For the women of Guangdong, it would seem that tradition is king where aspirations are concerned.

 

Some 93.3 percent of the women polled in a recent survey said that having "a happy and harmonious family" was the most important factor in a woman's life. By contrast, only 1 percent rated "having a successful career" as the key to a fulfilling life.

 

Three women's societies in the province, led by the Guangdong Women's Federation, conducted the survey between April 12 and June 20 last year across nine cities in this South China province including major metropolises like Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai.

 

The groups' goal was to learn how women in Guangdong view life and work, and, perhaps, to offer solutions to their most vexing problems.

 

They issued 2,000 questionnaires and received 1,775 responses. The average age of the respondents was 36, and 80.3 percent of them were married. Nearly 40 percent had at least a college degree.

 

Most of the respondents - 74.8 percent - said their biggest concern in life is "the physical and psychological health of the family." They rated their children’s education a close second.

 

Other leading issues included sending their children to high-quality schools, problems associated with aging and a lack of job security.

 

Nearly 77 percent of the respondents said they expected their family lives to improve in the future with only 0.3 percent expecting their lives to worsen.

 

A majority of the respondents, about 85 percent, spoke of their satisfaction with their physical and mental conditions and with their marriages. However, they were the least satisfied with their incomes.

 

According to the survey, women do most of the housework in Guangdong, spending anywhere from one and half to two hours daily on domestic chores.

 

Around 70 percent of the respondents said they would be inclined to live with elderly members of their families or their adult children in order to better take care of them.

 

Compared with a similar survey conducted in Beijing, women in Guangdong are more open than their counterparts in the nation's capital in terms of matters of marriage and lifestyle.

 

Women in Guangdong appeared three times as likely to accept couples living together before marriage, pregnancy out of wedlock and homosexuality as women in Beijing, according to the results of the two surveys. In addition, many more women in Guangdong expressed that they "don't care about" these issues.

 

(China Daily January 4, 2007)