Empowering Women to Hold Up Half the Sky

Women village officials exchange ideas at a meeting in central China's Hunan Province. [Women of China English Monthly]

Women's political participation is an important aspect of the implementation of China's basic State policy of gender equality, and a means of guaranteeing that women have political rights. It is also an important indicator of the status of women's lives and development, and an indicator of the progress of political civilization. Improving women's political participation is crucial to the development of a socialist political civilization, and it is crucial to the realization of the basic State policy of gender equality. Since the United Nations World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995, the Chinese Government has been committed to ensuring women's political participation. Over the past two decades, Chinese women's political participation has been improved significantly.

Equal Political Rights

In 1995, delegates to the Fourth World Conference on Women passed the Beijing Platform for Action, listed "women in power and decision-making" as the Action's seventh field in focus, and made two strategic objectives: "Take measures to ensure women's equal access to and full participation in power structures and decision-making" and "Increase women's capacity to participate in decision-making and leadership."

The Action also outlined eight specific measures: Taking gender-balance measures, to allow women to take leadership positions in parties; promoting and protecting women's political rights, to ensure women and men balance their work and family responsibilities; providing leadership and self-esteem training; making transparent criteria for decision-making positions, and ensuring selecting bodies have a gender-balanced composition; and providing gender-sensitive training, to promote non-discriminatory working relationships and respect for diversity in work and management styles.

Women's political participation refers to women's participation in the management of State, social and public affairs. There are two categories of women's political participation: Participation in power and participation in democracy. Participation in power refers to women getting involved in government, so they can help manage public affairs, take leadership positions and participate in decision-making. Participation in democracy refers to women, as citizens, getting involved in elections as voters and/or candidates.
Through elections, lobbying and making proposals, women make their voices heard, offer suggestions to authorities and influence public policymaking.

China's Constitution and the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests clearly state that women have the same political rights as men. To promote women's participation in decision-making and the management of State and social affairs, the Chinese Government implemented the National Program for Women's Development.
In July 2011, the State Council, the central government's cabinet, issued the National Program for Women's Development (2011-2020) (Program), the third of its kind. Previously, the government implemented the National Program for Women's Development (1995-2000) and National Program for Women's Development (2001-2010).

The Program stresses the need to increase the influence of women in decision-making and management, increase the number of women participating in public administration, and raise the proportion of female deputies to people's congresses and female members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Women's participation in corporate decision-making and management, and in grass-roots democratic administration, should also be strengthened.

More Women Held Seats in National Legislature

In 1995, the Beijing Platform for Action set the target of having 30 percent of government decision-making positions filled by women. To tackle the imbalance in the ratio of women to men in politics, many countries have since used a gender quota to improve women's political participation.

On March 8, 2007, the National People's Congress (NPC) set a quota — at least 22 percent — on the number of women deputies to the national congress. That was the first time the NPC set such a quota, and it was intended to ensure that women would play a greater role in China's political and social life.

Chinese women's political and economic status has been improved significantly in recent years, and the proportion of women in decision-making and management positions has increased. In 2013, there were 1.68 million female public servants, who accounted for 24.1 percent of the total number; the proportions of female NPC deputies and female CPPCC members reached 23.4 percent and 17.8 percent, respectively.

In March 2014, the second sessions of the 12th NPC and 12th CPPCC were held in Beijing. With expectations of "holding up half the sky" and "talking about reform," 699 female NPC deputies and 396 female CPPCC members attended panel discussions, and they talked about State affairs alongside their male counterparts.

"I feel that … women's status has been greatly improved, and that women are quite active in political participation," said Chan ChingHar, a CPPCC National Committee member from Hong Kong. Chan is also President of the Hong Kong CPPCC (Provincial) Members Association.

Qin Wenjing, a member of the CPPCC National Committee and head of the Editorial Room at Guangxi Jieli Press, said, "I know many women who are pursuing a political career. They are highly skilled and practical. They are doing a great job."

Chen Xingying, also a member of the CPPCC National Committee, is Vice-President of Hohai University. "I don't feel like I am playing a supporting role. As a vice-president, I am in charge of issues, such as the school's assets and funds, and I have earned recognition and respect," she says.

During the third session of the CPPCC Guangdong Provincial Committee, on February 8, 2015, many female members stood up and raised banners over their heads or waved scarves to get to gain attention so they could make speeches.

Dong Chaofeng was one of those women. She received an opportunity to speak by holding a plate that read: "I have something to say."

Across the country, female deputies to people's congresses and CPPCC members at different levels now stand in the middle of the political stage, simply by carrying out their responsibilities and participating in policymaking.

According to the 2014 edition of Women in Parliament, an annual report issued by Inter-Parliamentary?Union in Geneva, the average proportion globally of female members of parliament was 21.8 percent in 2013, up 1.5 percent from 2012. In China, the proportion increased by two percent, higher than the global average, which ranked China 61st among 189 countries, higher than its neighboring Asian countries.

"In fact, since ancient times, women have been playing an important role in safeguarding social stability … The structure of the Chinese character '安,' which means safety, symbolizes a woman in a house," says Fu Ying, the first-ever female spokesperson of China's NPC. "Improving women's political status and promoting women's political participation can boost the country's prosperity, and guarantee social safety."

However, Fu added that, despite the fact that China has made great efforts in promoting gender equality, the proportion of women in decision-making positions hasn't reached the goal of 30 percent. "The 'glass ceiling' preventing Chinese women from participating in politics is becoming loose, but it still needs to be broken," said Fu.

Helping Grass-roots Women Participate in Political Affairs

Led by the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), women's federations, at all levels, have worked with the Chinese Government in recent years to encourage rural women to work on village committees and/or village party committees, so they can contribute to the construction and development of rural China.

In April 2011, a project was launched by ACWF and Hunan Women's Federation in Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan Province, to promote Chinese women's participation in political affairs. The five-year project was aimed at improving the mechanism used to safeguard women's right to participate in politics, enhance women's capacity to participate in politics, and raise the proportion of women in decision-making positions. Hunan and northern China's Heilongjiang and Shanxi provinces were chosen to be pilot sites.

In 2013, Hunan People's Congress revised the province's regulation governing the election of village committees and the regulation used to implement the Organic Law of the Village Committee. Hunan Women's Federation participated in the revision, including having submitted helpful suggestions. According to the revised regulations, women should account for at least one-third of the deputies to villages' congresses; at least one woman should be a candidate during each election of village committee members; and every village committee must have at least one female member.

As a result of the efforts of party committees, governments and women's federations, at all levels, in Hunan, more rural women have gotten involved in the administration of their villages. During the ninth election of village committee members in Hunan (held in 2014), women were elected to 32 percent of the village committee positions. That percentage was consistent with the previous election. In addition, 32 percent of the deputies to the village congresses were women, up 5.2 percentage points from the previous year. In addition, 12.7 percent of the leaders of local villagers' working teams were women, up 1 percentage point from the previous year. Female directors of village committees accounted for 4 percent of the total number, up 1 percentage point from the previous year. Some 2,001 women were elected party chiefs of village party committees, an increase of 304 from the previous year. The women accounted for 5.1 percent of the total number of village party chiefs.

According to ACWF, women accounted for 22.1 percent of village committee members nationwide in 2012, compared with 15.7 percent in 2000. To date, 28 provinces/regions/municipalities have clarified, in their regulations, that village committees must have at least one female member.

To improve rural women's capacity to participate in elections and carry out their responsibilities after being elected, women's federations, at all levels, have provided various types of training to female candidates for village committees, female members of village committees and party committees, directors of village women's congresses and women who help their fellow villagers get rich.

Anhui Women's Federation provided training to 17,052 new female members of the village committees and village party committees. In addition, women's federations across central China's Henan Province held more than 3,700 lectures and provided 630,000 rural women with information on village-level elections. Of the 2,647 female village officials who received training, in Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 70 percent were re-elected and 14 percent were promoted.

In recent years, female college graduates, who have worked as village officials, have become an important force that has advanced the development of China's rural areas.
Women's federations, at all levels, have called on party committees and governments to attach importance to this group. Thanks to the efforts of Hunan Women's Federation, Hunan made it clear in its 2012 recruitment plan for village officials that it would recruit equal numbers of female and male university graduates. It also required selecting bodies to treat all candidates equally. In northern China's Shanxi Province, more than 2,200 female college graduates have been recruited to work as village officials.

In addition, women's federations, at all levels, have provided training to female college graduates (who work as village officials), to help them improve their ability to participate in the administration of their villages.

(Source: Women of China English Monthly March 2015 Issue)