Gender income disparity can largely be explained by the fact that a bigger percentage of women are employed in low-tech and low-paying sectors and in lower levels of the career ladder. The 2000 Census showed that illiterate and semi-literate women outnumbered men 2.6-to-1 and the percentage of women in low-paying jobs was 5 percent higher than that of men. Women were more likely to work in catering industries and in social work. These jobs are often temporary or seasonal, with less pay and benefits, and fewer opportunities for training and career advancement. Of the women who were professionals, about half had professional qualifications at entry level, about one third at intermediate level and only about one fourth at advanced level. Fewer women were in management positions than men.

Admittedly, income disparity is not necessarily inequitable. For instance, it is fair for better-educated people to get paid more. However, the 2000 Census indicated that women had to be better educated than their male counterparts to get similar high-paying jobs. The labor market showed "clear gender discrimination," pointed out the UNDP 2005 Human Development Report. When it comes to layoffs, ladies often go first. Data from Adrian Davis's 2005 speech showed that women accounted for about 39 percent of formal employment, but about 50 to 60 percent of layoffs in urban areas.

Notable gender disparity is also found in social security coverage. The percentage of urban men covered by medical insurance, unemployment insurance, pension and work injury insurance was 7.9, 6.5, 5.4 and 10.6 percent higher than that of urban women, according to the UN's 2005 Human Development Report.

Breadwinner has more say

Economic base determines the superstructure, Karl Marx's theory says. This law seems also apply to family life. The chief breadwinner of the family often has more say at home.

In feudal China, women were confined to their homes, busy with housework. Women were considered inferior to men. The social order was arranged according to the three iron laws of Confucianism, "A subordinate must obey the King, a child must obey his father, and a wife must obey her husband." For about 10 centuries, women in China had to live with deformed feet to get a graceful walk and a better chance to marry into a good family. When their feet were bound, the toes were bent in and often broken.

After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, Chinese women were liberated and became breadwinners. Their status at home has risen alongside their social status. Many women no longer subscribe to the traditional view that, "Men call the shots while women keep the house." The phrase "waxing of yin and waning of yang" is sometimes used to describe the situation where females outperform males. Many men have tucked their authoritarian manner underneath aprons and impressed their fair ladies with culinary skills, but henpecked husbands can become the joke of town.

However, as Chinese society is shifting into the market economy, women are becoming more vulnerable in the job market. The pressure women face outside their homes is sometimes transmitted into their family life. Economic independence for women is important for family harmony. "In urban and rural areas, when wives have low incomes, it leads to more conflicts, disharmony, economic disputes, and even violence," Xin Yuan, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Marriage and Family, Heilongjiang Province recently told Heilongjiang Daily, a local newspaper in northeast China. Unemployment is often associated with anxieties and financial hardship, as well as strained relationships. Of the unemployed women responding to the 2005 Sample Census of China, one fifth reported being chastised by their parents or husbands.

Job insecurity and the difficulty of rising up the career ladder have also affected women's lifestyles. To focus on their careers, some women have postponed marriage and childbirth. In early 2007, the Institute of Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences published a study on demographic changes in Beijing. The study showed that the percentage of women aged 35 who had not given birth had risen from 4.08 percent of women of childbearing age in 1990 to 11.79 percent at present. Even successful women feel it stressful to manage both the family and career well.

Clear sky

Protection of women's rights has already been codified in several laws in China, including the Constitution and the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, yet gender discrimination is still widely practiced. Experts have different ideas about how gender discrimination should be tackled.

Lu Zhifeng, Deputy Director of the Legal Affairs Office of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, believes that the key to eliminating employment discrimination is to improve lawmaking. Lu thinks that the new Employment Promotion Law has not clearly defined the problem or prescribed counterstrategies. Lu believes that a more specific anti-discrimination law is necessary.