Zhaopin: Women Earn 22% Less than Men in China

Zhaopin Limited

2018-03-07 08:30 1190

BEIJING, March 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Zhaopin Limited ("Zhaopin" or the "Company"), a leading career platform in China focused on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycle, released its "2018 Report on the Current Situation of Chinese Women in the Workplace." The report found that the average monthly salary for women was 22% lower than men in China.

Zhaopin conducted its annual survey on women in the workplace to understand the situation and challenge for women in their employment opportunities and career path and development. More than 102,400 people participated in the survey this year.

Highlights of Zhaopin 2018 survey on women in the workplace:

The average monthly salary for women was 22% lower than men in China.
For entry-level and low-level positions, the salary gap between women and men was quite small. As more men were promoted to higher level positions, the income gap between women and men widened.
About 11.5% of women in China lost promotion opportunities due to pregnancy.
Women devoted 15% more time to families than men, and selected "convenient to go to work" as the most important factor when evaluating job opportunities.
Women contributed about 35% of their family incomes, compared with 51% from men.
In evaluating successful women, women believed that "achievement in her professional field" was the most important factor, while men saw a successful woman as "having her own attitude and not following others".

Income gap: women earn 22% less than men

Zhaopin's survey found that the average monthly salary for women was 22% lower than men. For entry-level and low-level positions, the salary gap between women and men was quite small. However, as more men were promoted to higher level positions, the income gap between women and men widened.

Comparison of average monthly salary (RMB)
	Average for low-level positions	Overall average
Mem	5,752	8,006
Women	5,530	6,589
Gap (men vs. women)	4%	22%

The below breakdown of positions showed that more men than women were in higher level positions in the workplace, indicating that men were more likely to be promoted with higher salaries.

Breakdown of positions
	Women	Men
Low-level staff	67.1%	52.3%
Junior managers	19.6%	25.9%
Mid-level managers	11.6%	17.9%
Senior-level managers	1.2%	3.4%
Others	0.4%	0.5%

As to barriers for promotion, both women and men faced key challenges, such as "limited promotion opportunities offered by companies" and "lack of competence and experience". However, about 11.5% of women lost promotion opportunities due to pregnancy.

Key barriers to promotions
	Women	Men
Limited promotion opportunities offered by companies	49.2%	53.2%
Lack of competence and experience	47.2%	45.8%
Competition among coworkers with equivalent qualifications	24.4%	27.1%
Based on seniority, instead of competence	15.1%	25.4%
Not appreciated by manager	13.6%	15.8%
Had to take care of family and could not concentrate on work	11.5%	10.0%
Lost promotion opportunity due to pregnancy	11.5%	1.8%
Cronyism	10.7%	16.7%
Gender discrimination	4.5%	0.3%
Others	4.5%	4.1%

Compared with men, more women in the workplace felt that they had an unclear career path, or lack of professional guidance in their career development. Women were also less confident in themselves than men at work.

Key challenges in the workplace
	Women	Men
Unclear career path without direction	45.4%	38.2%
Lack of professional guidance and support	34.0%	27.7%
Difficulty in career transition	28.3%	30.9%
Career burnout	28.0%	22.8%
Lack of resources/relationship	24.9%	31.5%
Lack of chance and time to improve skills	24.5%	27.3%
Lack of self confidence	21.6%	14.3%
Imbalance between work and life	20.8%	26.2%
No hope for promotions	19.7%	21.5%
Need to keep learning with the fast-change workplace	19.5%	23.6%
Others	1.4%	1.4%

Women devoting more time to families

Based on Zhaopin's survey, men spent 9% more time at work than women, while women devoted 15% more time to families than men.

Time spent on work and family
	Women	Men	Gap (men vs. women)
Weekly working hours	47.0	51.3	9%
Daily time spent for family (hour)	2.0	1.7	-15%

After marriage, women tended to spend more time on families than men, even though their working hours remained largely unchanged.

Time spent on work and family before marriage
	Unmarried women	Unmarried men	Gap (men vs. women)
Weekly working hours	47.6	52.0	9%
Daily time spent for family (hour)	1.7	1.5	-8%

Time spent on work and family after marriage
	Married women	Married men	Gap (men vs. women)
Weekly working hours	46.1	50.4	9%
Daily time spent for family (hour)	2.6	2.0	-22%

When selecting job opportunities, the most important factor for women was "convenient to go to work", while men gave priority to "opportunity to grow".

Key factors in selecting jobs
	Women	Men
Convenient to go to work	35.9%	21.9%
Opportunity to grow	31.4%	34.2%
Flexibility at work	22.1%	26.3%
Good working environment	20.8%	17.9%
High salary	19.9%	23.9%
Work with interest	19.1%	20.3%
Company with reputation	17.5%	19.9%
Company with promising prospect	15.6%	19.3%
Good welfare	14.6%	13.0%
Others	9.8%	10.3%

Before getting married, "convenient to go to work" and "opportunity to grow" were almost equally important for women. However, after marriage, "convenient to go to work" become more important for women and they normally cared less about "opportunity to grow".

Key factors in selecting jobs (unmarried vs. married)
	Unmarried women	Married women
Convenient to go to work	34.3%	38.1%
Opportunity to grow	34.6%	26.8%
Flexibility at work	16.7%	24.6%
Good working environment	19.9%	22.2%
High salary	22.1%	22.0%
Work with interest	18.9%	19.2%
Company with reputation	13.1%	19.2%
Company with promising prospect	12.9%	17.0%
Good welfare	17.9%	16.8%
Others	11.0%	8.1%

According to Zhaopin's survey, women contributed about 35% of their family incomes, compared with 51% contributed by men.

Contribution of family income
	Women	Men
Contribution percentage	35%	51%

Women have higher aspirations to improve themselves at work

Zhaopin found that women have greater aspirations to improve themselves through career development than men, giving higher priority to "further improve personal value", "take more challenging work" and "gain clear career path".

Future career development priorities
	Women	Men
Further improve personal value	58.6%	54.3%
Take more challenging work	44.4%	41.1%
Gain clear career path	39.0%	31.5%
Extend relations and accumulate resources	28.1%	32.8%
Realize financial freedom	26.7%	21.1%
Promote to manager/leader	24.3%	30.6%
Give more priority to family	19.7%	19.6%
Improve skills to become an expert	12.5%	23.1%
Become a freelancer	8.1%	7.4%
Others	0.5%	0.6%

In evaluating successful women, women believed that "achievement in her professional field" was the most important factor, while men saw a successful woman as "having her own attitude and not following others".

Characteristics of Successful Women
	Women	Men
Achievement in her professional field	52.0%	32.0%
Having her own attitude in lives	49.3%	46.3%
Respectful personality and charisma	44.1%	43.3%
Happy family life	39.3%	37.9%
Loving herself and caring about others	28.3%	39.3%
Social influence/status	23.5%	17.6%
Influencing others with positive values	20.1%	26.6%
Responsibility and empathy	16.0%	20.4%
Married with an excellent partner	5.4%	5.9%
Others	0.3%	0.3%