Chinese Women More Active on Domestic, Int'l Stage

Greater numbers of Chinese women, as well as women's organizations, play a more active role in domestic affairs and international exchange, according to the White Paper, Gender Equality and Women's Development in China, released on September 22 in Beijing.

Domestically, women's participation in decision-making and management has improved a lot, says the report.

Their social status and value is reflected, to a larger degree, in the higher proportion of women's participating in the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's main legislative body, and through major representation in the ranks of deputies to people's congresses at various levels.

The report announced that the proportion of women deputies to the first Session of the 12th NPC in 2013 was 23.4 percent—some 2.4 percentage points higher than 20 years ago.

As for the proportion of ethnic minority female deputies, they made up 41.3 percent of the total number from this group.

Women's extensive participation in the administration of state and social affairs has made a mammoth contribution to China's development of democracy and its legal system in recent years.

"China has one female vice premier, Liu Yandong, and two female vice-chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)," said Jiao Yang, vice-president and member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF)

The ratio of female members at the first session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee in 2013 was 17.8 percent, 4.1 percentage points higher than 20 years ago.

The proportion of women Communist Party of China (CPC) members also continuously increased, reaching 24.3 percent at the last count, up 8.7 percentage points from 1995.

Furthermore, the female employee ratio in central government agencies and their subsidiaries reached 47.8 percent in 2013 as more women join in the discussion of public and state affairs.

In recent years, the number of newly-employed women civil servants has also increased steadily at local levels.

Internationally, Chinese women and women's organizations also shine on the global stage as China has witnessed an increase of female diplomats, 1,695 in 2015, according to the report.

Those female diplomats make up 30.7 percent of the Chinese diplomatic corps.

Meanwhile, there are 12 female ambassadors, 19 consul generals and 132 counselors, comprising 7.9 percent, 24.4 percent and 30.4 percent of the respective staff at corresponding levels, said the report.

Chinese women's active role in international exchange and foreign affairs refreshes the image of the nation, say commentators.

When reviewing the UN conventions concerning gender equality and women's development, the report showed that Chinese women have taken on roles as responsible stakeholders across the world in many fields.

Chinese experts have served as representatives for the UN's Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, written and submitted NGO shadow reports, and been involved in the review process for the implementation of international conventions and documents including the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action.

The impact of globalization on China's female population has reached so far that they have been hailed as model for women in Asia, said experts.

(Source: Xinhua/Translated and edited by Women of China)