Want to get married or have kids? Companies hiring in China are being warned to stop asking
Several Chinese trade unions have issued notices to companies to stop asking female jobseekers about their marital and childbearing status.
HONG KONG — Several Chinese trade unions have issued notices to companies to stop asking female job seekers about their marital and childbearing status, as women concerned about discrimination at work resist government entreaties to boost the national birth rate.
Requiring job applicants to declare their marital and childbearing status has long been seen as a way for Chinese employers to avoid hiring women who plan to get married or have children in the near future.
Employers “shall not further inquire or investigate the marriage and childbearing status of female job applicants,” read a notice from the state-backed trade union of Hunan province in central China that was posted last week around International Women’s Day on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.
The notice also said employers should not limit recruitment to men, stipulate a preference for male job applicants or require pregnancy tests as a condition of employment.
Similar notices were posted by unions in the southern industrial hub of Shenzhen and the northwestern province of Qinghai.
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