Gender Discrimination in Chinese Job Market
Xiaoran Shang
Gender discrimination in the
Chinese job market has existed for many years both on women and men. As the
tendency, more and more people have become the advocators of gender equality, becomes
popular, the gender discrimination in the job market needs to call more action on. Through online
research, personal experience and guests interview, this essay will expose the
gender issue in China’s job market.
The women receiving the unfair treatment in workplace in China is a
common phenomenon. A recent survey of the Chinese workplace suggests that one
fourth of all female job applicants are rejected due to gender discrimination
(Lu). Although the Labor Contract Law and the Employment Promotion Act has been
adjusted sequentially for many years, few general articles were published to
prohibit gender discrimination, and no specific laws were made to regulate the
hiring process (Lu). According to my research, the employers don’t like to hire
the female employees because women have less energy than men in their thought,
they can’t do as much work as men can do. Another important point that causes
the employers to avoid hiring the female employees is most human resource
managers believe that women take family more seriously than their jobs, once
they get married and have babies, they can hardly put their heart into work. As
well as, the employers have to give their maternity leave, which may be
considered to influence their works’ progress.
The same case is not only in China. In America the gender gap at work is
still alive. The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics of cites women working 41 to 44
hours per week earn 84.6% of what men working similar hours earn, and it gets
worse as women work longer hours (Grohol, 2009). Female employees also get less
money than the male ones at about 6.65% in China. Also, the income gap between
female and male locates at the first place in China.
The gender discrimination on women is obvious in unequal opportunities
and income as I have mentioned, but the discrimination on men still exists in a
different aspect—the job type.
In China, you can see the female nurses and female kindergartens’
teachers, but you can hardly see the male ones. This phenomenon is what I said
discrimination in job types on men. And I will use nursing as an example to
explain this situation. Men are not
supposed to become nurse for these two reasons. One is the traditional view,
and the other is the social influence. In the Chinese tradition, nurses are
totally the female jobs. Because women are more careful and patient than men,
they are suitable to look after patients. As this traditional view goes with
time, almost all of the nurses are women in China. And it causes bad social
influence in nowadays. In the modern China, nurses have low social status and
income because the job of nurse is to look after patients just like the
servants and nannies. The Chinese parents don’t want their boys to become
nurses, and even girls don’t want to find husbands whose jobs are nursing.
But the male nurses have their advantages. One is they have power. They
can be easy to lift a patient than women can. They give the efficient CPR— Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a motion that
presses the breast part when people is in a state of unconsciousness. Also they
would handle the heavy medical apparatus and instrument easily. The other
reason is the sex merit. Facing the diseases of male genital system, the male
patients prefer to tell with male nurses rather than female nurses. Therefore, from the patients’
requirement, the society needs more male nurses.
However, when the question“
Is it okay for a man to be a nurse?” asked to our guest, Mellisa, who is from
Puetro Rico, the answer is “sure” (Mellisa). Because they can make money and
the amount is pretty good. Their family will be good for their sons doing this
job. The opinion in this question
is quite opposite, so the discrimination in work types may only exist in China,
but still need to be emphasized. Because there are still some male patients,
the male nurses will be convenient.
Gender discrimination surely exists in China’s job market both on female
and male. Women have been treated unfairly, and men are not supposed to do some
works that attached the tag of female jobs! They all need to be called
attendance to modify the present situation in order to give both male and
female more equal opportunities to reach the true gender equality.
Grohol, John M, Psy.D. Gender Discrimination in
the Workplace. 9 October 2009. 1 December 2010
<http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/10/09/gender-discrimination-in-the-workplace/8868.html>.
Mellisa. Class
Interview Xiaoran Shang. 10 October 2010.
Pin, Lu. women
wulnerable to gender discrimination in workplace. 21 6 2009. 1 12 2010
<http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/commentary/2009-06/438474.html>.