The First Annual Meeting of Chinese Women in the IT Industry, co-organized by China Computer Newspaper and Chinese Women Newspaper, was held in Beijing in late June. Thirty-seven women engaged in the IT industry shared four awards: Excellent IT Management Woman, Excellent IT Scientific Research Woman, Excellent IT Marketing and Sales Woman and Excellent IT Promotion Woman.

China's first Investigation Report on the Living Conditions and Competitiveness of Women in IT was also issued during the meeting.

Xu Dongying headed the team that conducted the survey. This spring, 150,000 questionnaires were sent out via the Internet and on paper. They covered 13 industries, including IT, energy, transportation, chemicals, telecommunications, sanitation and government. Responses came from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China.

The results of the survey brought the spotlight onto women in the IT industry for the first time, said Xu. The outstanding women in IT are ambitious and talented with strong professional backgrounds. Although they know how to lead high-quality lives, they are also quite low-key, which explains why although many of them have excelled in the industry, few of them are noticed elsewhere.

Women in IT tend to achieve peaks in their careers early. Some 34 percent of the survey respondents aged from 28 to 35 had been promoted to middle or high-level managerial posts. In foreign enterprises or joint ventures, that proportion jumps to around 40 percent.

The majority of respondents said they are satisfied with their current jobs, but 32 percent said that they would consider starting their own businesses after the age of 35, when they expect to have accumulated sufficient capital and experience.

Most of the women who are interested in starting their own businesses are involved in sales and marketing. They are looking at going out on their own in hardware trading, consulting, software and public relations, with the last two drawing the greatest amount of interest.

Foreign enterprises and joint ventures are attractive to women because they offer advantages in terms of in-service training and other tools for advancement. Such training has become the top consideration for most female job-hoppers. Information superintendent and chief information officer are the target jobs.

Women in IT are generally moderate in their consumption trends. Investment in training and study tends to be higher than that of women in other industries, and it continues to increase rapidly. Currently, automobiles are the hottest big-ticket consumer item for the group, but they usually choose economy cars. More than women in most other industries, the IT workers make use of technology in shopping, researching products and often buying them online.

In their leisure time, women in IT spend a relatively large amount of time on self-improvement, with continuing education becoming a form of entertainment. Some 65 percent travel domestically or internationally during vacations. Many are following the fitness fad, with 27 percent involved in various women's fitness and exercise classes. Twenty-five percent say they "often" take part in such activities, a figure that is 10 percent higher than that for women in other industries.

Average income for women in IT is 5 to 15 percent higher than that of their non-IT counterparts. However, if calculated as an hourly wage they lose their advantage. Nearly 64 percent of female IT workers put in 8 to 12 hours a day on average, while only 32 percent usually end their days at 8 hours.

Foreign enterprises pay salaries anywhere from 20 percent to 60 percent higher than domestic ones for women doing approximately the same job. They also generally offer better benefits packages.

(Beijing Youth Daily translated by Wang Qian for China.org.cn July 14, 2004)