A group of 14 Chinese universities including South China Normal University and China University of Political Science and Law have united to resist employment discrimination against college graduates.
It is said that female college students are more likely to be discriminated against and they are often asked such personal questions such as "do you have a boy friend?", "when do you plan to get married?" or "when do you plan to have a child?" as the employer thinks female workers will be more troublesome than their male counterparts. What's more, women often retire earlier than men, this means they will work less time for the employer than men.
In addition, there are some other ridiculous examples of discrimination. For example, an employer who was born in the Year of Dog doesn't want to hire someone who was also born in the Year of Dog to prevent possible conflict between them; or an applicant surnamed Pei may be rejected for a job because the pronounciation of their family name sounds like "loss of money" to the employer.
It is understood that employment discrimination is discrimination in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, and compensation based on such factors as nationality, gender, social background, age, physical condition, and disability that have nothing to do with a person's capability. Currently, most employers in China set limits on permanent residence, age, height, and gender for a job applicant. It is learned that in addition to direct discrimination such as "men first", there is also indirect discrimination such the employer requiring that all potential applicants to be over 1.7 meters tall, which can be seen to be a discrimination against women.
Besides the universities' action, a Law on Anti-Employment Discrimination has been drafted to draw people's attention to employment discrimination.
