HONG KONG—Authorities in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing have recently advertised for new female recruits to their traffic department, but only women of "above average appearance" and about 165 cm in height need apply.
The advertisement, which rippled through Chinese cyberspace in recent days, drew widespread scorn from rights activists, as it came just days after dismal statistics showed the best qualified Chinese women struggle to find work.
"If anything, I think things have got worse," said Liao Tianqi, Germany-based chairwoman of the writers' group Independent Chinese PEN. "Women are treated like commodities."
Liao said the advertisement showed that Chinese women still have a long way to go before they are truly given equal treatment with men.
"If you look at the [recent] parliamentary sessions, you can see that the hostesses who fetch and carry things and who pour tea for everyone at the National People's Congress (NPC) are all very young and pretty," she said.
"What sort of attitude lies behind this? It's not right. They are treating these women like flower vases, or paintings, to warm the heart and delight the eye."
An image to project
She said certain restrictions involving physical strength and perhaps height might be understandable in policing.
"But if they say that she has to be good-looking, then that's not right whichever way you look at it," Liao said.
U.S.-based democracy activist Lu Jinghua, who joined the 1989 pro-democracy rallies on Tiananmen Square, initially as a cleaner and then as a broadcaster, said the advertisement is more about projecting an image of China's prosperity to the world.
"This is a country that wants to project an image for the world to see," she said.
"They want to show how they are getting rich, how their GDP is growing, and how beautiful their people are: how heroic the men are, and how lovely the women. Why are they doing this? It's completely fake."
"Is this a beauty contest? Or are you looking for some law enforcement personnel?" she said.
A recent survey of graduates by the Shanghai Pudong Chamber of Commerce found that nearly one-quarter of highly qualified Chinese women weren't planning to look for a job until after the economic crisis had passed.
Marriage first?
The survey found 23.6 percent of women surveyed said they would prefer to leave their career until after they married and had children.
Song Meiya, editor of the Beijing-based China Women's News, said that while China now has a good track record in safeguarding the rights of women to education, many obstacles remain in their way in the world of work.
"If you block off every option for them and don't let them proceed with autonomy, then they still have to take care of their livelihoods, don't they?" Song said.
"What are they supposed to do? Faced with so many obstacles, they are choosing viable options. I don't think that we can blame them for this."
Government figures show that the proportion of female government employees has risen from 30 percent in 1995 to upwards of 40 percent today.
Recently, women have been promoted to mayoral office, and there are 6,700 female deputy mayors.
Eight of China’s top leaders are women.
However, “gender-based discrimination is still an important factor,” according to the All China Women's Federation, linked to the ruling Communist Party at every level of government.
Laws defining what constitutes sexual discrimination in the job-seeking process are vague, making life tough for highly qualified women graduates.
U.S.-based economist He Qinglian said the fees that have been spent on these young women's education represent a form of investment in the future of the country.
"Having them stay at home is really a waste of educational resources," she said.
"This isn't a good thing for China."
Original reporting in Mandarin by Tang Qiwei and Wen Jian. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.