Greater gender equality seen in city

A survey has found that people believe there is greater equality between men and women in Shanghai than in the rest of China, local media reported Thursday.

The Shanghai Women's Federation and researchers from Fudan University polled 155 people for the survey, according to a report in the Youth Daily. The respondents gave Shanghai an average score of 80.74 regarding their perception of gender equality, accounting for factors such as employment, income, education and health. Respondents gave the country as a whole a score of 70.49.

Female respondents made up 67.7 percent of the sample. Nearly 46 percent of the respondents had a bachelor's degree.

When asked their feelings about International Women's Day, which falls on March 8 every year, about 42 percent of male respondents thought that Chinese women were highly respected, as opposed to 19 percent of female respondents.

More than 29 percent of female respondents expressed that they did not have any special feelings about International Women's Day. About 19 percent said they only felt good about having a half-day off work.

The survey's researchers pointed out that the disparity between the perception of men and women about the day was because male respondents paid more attention to its symbolic meaning, while female respondents focused more on its practical benefits.

Nearly half of both men and women agreed that men should take a more active role in promoting gender equality, according to the survey.

Also nearly 55 percent of the respondents favored the idea that men and women should enjoy equal rights, obligations, opportunities and treatment. More than 77 percent thought there were innate differences between men and women, but acknowledged that women still deserved equal treatment.

Women should have equal access to employment, education and healthcare, said Yan Wenhua, an associate professor in the School of Psychology and Cognitive Science at East China Normal University. "However, gender equality should be achieved by admitting that there are biological differences between men and women," she said.

The survey also explored respondents' attitudes about shengnü, which literally means "leftover women." The colloquial term can be used to describe unmarried women between the ages of 25 to 35, depending on the speaker's view about when a woman ought to be married. About 37 percent of the survey's respondents thought the word no longer conveyed a negative meaning, while 35.5 percent thought it implied a bias.

"People use the word shengnü on different occasions for different reasons. It is really difficult to say whether it is derogative," Yan said.