Farmers, the physically challenged and people with infectious
diseases are the three groups of people who face the most
discrimination in China, indicates a survey released in Beijing
yesterday.
The study was conducted by the Constitutional Research Institute
(CRI) of the Chinese University of Politics and Law and polled
3,500 people in 10 big cities, CRI Director Cai Dingjian said.
About 65 percent of the people said the physically challenged
were discriminated against, and about 45 percent thought
farmers-turned-workers in cities were subjected to the same
treatment. Nearly 63 percent of those polled said HIV/AIDS patients
faced bias, and almost 55 percent believed people infected
hepatitis B suffered the same fate.
"Among companies recruiting employees, 21 percent clearly have a
gender requirement," Cai said at a press conference hosted by the
International Labor Organization (ILO), which released a global
report on workplace discrimination across the globe last week.
The survey shows about 85 percent of those polled think
discrimination in workplaces does exist and more than 50 percent
consider it to be very serious, especially in the civil services,
Cai said.
As the world's most populous country, China still has a long way
to go in creating a work environment that treats everyone equally,
said Liu Xu, director of the international department of the
Ministry of Labor and Social Security. "Discriminations based on
the place of a person's birth, gender, height, appearance, marital
status, education and experience are obvious."
Jiang Guangping, of the All-China Federation of Trade Union,
said his organization is committed to helping laid-off workers,
protecting the legal rights of farmers-turned-laborers, promoting
equal treatment for the physically challenged and striving for the
goal of gender equality.
The ILO's report on labor discrimination presents a global
picture of job-related discrimination, director of the ILO Office
for China and Mongolia Constance Thomas said, citing progress and
failures both in the fight against discrimination from the
traditional kind of gender, race and religion to the new ones that
are based on age, sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS and physical
disability.
China Enterprise Confederation Deputy Director Li Mingxing said
the report could help China understand how to work with foreign
countries to eliminate work-related discrimination.
"The fight against discrimination at workplace is a global
task," he said. It's very important for our country to promote
structural re-adjustment and institutional innovation to build a
harmonious society.
(China Daily May 15, 2007)