By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-11 14:38

Having a good job is pretty important to many women - that is unless they can find a wealthy husband to look after them.

A recent survey of women in Guangdong Province revealed that almost half would rather prefer marry a rich man than get a good job.

At 45.2 percent, the figure is 8.9 percent higher than the country's average.

The survey showed many women are still very conservative in the province that borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, according to an official from Guangdong Provincial Women's Federation.

The federation conducted the "Survey and Analysis on the Social Gender Concepts in Guangdong Province" early this year.

"A large percentage of local women still have the traditional idea of relying on their husbands after they have married," said the official who did not want to be named yesterday.

Women who are less educated have a stronger desire to marry rich men and rely on their husbands, she added.

Chen Wenqi, a local white collar worker, however, said she would refuse to rely on her future husband.

Chen said she would never marry a rich man who she did not love at all.

"Men and women should be equal both at work and at home and wives should not rely much on their husbands if they have the ability to work," Chen told China Daily yesterday.

The 27-year-old works for a local foreign-funded logistics company.

The survey also revealed the number of rural women who said a rich husband was better than having a good job, was 11.7 percent more than their urban counterparts.

"The tendency of independence often goes against the economic and social status of the women," Wang Xiongjun, a sociology PhD student at Peking University, said.

"The more you can support yourself with a decent life, the less you are willing to depend on others, even your spouse."

And 75.1 percent of the Cantonese women said they would continue to work even after they married rich husbands.

The figure is also nearly 13 percent lower than the country's average.

Most of the local women agreed that husbands should focus their efforts on work and social events while wives must spend much of their time on family and housework.

More than 40 percent of women said being good looking was more beneficial to finding a good job, then having ability.

On the sex issue, men are slightly more lenient than women when it comes to forgiving infidelity. About 47.5 percent of women said they would excuse their husbands for being unfaithful once, compared to 50.3 percent of men.

(China Daily 09/11/2007 page5)