The poll, which was conducted by the China Mainland Market Research Co., surveyed more than 10,000 women aged between 18 and 69 from 31 major cities throughout China.

According to the report, 63.3 percent of the surveyed women said their life has undergone substantial improvements in the past five years, and 58.3 percent of them expected the turn for better to continue into the future.

One major pillar of this widespread satisfaction among women is the country's reform and opening up, which has delivered a better standard of living and more liberated thinking, according to Bai Xuefeng, a researcher with the company.

"Long gone are the days of women being confined to the home and buried under endless domestic chores," said Bai. "Instead, they are playing an important role in the country's social and economic life, attracting more attention from society."

However, family life seems to satisfy women more than their career. In contrast to the high proportion of women expressing satisfaction with their life, only 25.3 percent of them labelled their work as "satisfactory."

However, although the country's market economy has provided better work opportunities for women, only 1.2 percent of the total surveyed described themselves as being in the top tier of society.

"It seems family life still outweighs a career in women's existence," said Bai.

The survey paints a picture of the typical daily routine of a married woman involving rushing to work in the morning after seeing her husband and child off, and rushing back from work in the evening to take care of the family.

As many as 94 percent of working women in China, especially those aged between 20 to 39, admitted to feeling pressure in lives, according to another survey carried out by the Huakun Female Survey Center.

And nearly one-third of those surveyed said females face more pressure than their male counterparts. Because women are more likely to fall victim to conflicts between their work and their family life than men do.

The majority of the women surveyed said they relieve themselves of pressure by sharing burdens with friends or family members. Other outlets for stress include shopping, physical exercise and visiting psychoanalysts.

(China Daily March 11, 2003)