A 55-year-old woman, a chief teller for the Pingdingshan city branch of China Construction Bank, recently filed a sexual discrimination complaint to the local arbitration committee against the state-controlled bank.

The arbitration committee of Pingdingshan in central China's Henan Province confirmed on Tuesday they had received and was processing the case.

The branch said her retirement was based on provisional regulations on resettlement of the old and weak cadres issued by the State Council, China's cabinet. The regulations stipulate that all women cadres should retire at 55.

However, the woman, surnamed Zhou, said she is healthy and competent for her job in terms of both energy and experience and that her forced retirement violates the Constitution on the basis of sexual discrimination.

Liu Xinhua, director of the branch's personnel office, said the retirement decision tallied with the regulations and the branch made no mistake.

Zhou's daughter, Li Hao, a law postgraduate with Sichuan University, will serve as an agent for her mother.

Li said Chinese laws stipulate that men and women have equal work rights, which should include equal retirement rights.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2005)