According to a survey by the Women's Federation of Harbin, female migrant workers frequently face violations of their working rights in the city, the capital of Heilongjiang Province.

More than 650,000 migrant workers arrive in the city annually, of whom 35 percent are women.

"The legal rights of women migrant workers are often and easily violated at present," said Tao Zengtian, director of Harbin Xincheng Legal Affairs Office, in a report in China Daily today.

"Their lack of basic legal knowledge and comparatively low education levels put them in a vulnerable position."

A woman surnamed Song came to work as a hairdresser in a beauty salon in Harbin from her hometown Lanxi shortly after Spring Festival.

One of her customers developed an allergic reaction to a treatment she had administered, and demanded compensation from the salon.

Song was blamed by her boss and fired with a deduction of a month's salary.

Elsewhere in Harbin, 22-year-old Li, a waitress in a hotel, resigned because of frequent harassment from her boss.

"These two cases are typical of the situation of women migrant workers," said Tao.

Among the 900 female migrant workers surveyed, nearly 80 percent were educated to junior middle school level or below.

"Many of them do not have any legal labor documents with their employers and just work under an oral agreement," Tao said.

Nearly 60 percent surveyed said they did not have any kind of labor documents.

"Payment default, illegal overtime working and a general lack of social insurance are the main problems reflected in the survey," said He Shuyan, a pollster from the Women's Federation.

The federation has teamed up with two local legal affairs offices to open two service centers to provide free legal consultation for female migrant workers. Three hotlines were set up on February 28.

"We hope more and more women migrant workers will take up the weapon of the law to protect their legal rights through our promotion," said Chen Aihua, vice-president of the Women's Federation.

"We also need a complete and effective labor surveillance system to create a better environment for migrant laborers," she said.

The protection of migrant workers' rights is a hot topic at ongoing panel discussions of deputies of the 10th National People's Congress and of members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

The issue was noted by Premier Wen Jiabao when he announced in his annual work report on Saturday that the government is committed to building a harmonious society. He said, "A mechanism will be promptly set up to ensure migrant workers in cities get paid on time and in full, and the work of getting their back wages paid to them will be continued."

(China Daily March 7, 2005)