Wei, a 26-year-old Henan native and new postgraduate from Southwest University in Chongqing Municipality, was recently denied access to a local quality supervision bureau, although her major met well with the criterion of the job.

Satisfied with her qualifications outlined in her curriculum vitae, the employer offered Wei the opportunity of a face-to-face interview.

However, Wei had never expected that she should have been refused by the interviewers simply because they found she is single.

"They flipped through my resume and asked several professional questions, which in my opinion were satisfactorily answered. But they became reluctant when touching on my personal status which has remained single," Wei recalled.

"They smiled and told me that they were not sure whether I would settle down in Chongqing, therefore, they asked me to wait for their notice," she said while taking the remark as a gentle refusal.

Wei is not the only female job hunter who has failed in searching for a job vacancy because of her status as single. On the contrary, there are plenty of young female postgraduates who have been refused job opportunities simply because they are single. The situation has been aggravated after the country's general adoption of the second-child policy.

Chen, a postgraduate in water service engineering at Hohai University in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, still remembers her job hunting experience at port and channel bureau in Tianjin, where her application was denied after the interviewers realized that she was still single. They explained to her that they needed someone who can take frequent business trips.

At last, Chen had little option but to postpone her employment by applying for a Ph.D. at her alma mater.

Xiaochen, a middle school teacher in Beijing's Changping District, was lucky enough to get a job for which she applied. However, she was also stunned by a string of questions concerning her personal life when she told the interviewers that she had a boyfriend.

She said the interviewers asked about the occupation of her boyfriend, his decision on whether or not to live in Beijing, as well as their plans for marriage.

"They sounded like future parents-in-law," she said.

An online poll initiated by Guangming Daily showed that 38 percent of respondents were irritated by the employers' apparent discrimination against the single female postgraduates; 34 percent of respondents couldn't totally attribute the factor of unemployment to women's single statuses.

A human resource manager from the financial sector, speaking on the condition of anonymity, revealed that there is a popular mentality which prioritizes marriage over a decent job, as many young women choose to believe that hard work rarely results in a happy marriage.

"The 30-year-old female singles are much more likely to leave their posts when they get married, which becomes a waste in regard of our employment quotas and training efforts," the HR manager said.

Another HR manager from the pharmaceutical sector also revealed that they had previously hired a postgraduate who announced her pregnancy when they were ready to train her to be one of their core employees.

However, according to the law for the protection of women's equal rights and interests, the employers should not deny access to women, unless those jobs are unfitting to female employees.

Xia Xueluan, a sociologist from Peking University, said that the law for the protection of women's rights and interests should be stipulated more specifically and pragmatically in the long run. It should also carry out policies to cover the costs of employers who employ young female job hunters.

Meanwhile, Su Wenqing, a lecturer from Jinan University, said that the female job hunters should create independent images to convince the employers to view them in a more comprehensive way.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)