Women seek equality in job market

Luo Ying, a 30-year-old mother who quit her job after becoming pregnant, said, "I worked for a private company before resigning. I could sense that my boss was unhappy when I told him I was going to have a baby, but he didn't say anything. When he assigned me to a project requiring a two-week business trip, I quit. My baby is much more important."

Liang Jianzhang, a professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, said, "Childcare services should be accessible to more women workers to help them return to work. Also, companies are encouraged to employ more flexible work schedules for workers, especially women workers who have just delivered their babies and are still breastfeeding."

The gender gap, however, does not exist only in China, but is a universal problem that remains to be tackled, according to a report for 2018 released by the World Economic Forum.

The report shows that, globally, women's salaries were only half those of men in 2018, and female employees occupied only one-third of management posts. Worldwide, the report says, achieving equal work for equal pay would take as long as 202 years to achieve given the current rate of progress.

There are signs, however, that the Chinese government has made progress in gender equality and has stepped up moves to guard female workers' rights.

The report by the World Economic Forum shows that China in 2018 had reduced by 1 percent the gender gap in choosing political representatives and had achieved greater gender equality in skill-based industries and higher education, paving the way for a promising future for women in the white-collar workforce.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Education as well as other departments have recently released a notice prohibiting any discrimination against women in the workplace.

Companies are not allowed to require any marriage or pregnancy-related information when interviewing female job-seekers, according to the notice.