"She-power" joins China's burgeoning courier industry

TAIYUAN, March 8 (Xinhua) -- On Monday morning, Fang Jing began her day by sorting out the parcels to be delivered.

Fang, a female courier who has been working in the field for a decade in north China's Shanxi Province, would later weave in and out of the city's traffic to deliver packages to doorsteps.

"At first, I had always felt unsure of myself and worried about being less efficient in the job compared with my male colleagues," Fang said.

Most Chinese tend to nickname couriers "delivery boys," as female faces are rarely seen in the express delivery industry which often involves demanding physical tasks.

However, women endowed with geniality, patience, and meticulous care are having their moments in the industry.

Thanks to an increasingly inclusive working environment, improving welfare benefits, and growing social attention to gender equality, more and more women are joining the courier industry.

In a major express delivery company in Shanxi, about 40 percent of the more than 13,000 employees are female. Women work at various posts, including parcel sorting and delivery, production safety, and customer services.

More than one-fifth of its employees in the package delivery department are women and the proportion is still on the rise.

"Previously, express delivery was regarded as a highly labor-intensive task and few females would sign up for such front-line jobs. Nowadays, more women are joining," said Zhao Xiaolong, general manager of the Shanxi provincial management center of ZTO Express.

China's courier industry is shifting towards automation and mechanization, reducing a lot of manual work. Machines load and unload heavy boxes and get most packages sorted, enabling a more modern and relaxing working environment.

The country is continuously beefing up its e-commerce sector, creating more job opportunities for both men and women in the courier industry.

The growing number of female delivery workers has triggered woman-friendly facility upgrades at the express companies.

Infant-parent rooms have been set up in a leading express company in Shanxi, providing a better environment for its nursing mother employees. Flexible work schedules, regular mental health services, and training designed for females are also offered.

"Not only in the courier industry, I believe in a better career future for all women in all sectors," Fang said.