Chinese Startups are Hiring Attractive Women as 'Programmer Motivators' to Ease Stressful Coders
The must haves of these females include a contagious laugh, be able to apply simple makeup and be taller than 5 feet 2 inches.
A start-up culture can be pretty taxing and stressful. With a lot of already existing competition, there is always a pressure of performance, resulting in a lot of stress. The scene is very common in China's technological advancements too. But then to ease the stress of the coders at the job, they are specially hiring women who can give massages and strike a conversation in need!
The job profile is termed as a 'programmer motivator,' whose role is to play a psychologist, a friend to calm the overly stressed coders. There is a typical stereotype attached to the job of coders, that they are only nerds and do not have much of a social life. Shen Yue who works as a motivator said, "They really need someone to talk to them from time to time and to organize activities for them to ease some of the pressure." She holds a degree in civil engineering but is now contributing to easing the stress!
The job market in China is highly discriminative of women, with job websites making demands of male-only candidates and asking for women to be attractive. Even as a programmer motivator, the female has to be attractive and their responsibilities include socializing with male workers, buying them breakfast, and giving them massages. Some of their duty also involve organising outings of the team or just being someone to listen to the overworked developers. This is in fact even used as a way to attract more men to do coding or developing jobs.
The must haves of these females include a contagious laugh, be able to apply simple makeup and be taller than 5 feet 2 inches. While it may sound extremely wrong and sexist to some, Ms. Shen who works as one has no problem with it. She was quoted to the New York Times, “Many feminist ideas are too extreme now,” she said. “I think women should be independent, self-reliant and have self-respect. And that’s enough.”
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2018 04:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).