A recent survey on the social status of Chinese women shows the income gap between males and females has widened by 7.4 percent in cities and 19.4 percent in the countryside, compared with 1990.
Women are often employed in low income jobs, though their level of income has risen during the past decade, Wednesday's China Women's News reported.
The report said women doing the same job as men tend to be paidless. An example it cited was that the average incomes of female executives and senior professionals are only 57.9 percent and 68.3 percent respectively of those of their male colleagues.
The survey, carried out by the All-China Women's Federation and the National Bureau of Statistics, covered 48,192 people from 30 provinces, autonoumous regions and municipalities.
Statistics show the average annual income of working women in Chinese cities stood at 7,409.7 yuan (US$892.65) in 1999,only 70.1 percent of what was paid to males. Over the same period the annual income of women farmers was 2,368.7 yuan (US$285.3), some 59.6 percent of male farmers' income.
(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2002)
