Documents
Research
papers, case studies, situationers and other documents on Chinese women
and their involvement in politics, governance and decision-making
Women
in China (2000)
Chinese women participate equally in the decision-making process,
and the number of female officials in leading bodies at various
levels has been growing gradually. There were 650 women deputies
to the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) in 1998, which amounts
to 21.8% of the total number of deputies. There were 341 women deputies
to the Ninth Chinese People's Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which
amounts to 15.54% of the total number of deputies. The percentage
increased by 0.78% and 2.02% over those to the Eighth NPC and the
Eighth CPPCC respectively. Currently, there are four female state
leaders, two female ministers and 16 female vice ministers among
the 29 ministries of China.
Holding
up Half the Heavens: The Effect of Communist Rule on China's Women
(2000)
The purpose of this paper is to explore what women's lives were
like in China before Communism, during Communism, and what they
are like now. The paper begins with a discussion of oppressive practices
employed against women in pre-communist Chinese society, such as
foot binding, the taking of multiple wives, the use of concubines,
and prostitution. It goes on to analyze Chairman Mao's philosophy
towards women, how and why he changed the status of women in China,
and whether or not the changes he attempted to instate survived
after his lifetime. Clear examples will be shown to prove that they
did not.
Equal participation in public and political life (1999)
While, as the government’s report states, there are no legislative or constitutional barriers to women’s participation in political and public life, a combination of lack of representation of women in the highest organs of power in the state, political controls over association and the low priority given to women’s needs and concerns means that in reality women’s representation does not comply with the standards set out in the Convention. The vague statistics in the official report on election of women deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC) and other bodies do not present a full picture of women’s participation at the highest levels of decision-making. In fact, women’s participation has grown very slowly in the history of the PRoC, as the UNDP’s 1998 China Human Development Report makes clear. The highest levels of participation were recorded during the Cultural Revolution, and there has been little progress since then. For example, in 1978 women constituted 21 percent of the Fourth NPC’s Standing Committee but this had dropped to 9 percent by the Sixth NPC in 1983 and stood at 12.69 percent in 1993.
Employment:
threats to women’s economic independence (1999)
Legislation including the Labor Law protects a variety of rights
for women relating to employment. But in reality women have suffered
disproportionately from layoffs and unemployment resulting from
economic restructuring; they encounter widespread discrimination
in hiring and promotion; they are deprived of benefits they are
entitled under the law; and they often have to face working conditions
that endanger their lives and health.
Rural
women less equal than urban women (1999)
Rural women continue to experience particular disadvantages as compared
to their urban sisters, including suffering disproportionately from
poverty and the growing urban-rural inequality, poor living conditions
and sanitation, lack of adequate health care, abuses relating to
the population policy, effects of traditional prejudices against
women and girls and lack of access to quality education. While a
number of the other sections of this report include information
about rural women, this section focuses on issues which makes them
especially disadvantaged.
The
population policy and discrimination against women and girls (1999)
Abuses related to China’s population policy relate to a variety
of articles of the CEDAW, including its broad anti-discrimination
principles and the concerns the Committee has expressed in recent
years about violence against women and the protection of girls.
A number of aspects are particularly relevant. Of course the Chinese
government’s population policy has provided many women with access
to the family planning services that are their right, and in this
respect, should be affirmed. But too often the pursuit of demographic
goals has overridden the needs and interests of women and girls,
and has led to the use of physical violence and other coercive measures.
The state’s insistence on meeting demographic targets has combined
with traditional attitudes and practices to threaten the survival,
health, well-being and status of many women and girls. Increasingly,
the burden of such misguided policies is falling disproportionately
on the poor and politically powerless.
Equality
in access to health care (1999)
China’s national health policies focus almost entirely on women’s
role as mothers and link health interventions directed at women
to family planning and the survival and health of children. While
many of the measures relating to maternal and infant health are
positive and welcome, the government’s report does not address such
crucial issues as the high suicide rate among rural women and the
heightened mortality rate of female under-fives. The report also
fails to fill in the context of a health care system, which has
been moving rapidly towards primarily fee-for-service medicine,
with serious impacts on parts of the population, particularly the
poor and rural residents.
China
and Hong Kong: facts about trafficking and prostitution of women
(1999)
Facts and figures on the prostitution and trafficking of Chinese
women.
Hong
Kong women’s situation – 1998 to 2000
This report, prepared by women’s
organizations in Hong Kong, focuses on the situation of women in
the following areas: governance; economy and employment; violence
against women; political participation among others.
Women’s
Rights in Hong Kong (1998)
Hong Kong women in general
are better educated and have more employment opportunities, however
they are still struggling to be recognized. On a psychological level,
men's roles that they have had for centuries are slipping away.
They used to be the breadwinners, however, now a large number of
women have paid jobs. Girls are overtaking boys in virtually every
measure of school academic performance. They are no longer always
heads of households, and as the economic power of women grow, many
men are feeling less secure. However in spite of all these improvements,
inequalities remain as prevalent as ever, and this report from the
Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor seeks to outline the problems faced
by women in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
NGO
report on women in Hong Kong (1996)
The economic development
of Hong Kong has reinforced the traditional role of women. It has
also created escalating conflicts in women towards their role and
status in society. This awareness has assisted in the promotion
of a feminist consciousness and has moved women to identify and
lay claim for their rights as citizens deserving of equal status
with men. For the women of Hong Kong, the return to Chinese sovereignty
on July 1, 1997 presents important challenges. The larger political,
economic and cultural differences between China and Hong Kong have
a direct impact on Hong Kong women's family life.
Women
in China: detained, victimized but mobilized (1996)
The total number of women detained in China for the non-violent
exercise
of their rights to freedom of expression and association is impossible
to determine. In addition to charges of "counter-revolutionary
activities", charges of leaking state secrets, of interfering
with production or disturbing social order and ill-defined administrative
offences are routinely used for politically motivated detention.
This report updates wide-ranging concerns about the violation of
the human rights of women in China detailed by Amnesty International
prior to the UN 4th World Conference on Women (WCW) held in Beijing
in September 1995. It also details female political prisoners held
for long periods without charge, or sentenced to long prison terms
after judicial proceedings, which fall far short of international
fair trial standards.
The
program for the development of Chinese women (1995-2000)
The development level of women is an important index for social
development as well as an important yardstick to measure social
progress. To promote the progress and development of Chinese women
is the common task of the governments at all levels, the relevant
departments, social organizations and the Chinese people as a whole.
With a view to further promoting the development of Chinese women,
the Program for the Development of the Chinese Women (1995-2000)
is hereby stipulated (hereinafter referred to as the Program).
The
situation of Chinese women (1994)
China, under its communist
party, proclaimed that Chinese women enjoy equal rights with
men in all aspects of political, economic, cultural, social
and family life and that they have become, like all Chinese
citizens, masters of the state and society. Chinese laws guarantee
that women and men enjoy the same rights and status and have
equal personal dignity. The Chinese government employs legal,
administrative and educational means to eliminate all kinds
of discrimination against women and protect their special rights
and interests. However, owing to the constraints of social development
and the influence of old concepts, the condition of Chinese
women is still not wholly satisfactory. There exist various
difficulties and resistance which have prevented the full realization
of equal rights to women with respect to their participation
in political and government affairs, employment, access to education,
as well as marriage and family. Instances of looking down upon
and discrimination against women and even infringement of their
rights still occur from time to time. On the other hand, the
overall competence of women remains to be further enhanced.
All these account for the fact that the road toward emancipation
and progress for Chinese women has not reached its end.
The
impact of economic development on rural women in China (1993)
From 1949 to 1957
China conducted two social changes of far- reaching significance.
First, land reform was carried out around 1950 and the feudal system
of land ownership was abolished nationwide. Rural people, men and
women, who had had little or no land got their equal share, and
women's economic status began to change. All this pounded at the
feudal tradition of male superiority. Hundreds of millions of rural
women came out to participate in collective labor, which greatly
increased their activities and broadened their horizon. Based on
the findings of this research study by the All China Women’s Federation
and the United Nations University, socio-economic development since
1949 has had a strong impact on a wide scale on women's education,
employment, and marriage and family life, as well as on their views
and concepts. The enhancement of women's status and role in the
rural areas is particularly noteworthy. The study has also shown
that China is still in the primary state of socialism. The low level
of productivity and the commodity economy in rural areas and the
lingering influence of traditional ideologies have combined to produce
an inhibitive effect on the growth of the rural economy and the
advancement of women themselves. Thus the ongoing rural reform must
be carried forward to further develop the rural economy and improve
the people's material and cultural l
