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BIZCHINA / Biz Life
Good job or rich husband?
By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-11 14:38
Having a good job is pretty important to many women - that is unless they
can find a wealthy husband to look after them.
A recent survey of women in Guangdong Province revealed that almost half
would rather prefer marry a rich man than get a good job.
At 45.2 percent, the figure is 8.9 percent higher than the country's
average.
The survey showed many women are still very conservative in the province
that borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions,
according to an official from Guangdong Provincial Women's Federation.
The federation conducted the "Survey and Analysis on the Social Gender
Concepts in Guangdong Province" early this year.
"A large percentage of local women still have the traditional idea of
relying on their husbands after they have married," said the official who
did not want to be named yesterday.
Women who are less educated have a stronger desire to marry rich men and
rely on their husbands, she added.
Chen Wenqi, a local white collar worker, however, said she would refuse
to rely on her future husband.
Chen said she would never marry a rich man who she did not love at all.
"Men and women should be equal both at work and at home and wives should
not rely much on their husbands if they have the ability to work," Chen
told China Daily yesterday.
The 27-year-old works for a local foreign-funded logistics company.
The survey also revealed the number of rural women who said a rich
husband was better than having a good job, was 11.7 percent more than
their urban counterparts.
"The tendency of independence often goes against the economic and social
status of the women," Wang Xiongjun, a sociology PhD student at Peking
University, said.
"The more you can support yourself with a decent life, the less you are
willing to depend on others, even your spouse."
And 75.1 percent of the Cantonese women said they would continue to work
even after they married rich husbands.
The figure is also nearly 13 percent lower than the country's average.
Most of the local women agreed that husbands should focus their efforts
on work and social events while wives must spend much of their time on
family and housework.
More than 40 percent of women said being good looking was more beneficial
to finding a good job, then having ability.
On the sex issue, men are slightly more lenient than women when it comes
to forgiving infidelity. About 47.5 percent of women said they would
excuse their husbands for being unfaithful once, compared to 50.3 percent
of men.
(China Daily 09/11/2007 page5)
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