CRI听力:Women Happier Than Man?

A recent report issued by the Shanghai Communist Youth League indicates that young males in large cities are far less happier than females. It surveyed people whose ages ranged from 15 to 34 about how happy they felt. On a 0-to-10 scale, where 10 meant extremely happy and 0 stood for extremely miserable, young women had an average number of 7.5, while young men had an average of 7. The report indicated the gap between the two had expanded during the past few years.

Another report by the Guangzhou Youth Research Institute shows similar results. Only 39 percent of young males surveyed in the southern city say they are happy, while 51 percent of young women say they are content.

With such discrepancies among young men and women in some of China's largest cities, we want to know if young people in Beijing feel the same way. To find the answer, we conducted a small survey on the street.

Among male respondents, ten out of ten agreed that men shoulder much more pressure than women, and that the burdens mainly come from financial and familial responsibilities.

Professor Huang Hongji from the Shanghai Institute for Youth Administrators summarizes the pressures that most young men in China generally face.

"It's been a social habit that man should pay the dinner bill when they date a girl. When it comes to marriage, it's the man who should pay for the wedding. After getting married, a man should perform the role of a model husband. When they have children, a man should be wealthy and powerful enough to give his child the best education possible and help pave the way for his or her career."

It sounds like the male side has made some fair points in the issue, but what do women say?

Our street survey finds that seven out of ten young women say they don't believe men necessarily face more pressure.

Wei Wei complains that women have never really been treated fairly, so they are the ones who must deal with more difficulties.

"Although we study and work as hard as men do, it's likely that we may not get as many opportunities. After graduating from university, it's harder for women to find a job than men. At work, bosses tend to assign men more important tasks, because they simply think that men are more capable."

Despite this, more women still believe that they can perform just as well as men. Xiong Shan is one of them. She believes women should be independent from men.

"We're living in a modern society. It's not like in old times when women had to rely on men. Women should be independent today. We should be able to afford our own apartments and cars."

Xiong's words might come as a relief to many young men in Beijing who are still striving to buy their own apartment, or to be more exact, an apartment to shelter their families. Will there come a day when young men can finally sit back, relax, and let independent women take on some of their burdens? Xiong Shan tells us why she believes women should be independent.

"If only we could afford our own apartment and car, then we could find an even more capable man and live a wealthier life."

Xiong says her life partner must be more capable and better equipped than she is. Most of those we surveyed, both men and women, agree.

Professor Huang Hongji says we are now in the midst of a social transformation where an increasing number of women believe they should be independent from men and even do a better job than men in every aspect of life. But Chinese society is still male-dominated, and the concept that men should be the breadwinners is still deeply ingrained in people's minds. Rising feminism, however, has created more competition for men while setting higher requirements from women, and therefore more pressure.

Professor Huang says the situation will remain for decades, during which time men and women should face all of life's pressures together and try to be more understanding.

For CRI, I'm Wang Wei.