Recent media reports have publicized a survey that found that, whilst over 60 percent of 1,350 online survey respondents thought women contribute as much as men to economic development, over 85 percent preferred to have a male boss.

The research, Economic Conditions among Women and Men, was conducted by the Women's Issues Research Center, affiliated to Peking University, between April 19 and June 8 and analyzed polls carried out on the popular internet portal Sina.com.cn.

Wei Guoying, vice director of the research center, presented the results at the 2nd Forum of Asian Women at Peking University on June 23, which they sponsored jointly with the Asian Women's Development Association.

The forum, themed "Promoting Harmonious Development of Women and Men to Boost Social Progress," heard that, although the perception of 61 percent of those surveyed recognized women's input, their actual position in employment lags behind that of men.

73 percent of respondents said men dominate managerial positions in their organizations, compared to only 8 percent who said that women did. Only 11 percent said their most senior manager was female.

In even greater contrast to respondents' recognition of women's economic importance was the finding that 86 percent preferred to have a man as a boss, suggesting that attitudes to women and men may be even further behind unequal employment patterns.

Almost 95 percent agreed that husbands and wives should have independent incomes.

Whether the results were due to different samples' involvement in different online surveys or actually reflected conflicted attitudes to women in work was unclear in reports of the research.

Of those surveyed, 11 percent were from Beijing, 62 percent were aged between 21 and 30, and 74 percent were college educated.

(China.org.cn by Wang Zhiyong)