The pink yuan: how Chinese business is embracing the LGBT market

While businesses in China are embracing the 'pink economy', their human resources policies aren't embracing LGBT rights

Remember when the term "pink dollar" was first coined? It was one of the buzz phrases of the 1990s: a time of much change with regard to views on homosexuality in many countries. Lesbians were snogging on TV for the first time in Britain. In 1994, Australia passed a human rights act that finally scrapped the banning of gay sex. Meanwhile, there was a tornado of media coverage around the world of this "pink dollar", as companies realised that a more open LGBT demographic was something they could lucratively market to.

Twenty years later, China is finally sparking its own pink dollar moment. Last month China Daily, the state-run newspaper, ran a feature with the headline, "'Pink Economy' set to soar as companies target LGBT community". It claimed the country's estimated 70 million LGBT people represent a market worth $300bn per year. In comparison, according to Witeck Communications, a company specialising in analysing the LGBT market, the US equivalent is worth $790bn a year.

Related: Why 2017 won't be the year women get paid the same as men

Related: Construction industry becoming increasingly gender-segregated, report finds

Related: Chinese transgender man wins landmark wrongful dismissal case