The First Annual Meeting of Chinese Women in the IT Industry,
co-organized by China Computer Newspaper and Chinese
Women Newspaper, was held in Beijing in late June.
Thirty-seven women engaged in the IT industry shared four awards:
Excellent IT Management Woman, Excellent IT Scientific Research
Woman, Excellent IT Marketing and Sales Woman and Excellent IT
Promotion Woman.
China's first Investigation Report on the Living Conditions and
Competitiveness of Women in IT was also issued during the
meeting.
Xu Dongying headed the team that conducted the survey. This
spring, 150,000 questionnaires were sent out via the Internet and
on paper. They covered 13 industries, including IT, energy,
transportation, chemicals, telecommunications, sanitation and
government. Responses came from 31 provinces, autonomous regions
and municipalities in China.
The results of the survey brought the spotlight onto women in
the IT industry for the first time, said Xu. The outstanding women
in IT are ambitious and talented with strong professional
backgrounds. Although they know how to lead high-quality lives,
they are also quite low-key, which explains why although many of
them have excelled in the industry, few of them are noticed
elsewhere.
Women in IT tend to achieve peaks in their careers early. Some
34 percent of the survey respondents aged from 28 to 35 had been
promoted to middle or high-level managerial posts. In foreign
enterprises or joint ventures, that proportion jumps to around 40
percent.
The majority of respondents said they are satisfied with their
current jobs, but 32 percent said that they would consider starting
their own businesses after the age of 35, when they expect to have
accumulated sufficient capital and experience.
Most of the women who are interested in starting their own
businesses are involved in sales and marketing. They are looking at
going out on their own in hardware trading, consulting, software
and public relations, with the last two drawing the greatest amount
of interest.
Foreign enterprises and joint ventures are attractive to women
because they offer advantages in terms of in-service training and
other tools for advancement. Such training has become the top
consideration for most female job-hoppers. Information
superintendent and chief information officer are the target
jobs.
Women in IT are generally moderate in their consumption trends.
Investment in training and study tends to be higher than that of
women in other industries, and it continues to increase rapidly.
Currently, automobiles are the hottest big-ticket consumer item for
the group, but they usually choose economy cars. More than women in
most other industries, the IT workers make use of technology in
shopping, researching products and often buying them online.
In their leisure time, women in IT spend a relatively large
amount of time on self-improvement, with continuing education
becoming a form of entertainment. Some 65 percent travel
domestically or internationally during vacations. Many are
following the fitness fad, with 27 percent involved in various
women's fitness and exercise classes. Twenty-five percent say they
"often" take part in such activities, a figure that is 10 percent
higher than that for women in other industries.
Average income for women in IT is 5 to 15 percent higher than
that of their non-IT counterparts. However, if calculated as an
hourly wage they lose their advantage. Nearly 64 percent of female
IT workers put in 8 to 12 hours a day on average, while only 32
percent usually end their days at 8 hours.
Foreign enterprises pay salaries anywhere from 20 percent to 60
percent higher than domestic ones for women doing approximately the
same job. They also generally offer better benefits packages.
(Beijing Youth Daily translated by Wang Qian for
China.org.cn July 14, 2004)
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