social media.

What is the gender distribution of WeChat users?

The gender distribution of the respondents was 50.3% male students and 49.7% female students. WeChat users comprised the research sample in China. The Chinese sample constituted graduate students and university students from a national university in southeast China. A total of 231 valid questionnaires were collected.

Are gender norms still prevalent on WeChat?

Data from our research confirm the persistence of traditional gender norms on WeChat, and we also found that this trend of increasing emotional labor is especially true for female subordinates. Persona Cs also face challenges, the biggest being online sexual harassment.

Does WeChat perpetuate gender norms of hegemonic masculinity?

As interviews showed, workplace interactions on WeChat perpetuated traditional gender norms of hegemonic masculinity, and professional women accommodated to those existing gender norms by using particular “personas.”

Why is persona used as an analytical term in WeChat?

Persona is used as an analytical term to capture the WeChat activities of these professional women because, compared to online self-presentation, the persona represented a strategic conformity to existing norms and the women distanced themselves from their assumed personas.