At 55, Zhou Xinghua, a cashier, felt that she was nowhere near ready to stop work and spend the rest of her life in retirement.

But it seemed that she had no choice her boss informed her that she would have to hand in her notice within the year.

Zhou's feelings of frustration from not being able to work are being echoed amongst thousands of Chinese women across the country every year. A provisional regulation, made about three decades ago, specifically lays down the retirement age for women and men employees working for enterprises.

The regulations state that a woman has to retire at 50 and a man at 55, if they are common workers. But if they work in government or State institutions, a woman with official rankings of section leaders or lower or with professional standings of an associate professor or lower retires at 55. But 60 is the age of retirement for a man of the same rank.

The above retirement ages were stipulated in the Provisional Regulations on Resettlement of the Old and Weak Cadres, which were promulgated by the State Council in 1978.

In the 27 years of the existing regulations, Zhou is the first person to oppose the rule, and has taken the case to the courts to say no.

The cashier accused her employer Pingdingshan Branch of China Construction Bank, of gender discrimination for ordering her to retire at 55, at the Intermediate Court of Pingdingshan, central China's Henan Province last December.

"Everyone has taken it for granted that a woman should stay at home and look after grandchildren, if there are any, when she turns 50 or 55," she said.

"But at that age, many women still feel they are strong, energetic and experienced at work," she noted.

The strongest supporter of the woman has been her son, who supported her in court as one of her lawyers.

Li Hao, the son, is a postgraduate student of the law school at Sichuan University in Chengdu.

"My mother is like the kid in the tale 'The Emperor's New Clothes' by Arthur Andersen," Li said.

"When people remain silent about a troublesome issue, she has the courage to speak out."

The bank clerk is not a rebellious woman by nature. She has long been a conscientious Chinese office worker, who was devoted to her job but beavered away quietly on most occasions hardly catching the attention of her superiors, said Li, her son.

Married to a pilot in the army, Zhou had to change her job several times during the 1970s as her husband moved around the country.

The couple finally settled down at Pingdingshan in 1989, and since then Zhou worked in the cashier division of the bank and became deputy head of the division three years later.

It has been Zhou's responsibility to look after the bank's vault since the beginning of this century. The job required a significant amount of paper work and physical labour she was required to carry more than 100 heavy boxes of money in and out of the vault every day.

Despite the challenges, she has greatly enjoyed her job and was disappointed to hear the news that she would have to retire last year.

She then read on the Internet that requests had been put forward to the central government to amend the 1978 provisional regulations which her bank was enforcing.

The All-China Women's Federation in 2005 proposed to the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, that men and women civil servants have the same retirement age instead of the current different ones.

In 2003 deputies to the First Session of the Tenth National People's Congress also discussed a possible legislation stipulating that men and women retire at the same age.

The discovery of such information gave Zhou confidence to take the case to court but struggled to find a lawyer that would represent her on the case.

"You cannot possibly win the case," she was told.

She was only able to gain the support of her son who was merely a law student. However, on hearing of the case, the son's tutor, Professor Zhou Wei of Sichuan University also agreed to help represent the cashier.

With support from the two lawyers, the woman pleaded to the arbitration committee of Pingdingshan last October, accusing the bank of sexual discrimination.

However, the committee ruled that Zhou had failed to provide sufficient evidence and legal basis to support her appeal and would have to bear the total arbitral fee of 420 yuan (US$52).

The committee also said that it was not its responsibility to judge whether the Regulations of 1978 contradict China's Constitution, the Labour Law or related international laws signed by the Chinese Government.

Throughout the world, more than 90 countries have adopted laws stipulating the same retirement age for both men and women.

Instead, it said that the bank's decision to inform Zhou to begin retirement procedures tallied with the current retirement policy implemented in China.

Being notified of the rule, Zhou filed a lawsuit at the Intermediate Court of Pingdingshan last December. The court opened a public session for the case on December 14, but a decision has not yet been reached.

"I have received hundreds of letters from women my age since my case was made known to the public," said Zhou.

"Many of them went to great efforts to find me only to say 'thanks' for what I have done. It has been a touching experience," she added.

(China Daily February 9, 2006)