China's women are redefining gender roles in workplaces

Drawing sketches and formulating plans on construction sites in the blazing sun are near-daily activities for 33-year-old Du Xuan.

A female architect, she's somewhat of a rarity in the male-dominated industry.

The one and only female engineer at China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group Co is now the head of the company's key project, a medical complex for women and children in the city of Lanzhou, Northwest China's Gansu province.

"I was born for this job. Ever since I was little, I have been fascinated by the magic of building houses," she says. Her father, also an architect, lived near a construction site with his family, where Du spent her childhood watching workers erecting formwork, laying concrete and tying steel rods.

In her college years, Du changed her major from computer science to civil engineering. "Back then, only eight out of about 80 students in our class were girls," says Du.

Du started an internship in her junior year, ahead of most of her classmates, in order to attain more work experience and gain an edge over her peers.

Tough as it may be working on construction sites, Du never shies away from challenges, and she was recruited by China State Construction Engineering Corp amid fierce competition.

"Gender discrimination was easy to spot in my workplace at the very beginning, but I firmly believe that a person's competence should not be judged by gender," says Du.

Through nine years of hard work, Du has grown into a self-made chief engineer. Streaming with sweat and answering frequent phone calls, Du gets along well with her male co-workers on the construction sites with a little help from her feminine side.

"Tenderness is Du's talent. She can always resolve crises and confrontations with her witty remarks and gentleness," says Wang Sanji, one of Du's male colleagues.