Join Efforts to Help Women Escape Poverty

Working in a greenhouse [Women of China]

China since the 1980s has made tremendous achievements — well recognized by the international community — in reducing poverty and helping rural women escape poverty. During the past three decades, the Chinese government has implemented various policies aimed at both reducing poverty among women and promoting women's development. Those policies have formed the foundation of China's remarkable progress in helping impoverished women find employment, improving women's health and education and encouraging women's involvement in social affairs.

Beneficial Policies and Measures

China in the 1980s implemented a systematic and comprehensive poverty-reduction plan. The number of Chinese living in absolute poverty has decreased from 250 million, in 1978, to 30 million, in 2000. At the same time, the proportion of China's rural population living in absolute poverty fell from 30.7 percent to 3 percent. Since 2000, beneficiaries of poverty-relief programs have included rural families with incomes slightly above the poverty threshold.

In 2011, China had 27 million rural families considered either impoverished or low-income, down from 95 million in 2000. The proportion of such families declined from 10.2 percent, in 2000, to 2.8 percent, in 2011.

Since 1994, China has implemented three national rural poverty-alleviation and development programs. The Chinese government has also implemented other measures aimed at eliminating poverty.

Such policies have benefited millions of impoverished rural women. In January 2014, the General Office of the CPC (Communist Party of China) Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued a document addressing poverty alleviation in rural China. That document stressed that people from minority groups, women and children, and physically and mentally challenged people require strong support as they try to escape poverty.

Since 1995, China has implemented three national programs for the development of women. Reducing poverty among women is one of China's objectives.

Throughout years of unremitting efforts, women's poverty has been reduced significantly. The levels of poverty among women fell dramatically in all State-level poverty-stricken counties, decreasing from 24.2 percent in 2002 to 9.8 percent in 2010.

Gender inequality, lack of education, poor health and lack of money-making opportunities are among the main reasons so many Chinese women live in poverty. The Chinese government has implemented various measures over the years to counter such problems.

For example, China has implemented projects to improve the health of women in impoverished rural areas. In 2011, the Ministry of Finance launched breast and cervical cancers relief projects for poor mothers in rural areas, allocating 50 million yuan (US $8 million) annually. The scheme has helped some 20,700 women from low-income families, and those poverty-stricken by illness, as of the end of 2014. The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) has established a special fund to provide free medical exams to impoverished women, and to treat women who are diagnosed with breast and/or cervical cancer. China has also launched Water Cellar for Mothers project, which has provided safe drinking water in drought-stricken areas.

To enhance the level of education among impoverished women, China issued the "two exemptions and one subsidy (to waive textbook and miscellaneous fees and subsidize accommodations for boarding school students in rural areas)" policy in 2001, to help impoverished rural families pay for their children's education, and to reduce the dropout rate among girls and the illiteracy rate among women. In addition, governments, at all levels, have established literacy classes and occupational-training courses for women.

The State Council and its subordinate ministries of finance, agriculture, education, science and technology, and others, also provided support and assistance to poor women through various means. These actions helped promote women's employment and entrepreneurship, encouraged the development of female-oriented poverty alleviation organizations, and prioritize the granting of "mutual-help funds among poor villages" and "small loans" to rural women.

Small Loans, Great Effects

In 2009, the ACWF, the People's Bank of China and the ministries of Finance and Human Resources and Social Security implemented the Small Loans for Women Project, under which underprivileged rural women received small loans to start businesses.

Based on local conditions, governments and women's federations, at all levels, have created various lending options to assist rural women.

"It would have been really hard for me to build my vegetable greenhouse without assistance from the Small Loans for Women Project. The 50,000-yuan (US $8,050) loan was a big help to me, and it gave me confidence," says Cai Juping, who lives in Zhongshan, a village in Wuwei, in Northwest China's Gansu Province. Cai began raising livestock in 2002.In 2009, she used her small loan to build 10 barns and a 72-meter greenhouse.

Women's federations, at all levels, have always supported women's entrepreneurship, and they have encouraged women who accumulate wealth to be role models for other women.

Wang Xiuying, who got into chicken farming in 1998, is now president of Zhengxi Chicken Breeding Association, in Beijing's Miyun County. "Miyun Women's Federation is our backbone," she says. In 1999, the federation established the association to provide various production, supply and distribution services to women who were chicken farmers. In 2005, Wang received a loan of more than 1 million yuan (US $160,217), which she used to build a training base, which assisted more than 90 impoverished women, 20 laid-off women and five physically challenged women in starting chicken-raising businesses.

By the end of March 2015, Chinese government has granted over 217 billion yuan (US $34.7 billion) subsidized small loans to women, helping 10 million women starting their own entrepreneurial drives or getting employment.

Challenges Ahead

Female impoverishment has been eased due to the effective measures taken by the Chinese government and NGOs to reduce and eliminate poverty among women. However, some daunting challenges still lie ahead. The awareness of gender equality is yet to be improved in the government's anti-poverty policies, for instance. Gender-aggregated poverty monitoring and statistics are still lacking. The role of NGOs in women's poverty reduction needs to be strengthened. Men and women's accesses to economic resources are still not equal, and poverty reduction-related resources are not allocated rationally.

Data Speaks

* By the end of March 2015, Chinese government has granted over 217 billion yuan (US $34.7 billion) subsidized small loans to women, helping 10 million women starting their own entrepreneurial drives or getting employment.

*In 2011, the Ministry of Finance launched breast and cervical cancers relief projects for poor mothers in rural areas, allocating 50 million yuan (US $8 million) annually, which has helped some 20,700 women as of the end of 2014.

* The levels of poverty among women fell dramatically in all State-level poverty-stricken counties, decreasing from 24.2 percent in 2002 to 9.8 percent in 2010.

(Women of China)