Xi Jinping's Congress Unlikely To Mean Progress For China's Gender Equality

Xi Jinping's decade as the party's general secretary has seen the number of women in politics and elite government roles decline and gender gaps in the workforce widen, academics and activists say.

As Xi Jinping consolidates power at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China this week, Chinese women are not holding their breath for progress on gender equality.

Academics and activists say Xi's decade in office has seen the number of women in politics and the roles of the government elite decline, and gender gaps in the workforce widen.

Feminist voices have also been muzzled, and in recent years the government has increasingly emphasized the value of women's traditional roles as mothers and caregivers, they added.

Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People's Republic of China, famously said "A woman holds half the sky" and gender equality is enshrined in the country's constitution.

But Cheng Li, an expert on Chinese politics at the Brookings Institution, said power under Xi has become much more concentrated than it was 10 to 15 years ago when rival coalitions in Chinese politics sought to win over women, resulting in an increased representation of women.

"The trend (now) is usually for women to be a deputy or a more symbolic position," he said.

The congress, held every five years, prepares to see the party's highest leadership group - the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee - still, as ever, all men.

For the 25-person Politburo,

The only obvious candidate to join is Shen Lichen, the provincial party chairwoman.

The current only member, Sun Chunlan, who has led the policy of non-proliferation of coronavirus in China, is 72 years old and is expected to retire.

Next in the party hierarchy is the Central Committee where women currently make up 8% or 30 positions,

And out of its total number of full and alternate members 371. This is down 10% in 2007.

Of the 31 provincial-level governors in China, only two are women.

The lack of top female politicians appears to conflict with the widespread push by the Communist Party to increase female representation that has seen the proportion of female party members rise to 29% in 2021, up from 24% in 2012.

There have been areas in which women have made significant progress in China, particularly in business.

The proportion of women was 13.

8% of board members at Chinese companies last year, up from 8.5% in 2016, according to a report by global index provider MSCI.

The government also said that about 55% of Chinese tech startups are from women's enterprises.

Experts say the lack of women leaders in government has led to real setbacks for women.

"This is really permeating the things we see in society...

Women's rights, birth rates, the gender pay gap and things like domestic violence."

The China State Women's Federation, which is responsible for women's rights, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

According to a statement released on September 27 on the federation's website, China has made "steady progress on women's issues" over the past decade and the country's women enjoy equal rights.

Good wives, good mothers

At a time when many countries have made progress in closing gender gaps in the workforce, education, health and politics,

China now ranks 102nd in the World Economic Forum's gender gap rankings for 146 countries, falling from 69th in 2012, the year Xi came to power.

"The environment has definitely gotten worse... That doesn't mean it was good before, it's always been bad, now the exploitation is more convenient," said Grace Wang, 28.

Wang said that she felt she was passed over to apply for a previous job because of her gender and faced similar problems in her current workplace.

"My current attitude toward my career is just to earn enough money to live."

one step ahead,

Last December, China indicated plans to reform a law to give women more protections against discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace - a review suggested by tens of thousands of people.

So he said,

Experts and activists are concerned that the government is stepping up rhetoric about the value of traditional roles for women as it seeks to address China's demographic crises - one of the world's lowest birth rates, a growing reluctance to have children and an aging population.

In the July 2021 letter, for example,

Xi spoke of the importance of gender equality, but also said that Chinese women should be "good wives, good mothers," and that they should shoulder "the task of their times, closely linking their future and destiny with that of the motherland." .

Experts also point to more tangible setbacks for women's rights.

In August, the National Health Authority said China would discourage medically unnecessary abortions, sparking outrage on social media. Similarly, a new law imposing a 30-day cooling off period after filing for divorce has sparked widespread outrage, including from groups concerned with victims of domestic violence.

feminine activity,

Which seemed to gain momentum in China in 2018 with the nascent #MeToo movement, was quickly suppressed by the government with forced cancellations of events, censored online discussions and arrests of activists.

BY
ProBuzzFeed