Inequality remains

Though China has made progress in improving the status of women, Tan admitted that the country still has a long way to go before realizing gender equality in the real sense.

According to Tan, the role of the All-China Women's Federation and its branches at various levels, which supervise and promote gender equality, should be brought into full play. As China's largest women's organization, the federation has branches in all provinces, cities and counties. There are also full-time employees for women's affairs in every village.

"This is a complete network and we should maximize its role to prevent gender discrimination in areas such as employment and education," Tan said.

Owing to physical disadvantages, there are still cases of discrimination against women in the work place. Many female university graduates, especially those majoring in science and engineering, find it more difficult to find a job than their male classmates.

In China, gender discrimination is clearly forbidden by law, especially in employment. "But some companies can find other reasons to reject female candidates or they just recruit male students even if their female competitors are more qualified," Dong Fen, a graduate from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told ChinAfrica. Dong graduated in 2009 and tried for a year to find employment with no luck.

"I interviewed many companies after graduation. Some of them directly told me they preferred male students while others just gave no reasons," said Dong.

She then opted to attend postgraduate school in order to increase her employment chances by having a higher qualification. "I hope I can find a job after graduation," she said.

"In such a case, women's organizations should play their roles of supervision," said Tan.

According to a survey conducted by the All-China Women's Federation on the employment status of female university students in September 2010, more than 90 percent of female students clearly encountered some forms of gender discrimination while looking for a job. The result of a recent survey conducted by the MyCOS Institute, a survey company, in 2010, shows that about 21 percent of females found jobs after graduating from university, compared with 30 percent for their male counterparts.