The overall income of women in China's workplace is 12 percent lower than that of men, with the gap narrowing by 5 percentage points year on year, a study has found.

And the degree of the differentiation has declined for two consecutive years, online recruitment firm zhaopin.com said.

The main reason for the wage gap lies in the low proportion of females in senior management, the study shows.

Women are mainly engaged in positions such as finance, administration, human resources and sales, while their male counterparts tend to hold high-salary-yielding posts in technology and product design.

And only around 15 percent of the surveyed female office workers had high expectations for promotion and salary increase this year, slightly lower than men's 18.2 percent.

In view of the specific obstacles to promotion, men cited “personal ability, superior leadership, peer competition, and company system,” while females tended to list pressure from family and child bearing, according to the report.

Female office workers said they had felt greater pressure last year due to the epidemic. More than half of female respondents said the outbreak of the coronavirus disease has made the situation more difficult for them in the workplace, while around 45 percent thought the health crisis increased their burden of childcare.