In the process of Chinese modernization, based on China's realities and the trend of the times, the CPC leads Chinese women in exercising their lawful democratic rights, participating in social and economic development, and sharing the fruits of reform and development, all on the foundation of gender equality.
1. Upholding the CPC's Overall Leadership
The CPC's leadership is the fundamental guarantee of China's work related to women. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core has approached this work as an integral part of its broader strategic goal of achieving national rejuvenation, incorporating gender equality and women's well-rounded development into the overall architecture of Chinese socialism.
Upholding the fundamental national policy of gender equality and protecting the lawful rights and interests of women and children have been included into the reports to the 18th, 19th and 20th CPC national congresses, held in 2012, 2017 and 2022 respectively.
At the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in 2019, the Party called for upholding and improving the systems and mechanisms for promoting gender equality and women's well-rounded development and proposed leveraging the important role of family ties, values and traditions in community-level social governance.
At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in 2020, upholding the national policy of gender equality and protecting the lawful rights and interests of women and children were written into the Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, along with the promotion of family ties, values and traditions.
At the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in 2021, the promotion of family ties, values and traditions and the protection of the rights and interests of women and children were incorporated into the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century.
At the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee in 2024, the Party incorporated improving the system for protecting the lawful rights and interests of women and children and refining the mechanisms for leveraging the role of family ties, values and traditions in community-level social governance into the overall plan for deeper comprehensive reform.
This evolution in policy-making has ensured that China's endeavors concerning women have progressed smoothly under the CPC's overall leadership.
2. Implementing the Fundamental National Policy of Gender Equality
Highlighting gender equality as a basic national policy is an innovative practice of the Chinese socialist system and a momentous decision for advancing this cause and women's well-rounded development.
China has improved top-level design and systematic planning accordingly. In formulating laws and policies and making plans and arrangements, the country has taken into full consideration the differences between women and men and the distinctive interests of women. It has promoted gender equality in rights, opportunities and outcomes, safeguarding women's rights and interests in accordance with the law.
China is committed to cultivating a social ethos of respect and care for women, eliminating all forms of discrimination against them, and discarding obsolete ideas and practices that hinder their development. This more inclusive and dynamic social environment has allowed gender equality to truly become a shared social norm and part of the value system.
3. Synergizing Women's Development with Social and Economic Progress
Development cannot be achieved without women, and its fruits should be shared by all. In this spirit, China has integrated the advancement of gender equality into its broader development process.
Women's development has been incorporated into the Five-sphere Integrated Plan, which promotes coordinated progress in the economic, political, cultural, social and eco-environmental fields. Goals and tasks for women's development have also been embedded in the five-year plans for national economic and social development. The level of women's development is regarded as an essential measurement for social and economic development. With these efforts, China has synergized its endeavors for women with its social and economic progress in terms of planning and implementation, ensuring that modernization brings greater benefits to women in a fairer way, enabling them to enjoy a growing, guaranteed and sustained sense of gain, fulfillment and security.
4. Fully Leveraging Women's Proactive Role in National Development
Women constitute a powerful force driving human progress, while at the same time shaping and determining their own futures. Upholding a people-centered philosophy of development, China respects the agency of women and has strengthened relevant institutional safeguards, policy support, and public service supply for their development.
China has carried out programs encouraging women to strive for achievements, which seek to enhance women's overall capabilities, broaden channels for their participation in national development, and fully stimulate their enthusiasm, initiative and creativity, with an ultimate goal of realizing, safeguarding and improving women's vital and immediate interests to the maximum extent.
The country encourages women to integrate their personal aspirations with the undertakings of the Party and the country, and to leverage their individual strengths in implementing the new development philosophy, fostering a new development dynamic, promoting high-quality development, achieving greater strength and self-reliance in science and technology, and advancing rural revitalization across the board. Utilizing their distinctive role in society and family, women are called upon to contribute considerably to the building of China into a great country and the realization of national rejuvenation.
5. Joining Global Women in Building a Bright Shared Future
Humanity lives in one homeland, and women around the world have a shared future. China upholds the concept of a community with a shared future for humanity, and facilitates the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative. It advocates putting the people first, stays committed to results-oriented actions, and contributes Chinese initiatives, solutions and actions to global endeavors for women.
China supports the United Nations in prioritizing women's development, promotes cooperation with the rest of the world in relevant fields, and builds international consensus on gender equality through extensive exchanges and mutual learning. Together with all other countries, China works to shape a global environment conducive to women's development, to safeguard international fairness and justice, and to make its due contribution to moving the world to a bright future of peace, security, prosperity and progress.
(Source: SCIO White Paper China's Achievements in Women's Well-Rounded Development in the New Era)
Editor: Cui Rui
