Financial crisis hitting women workers harder

The global financial crisis had a profound effect on China's economic and social structure. The country's economic growth slowed and its economic structure underwent various adjustments. After devastating the financial sector, the crisis had a major impact on the real economy. For Chinese women, the job market underwent various changes in terms of employment opportunities and categories of employment. These changes affected women's employment rights and job security.

If we take the Hangzhou economy in 2008 as an example, the financial crisis had two major impacts. First, the number of newly-employed people declined with occupational vacancies dropping; second, many people lost their jobs as companies cut jobs.

I. The structure of women's employment changed as the financial crisis hit the real economy.

At the start of the financial crisis, 75 percent of women workers were employed by limited liability companies, private companies and foreign firms. By the latter stages of the crisis the number of women employed in these sectors fell. We can see the tendency in the following chart of women's employers:

The Chinese government delivered a 4,000 billion yuan (about US$586 billion) economic stimulus package to boost domestic demand. To that end, the government adopted preferential tax policies to stabilize the general job market and to assist disadvantaged women in finding jobs. It also improved small loan programs and encouraged women to improve their working skills. As a result, these government behaviors changed women's occupational pattern.

In the early period of financial crisis, women were mostly hired in manufacturing, wholesale and retail business, community services and other businesses, accounting for around 75 percent of the total in employment. During the latter period of the crisis, the number of female workers declined in manufacturing enterprises while increasing in other smaller businesses. This phenomenon reflects the fact that women had become more flexible in seeking work. The trend can be seen in the following figure:

Generally speaking, the percentage of males re-employed was higher than that of females.

1. Among those who lost their jobs as a result of the crisis, the unemployment rate among women was higher than that among men. The former reached as high as 60 percent during two periods, from April to September, 2008 and from April to June, 2009. The number of women who were registered unemployed increased faster than men. This situation reflects the fact that sex discrimination played a part during the financial crisis.

2. The reemployment rate among women was much lower than that among men except during the period from April to June, 2008. Nowadays, in the free job market, employers usually favor male candidates over their female counterparts if they are equally qualified.

3. As for the entire unemployed group registered with government, the unemployment rate among women was lower than that among men for most of the time. But from January to March 2009, the former exceeded the latter.

Chinese women had to face unprecedentedly difficult situation in the job market as a result of the financial crisis.

1. Women do not get equal opportunities in the job market and their social rights are infringed.

Statistics show females make up 63 percent of the college students in Hangzhou. But female college graduates are far from being treated equally with their male counterparts in the job market. They suffer from discrimination in hiring. Those who manage to get jobs have had to make much greater efforts than males. Many of them have to make compromises. Not only companies but also government departments and institutions fail to give equal treatment to female candidates.

Women workers are concentrated in labor-intensive industries such as apparel manufacturing and the textile industry. They make up such a minor part of the workers in hi-tech industries that they are effectively marginalized. Job segregation remains a major issue.

More women than men work in the wholesale and retail business, social services, education, culture-related fields and health. But the situation is reversed in the financial sector, scientific research organizations, government departments and social institutions.

Surveys show that women employees are paid 10 percent less than their male counterparts in the same positions. The higher up the pay scale, the wider the income gap becomes.

Companies can no longer get away with explicitly discriminatory job advertisements. They filter female candidates out at the resume stage or after the first round of interviews. If an employee becomes pregnant, employers may transfer them to a worse job positions to force them to resign. Others deny female candidates equal opportunities by citing qualifications such as height and appearance in job ads. Such subtle approaches make campaigning against job discrimination difficult.