The retirement age of highly educated women like doctors should be deferred to 60 years old or older, Jiang Haiying, a deputy of National People's Congress (NPC) said on March 3.

China's current retirement age is 60 for male employees, 55 for women officials and 50 for female workers.

The deputy argues the flexible retirement age is in accordance with the social reality. Women getting higher degrees usually begin their career at around 23 or even later. If they have a doctor's degree, they would be 30 years old and they can only work for 25 years under the current law. "It's a waste of talent," Jiang said.

Extending the retirement age is also an effective way to address the problems of an aging population, Jiang added.

However, many factory workers oppose the plan. And the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security once said the flexible retirement system was not appropriate to spread across the country at that time.