Husbands should pay their wives a salary each month for doing housework, said Zhang Xiaomei, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, cited by the Huaxi Metropolis Daily on Monday.

Zhang Xiaomei [scol.com.cn]

"People take it for granted that taking care of kids and doing housework are the responsibilities of women," Zhang said. This kind of attitude makes some women sacrifice their own career development to serve the family without compensation, according to Zhang.

Women living in urban areas spend on average 21 hours a week on housework, while men spend only seven to eight hours, Zhang said, citing an earlier survey of Chinese women's status. "Even as society develops, women's status in housework stays unchanged and they still bear most of the load."

When a couple divorces, the woman is unable to receive proper compensation for her housework, which further weakens her financial situation after the marriage fails, according to Zhang.

A Web survey on sina.com.cn, which drew 9,300 participants as of 1:00 pm on Wednesday, showed that 50.4 percent were in favor of Zhang's idea and 44.6 percent were not.

Zhang will take this proposal and 19 others to the annual plenary sessions of the national committee of the CPPCC and China's National People's Congress, which are set to start this week.