Chinese female international students’ experiences in Canadian universities during COVID-19: A systematic literature review

• In Event: Confluence of Cultures: Discussing and Decoding the Experiences of Chinese Students and Researchers

Proposal

Introduction
Among all the Chinese people living in Canada, many of them are international students. The latest data showed that there were over 100 thousand Chinese international students in Canada in 2021, and Chinese international student was the second largest group among all the study permit holders in Canada (Statista, 2022). In 2019/2020, the total amount of money institutions received from tuition fees was $12.7 billion in revenue (Statistics Canada, 2022). However, many Chinese international students faced challenges while studying in Canadian higher education institutions, with institutions and governments underestimating their need for support, and this situation became much worse during and post the pandemic. Therefore, there is a vast discrepancy between the amount of contribution Chinese international students provide to Canadian institutions and the amount of support they receive. Although much research has explored Chinese international students’ challenges, not many studies focus on a specific group: Chinese female international students (CFIs) and their experiences in Canada. Therefore, it is vital to understand the challenges CFIs face comprehensively and how intersectionality complicates those challenges to protest against the unfair treatment CFIs face in Canadian universities.
Theory and Methodology
This study adopts the Intersectionality Theory and identifies three significant identities of CFIs: gender, race, and social status. Although the Intersectionality Theory focuses on all social categories and how they are shaped and interrelated through social and political forces, it is crucial to focus on categories that make the most changes in specific studies (Rice et al., 2019). Therefore, this study chooses the listed three identities and will focus on how gender (female), race (Chinese), and social status (international student) separately and interrelatedly impact CFIs’ experiences in Canadian universities. Moreover, the ultimate goal of the Intersectionality Theory is to challenge existing power relations and strive for social justice, which shares the exact purpose of the CIES 2024 theme (Rice et al., 2019).
This article uses the literature review approach to analyze existing literature regarding Chinese international students’ lived experiences in Canadian universities during the pandemic. The study uses Western Library as the primary database and “Chinese female international students,” “challenges,” “COVID-19,” and “Canada” as search keywords. All chosen articles should be peer-reviewed, and cover challenges caused by at least one of the identified three identities. Articles are grouped based on the number of identities they contain during the analysis process and are analyzed separately.
Findings
Racial discrimination towards Chinese international students significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, other social groups in Canada treated COVID-19 as a foreign disease attached to Asian culture that further segregated Asian individuals from Canadian society (Zhao et al., 2022). The authors stated that Asian culture was seen as “inferior” for having COVID-19 as one of the symbols, and Asian people were treated as “virus carriers” that caused the pandemic and made other groups suffer from this crisis (Zhao et al., 2022). Haft and Zhou (2021) examined the racial discrimination Chinese international students face during the pandemic and found that the level of discrimination towards Chinese international students increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ge (2021) argued that despite the crisis pandemic bought to every student in Canada, such as academic risk, mental risk, and physical risks, Chinese international students faced higher racial discrimination during the pandemic. Racial discrimination could further worsen Chinese international students’ academic, mental, and physical well-being, making it more challenging for them to cope with these crises.
Since CFIs possess intersectionality as Chinese international students and females, they tend to face complex challenges due to their interrelated identities. Researchers found that male and female Chinese international students faced different challenges (Ge et al., 2019). CFIs exclusively faced sexism from China and Canada and needed to cope with patriarchy on both continents (Ge et al., 2019). At the same time, female students’ gender interacts with their race. Although Chinese students in this study reported facing racial discrimination and cultural stereotypes, female students tend to be more sensitive to negative labeling than male students (Ge et al., 2019). Therefore, the interaction between race and gender created more challenges for CFIs.
University students tend to face many stressors during their experiences in universities. Othman and coworkers (2019) researched Canadian university students’ stressors. The authors argued that students with higher stressors tend to have a higher level of depression, anxiety, and stress (Othman et al., 2019). As university students, female and male students may face different levels of stress during their academic studying. Bonneville-Roussy (2017) investigated female and male university students’ stress coping mechanisms and found that female students tend to have a higher stress level while males received a higher negative impact when using disengagement-oriented coping mechanisms on examinations. Similar results were presented by Prowse and coworkers (2021), stating that the pandemic negatively impacted female university students on academics, social isolation, stress, and mental health. A study found similar patterns in Chinese international students. Research focusing on Chinese international college students showed that CFIs with mental health problems during COVID-19 tend to abuse more drugs than male Chinese international students (Li et al., 2021). Overall, female university students have a higher chance of developing mental health problems and engaging in coping mechanisms in Canada and China.
Implications
In conclusion, this study takes a step further than existing work and uses the Intersectionality Theory to understand how interrelated identities impact CFIs’ experiences in Canadian universities during COVID-19. The study provides a practical example of applying the Intersectionality Theory to conceptual study and further deepens the understanding of CFIs’ experiences in Canada. Future research could adopt this study as the starting point and bring empirical data to the arguments. It is vital to draw people’s attention to this issue as a start to bring actual changes to CFIs. Moreover, this study could remind policymakers and practitioners to pay attention to other marginalized groups and bring political and systematic changes to Canadian higher education systems to decolonize the system and make the world more equitable.

Author

• Ming Cheng, Western University, Faculty of Education