Playing China's gender game

gzlaser

BEIJING middle school teacher Sun Jianyun, 26, was a dedicated student and worked hard to achieve her position. Yet when she graduated she found her career opportunities were not equal to those of men.

\"The truth is too many women major in education. So many schools ease the entry standard for men,\" Sun says.

But on China's campuses, the position of women is improving. In 2004, female higher education students accounted for 45.7 percent of the student population, an increase of 10.3 percentage points over 1995. And as more women enroll in university, their results are also improving.

At Shanghai University, men were awarded less than a quarter of this month's scholarships in creative fields like advertising, broadcasting and photography.

Even in male-dominated areas, like China Jiliang University's (Hangzhou) College of Mechatronics Engineering course, only two men have won scholarships over the past three years.

Problems at work

\"University exams tend to be based on memory, and this favors girls. Most girls work hard listening in classes and take notes, but things like sport distract boys – they do not focus on their studies,\" says Chen Zengtang, a psychology professor at Shanghai's Tongji University.

But success on paper does not necessarily translate into a successful career. At the last census in 2000, Chinese women comprised 45 percent of the workforce and earned 80 percent of the income of men.

The white paper, \"Gender Diversity and Women's Development in China\", also notes that women owners of SMEs account for only about 20 percent of China's entrepreneurs

So why does this disparity exist?

Professor Chen suggests it is because women lack a well-rounded set of skills. He also notes that men mature later than women, so they become ambitious around age 26 or 27, exactly the time women turn their attention to starting a family.

But a recent report based on interviews with businesswomen by professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) suggests that the main thing women need to succeed is a bit more self-belief.

It says: \"The message from the interviewees was that women need to be more confident. They said strength of mind is the most important factor in a woman's ability to succeed in the workforce.\"

The report also claims China's one-child policy enables women to have a \"manageable home life while still being able to advance their careers\".

But it is simply too easy to say discrimination does not exist and it is women's lack of ambition that hold them back. The PWC report only interviewed successful women who work for large companies and their views are not necessarily reflective of China as a whole.

Future success

A new survey by the Southwest University of Politics and Laws on the employment of female students indicated 70 percent of girls suffered from gender discrimination. Most people said that companies limit their chances of marrying or having babies.

Despite the fear of discrimination, China Talent CEO Frank Mulligan suggests women should concentrate on translating their paper skills into an ability to communicate at work.

He says: \"The top women are flexible and willing to ask questions about how things different companies work. They have the empathy that men tend not to have. That's what foreign companies are looking for.\"

And there is a reason for women to be hopeful. In 2005, there were 118 boys to every 100 girls born in China, a fact Frank Mulligan sees as being hugely important. He says: \"Women will be incredibly in demand. We need a balance in the workplace and companies will have to fight for [women]. It's already happening.\"

Public and private perspectives

Zhou Yi, 27

Official in the Jiangsu Provincial government

\"I think women have fewer opportunities for promotion than men. However, when I graduated from university, I became an official and now live a stable life. I did not want to become a top leader. However, as women, we do have special abilities to offer. We are often more patient and attentive than men. I think these come from tradition. Our parents always taught us to focus on our family.\"

Sun Di, 25

Sales manager at a Hong Kong company in Shanghai

\"Sometimes we do not want to hire women for some positions, such as sales, because we must think of the challenges associated with maternity leave. If a woman employee is pregnant, we cannot ask her to travel or go out because it's unsafe. However, I think most companies treat males and females fairly. If you have the ability to solve practical problems, you will have a chance at promotion.\"