Nearly 70 percent of Chinese women college graduates face sexual discrimination while job-hunting, according to a new survey.

 

The survey was conducted by the Southwest University of Political Science and Law. The university's website said the survey involved "several hundred" women.

 

Xiao Jian, one of the respondents, said many employers ask only for male applicants in advertisements while others, who don't advertise a gender preference, refuse to interview female applicants in reality.

 

Employers prefer male to female staff as they think women will demand paid maternity leave and are unable to stand regular overtime work and frequent business trips, the survey found. Most respondents chose to tolerate the discrimination, according to the survey.

 

"When turned down by one employer we just try another. It's a waste of time arguing with employers about the discrimination," Xiao Jian said. She observed that even when employers reluctantly gave them jobs they faced poor prospects in the companies.

 

Li Chunru, vice president of the university, said government should establish a comprehensive social security system to solve the problem such as covering the cost of maternity leave.

 

Statistics from education authorities show the proportion of females in the college system had increased from 38.31 percent in 1998 to 43.95 percent by the end of 2005.

 

A survey conducted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which covered 62 cities, shows that 67 percent of employers set gender restrictions against women or required in employment contracts that female employees don't become pregnant for a certain number of years.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2007)