China's Gender Pay Gap Narrows, But Discrimination Endures, Report Shows
Xu Wei
DATE:  Mar 06 2020
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China's Gender Pay Gap Narrows, But Discrimination Endures, Report Shows China's Gender Pay Gap Narrows, But Discrimination Endures, Report Shows

(Yicai Global) March 6 -- China's gender pay gap has narrowed, but women still continue to suffer unfair treatment in the workplace, according to a new report by jobs platform Zhilian Recruitment and parenting site Babytree.

Women office workers earn 17 percent less than their male counterparts in China on average, compared with a 23 percent gap a year ago, the 2020 Chinese Women's Workplace Status Survey Report shows, while nearly half occupy basic employment  roles, far higher than the proportion among men.

The proportion of women at different levels of management is generally lower than that of men, especially among executives, with 9 percent of men in senior roles compared with just 5 percent of women, shows the report, which was published today. There are also more men in technical roles and more women in functional ones.

The survey revealed that unfair treatment of women in the workplace has nothing to do with their ability, but is related to gender.

About 58 percent were asked about their marital and reproductive status during job interviews; 27 percent faced gender limitations when applying for jobs; 8 percent experienced workplace sexual harassment; and 6.4 percent were transferred or their pay was cut during marriage and childbearing. Men seldom suffer such discrimination, the report said.

Women are still passive followers in the workplace. Even if men and women reach equal pay for the same work, the general absence of women in leadership roles still limits their say and overall payment level, the report noted.

About 31 percent of men are at normal staff level. The figure is 46.3 percent for women, meaning that almost half of them work in basic positions.

Women have a higher presence in functional posts. Finance, accounting, auditing, human resources, administration, logistics, secretarial work and other fields are basically dominated by women, while production, processing and technical positions are mainly occupied for men.

Editor: Peter Thomas

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Keywords:   Office Workers,Job