Recruiting in China

SHANGHAI--A group of women, including college students, in eight cities across the country, accused companies of gender discrimination in their hiring practices, flooding government organizations with letters of protest on Dec. 26.

The letters called for equal treatment of men and women in company hiring practices.

The joint action followed a protest by university students in November against intrusive gynecological tests as part of the application process for China’s civil service.

The latest letter-writing campaign started in April after Zheng Churan, then a university student in Guangzhou, sent letters to 500 companies requesting equal treatment for male and female applicants but received only one response.

Zheng graduated from university in June, but she did not stop her campaign.

Enraged at the fact that some companies turn women applicants away at the door, she went on Weibo, China’s microblog website similar to Twitter, and called for action to be taken.

“It is unfair to be deprived of an opportunity to apply, simply because you are a woman,” she said.

About 20 students from across the country sent about 550 letters addressed to government organizations in charge of social security and labor inspection.

The letters demanded the government penalize some 270 companies, which said in online recruitment sites, “only men are eligible to apply.”

Chinese laws prohibit companies from rejecting job applicants on the basis of gender.