The State Council Information Office published on Wednesday a
white paper entitled Gender Equality and Women's Development in
China. The nine-chapter document discusses the progress China
has made in promoting gender equality and women's development over
the last decade. The full text of the white paper follows:
Gender Equality and Women's Development in
China
Foreword
I. State Mechanism to Promote Gender Equality and
Development of Women
II. Women and the Economy
III. Women and Poverty Elimination
IV. Women's Participation in Decision Making and
Management
V. Women and Education
VI. Women and Health
VII. Women, Marriage and the Family
VIII. Women and the Environment
IX. Legal Guarantees of Women's Rights and
Interests
Conclusion
Foreword
China is a developing country with the largest population in the
world. Of its total population of 1.3 billion, women account for
about half. Therefore, the promotion of gender equality and the
overall development of women is not only of great significance for
China's development, it also has a special influence on the efforts
for the advancement of mankind.
It has always been a basic state policy of China to promote
equality between men and women. Since New China was founded in
1949, especially since the adoption of the reform and opening-up
policy in the late 1970s, and along with the continuous growth of
China's economy and the overall progress of its society, women are
being given more guarantees of enjoyment of equal rights and
opportunities with men and the development of women is being given
unprecedented opportunities.
In recent years, the Chinese government has made fairness and
justice, with gender equality included, an important part of
efforts to build a harmonious socialist society, and has utilized
economic, legal, administrative, public opinion and other measures
to ensure that women enjoy equal rights with men in terms of
politics, economy, culture, and social and family life, and
continuously pushes forward women's development in an all-round
way.
The Beijing Declaration and the Platform for
Action adopted at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women held
in Beijing in 1995 have produced great influence in promoting the
progress of gender equality and women's development around the
world. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the conference, this
white paper has been prepared to introduce to the rest of the world
China's progress in promoting gender equality and women's
development over the past decade.
I. State Mechanism to Promote Gender
Equality and Development of Women
To promote gender equality and the development of women, China
is making unremitting efforts to improve its legal system to
protect the rights and interests of women, formulate and implement
programs regarding women's development, further improve relevant
working organs, increase financial input and strengthen social
awareness.
The state has continuously intensified its efforts in the
formulation, revision and enforcement of relevant laws and
regulations to protect the legitimate rights and interests of women
in earnest. As the supreme organ of state power and the top
legislative organ of China, the National People's Congress and its
Standing Committee have taken the protection of women's rights and
interests and the promotion of gender equality as a key assignment,
paid great attention to the formulation of laws concerning women,
seriously dealt with bills related to the protection of women's
legitimate rights and interests, and actively urged and supervised
the enforcement and implementation of relevant laws. The Chinese
government and its departments concerned have enforced laws and
formulated and implemented relevant administrative rules and
regulations to guarantee women's rights and interests, and promote
gender equality. China now has built a complete legal system
concerning the protection of women's rights and interests, and
promotion of gender equality, based on the Constitution of the
People's Republic of China, and with the Law of the People's
Republic of China on the Protection of Rights and Interests of
Women as the main body and various separate laws and regulations,
local regulations and administrative rules adopted by various
government departments as supplementary provisions. The state
judicial organs have augmented their law enforcement steps, and
punished the perpetrators of various kinds of criminal
infringements of women's rights and interests in accordance with
the law.
The state has enacted and implemented outlines for the
development of women, and included women's development in the
overall plans of economic and social development. The Outline
for the Development of Chinese Women is a national program of
action to carry out the Platform for Action adopted in
1995 in Beijing and push forward gender equality and women's
development in a comprehensive way. Since the goals set in the
Outline for the Development of Chinese Women (1995-2000)
have been basically realized, and to meet the demands of China's
coordinated economic and social development and the requirements of
the UN Millennium Development Goals, China promulgated in
2001 its Outline for the Development of Chinese Women
(2001-2010). The new document outlines 34 major goals and 100
policies and measures in six fields: women and the economy; women's
participation in decision-making and administration; women and
education; women and health; women and the law; and women and the
environment. The departments concerned under the State Council and
local governments at all levels have all worked out their own
programs for the implementation of the outline and plans for
women's development in their respective areas.
The National Working Committee on Children and Women (NWCCW)
under the State Council, the coordination and consultation organ of
the Chinese government in charge of women and children's work,
plays an important role in coordinating and promoting relevant
government departments to do women and children's work well, as
well as in formulating and organizing the implementation of the
outlines for the development of women and children, providing
necessary human, financial and material resources to the work on
women and children and to the development of women and children's
cause, and guiding, encouraging and supervising the work of its
subordinates in all provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities directly under the central government. The current
NWCCW is headed by a vice-premier of the State Council, and is
composed of 33 member units (ministries, commissions under the
State Council and non-governmental organizations - ed.) each having
one of its vice-ministerial-level officials as a member of the
NWCCW. To date, working organs on children and women have been set
up by the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions
and municipalities directly under the central government,
prefectures (prefecture-level cities and leagues) and counties
(county-level cities, districts and banners) across China's
mainland, which are under the direction of officials of governments
at the corresponding level. An effective working system has been
built within these working committees to coordinate the functional
departments and urge them to perform their duties. Their
expenditures are covered in the financial budgets of the
governments at the corresponding level.
The Chinese government attaches importance to the role of
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) related to the development of
women. The All-China Women's Federation, All-China Federation of
Trade Unions, Central Committee of the Communist Youth League,
China Disabled Persons' Federation and China Association of Science
and Technology have all effectively pressed ahead with their gender
equality work in line with their respective guidelines. The
All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) is the largest NGO in China
dedicated to promoting gender equality and women's development. It
has an organizational system that covers women's federations and
group members at various levels, and enjoys wide representation and
mass involvement. The ACWF and local women's federations play a
significant role in uniting and motivating women to participate in
the country's economic construction and social development,
encouraging them to take an active part in the democratic
management and supervision of state and social affairs, and
representing and safeguarding the rights and interests of women as
a whole. In recent years, government departments have cooperated
with women's federations and other NGOs to organize all kinds of
activities to effectively utilize social resources for the
promotion of gender equality and women's development.
The central and local treasuries have both increased their
inputs for the implementation of the outline for the development of
women year by year, and optimized the allocation of resources to
facilitate women's development. Since 2000, quite an amount of
funds have been appropriated from the central and local treasuries
to help achieve the key and difficult objectives that are difficult
to fulfill in the outlines, with priority being given to the
western and poverty-stricken areas. In 1990, the state input into
women and children's health care and epidemic prevention and
treatment stood at 305 million yuan and 1.203 billion yuan,
respectively, which rose to 1.046 billion yuan and 3.388 billion
yuan in 1999, and further to 1.579 billion yuan and 9.054 billion
yuan in 2003. The state also pays great attention to the collection
and study of statistics about the situation as regards women, and
has set up a special organ to monitor and assess the implementation
of the outline, and formulated a statistical monitoring indicator
system and assessment program. In addition, networks for statistics
monitoring and working systems have been established in various
provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the
central government. With the continuous improvement of the
statistics-gathering and analysis systems by the departments
concerned and gender statistics indicators added, a complete
national gender statistics system has taken shape and is being
constantly improved. Over the past decade, materials on gender
statistics have been compiled and published by the state
departments of statistics.
The Chinese government sets great store by cooperation with the
United Nations and other international organizations, and has
actively strengthened its exchanges and cooperation with other
governments and women's organizations around the world. China is
serious about implementing international conventions. In May 2000,
it submitted to the United Nations The Report on the
Implementation Result of the People's Republic of China of the
"Beijing Declaration" and the "Platform for Action" Adopted by the
Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995; in February 2004, it
submitted The Fifth and Sixth Regular Reports on the
Implementation of the UN "Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women;" and in March 2005, it
submitted The Report on the Implementation of the People's
Republic of China of the "Beijing Platform for Action" (1995) and
the Document of Results of the 23rd UN General Assembly Special
Session (2000).
II. Women and the
Economy
The state has made the guarantee of equal employment
opportunities between women and men and the sharing of economic
resources and results of social development the top priority for
the advancement of gender equality and the development of women,
and has worked out and adopted a series of policies and measures to
ensure that women can equally participate in the economic
development, enjoy equal access to economic resources and effective
services, enhance their self-development ability and improve their
social and economic status.
Encouraging women to start business and become re-employed.
Employment is the basis of people's livelihood and the basic
economic resource that women rely on for subsistence. Over the past
few years, the Chinese government has formulated and carried out
supportive policies to encourage women to start businesses on their
own initiative, and give them preferential treatment when granting
employment training subsidies and small-sum guaranteed loans and
conducting tax reduction and exemption. In the meantime,
governments at all levels have adopted many favorable policies
toward women, such as creating public-welfare jobs, opening
employment service centers, sponsoring special recruitment
activities and vocational training courses, monitoring sex
discrimination against women in employment and help women,
especially laid-off women, to find new jobs. With the support of
the government, women's federations at various levels, trade unions
and other NGOs have conducted their work regarding the employment
and re-employment of women in a creative way. During the period
from 1998 to 2003, women's federations nationwide endeavored to get
small-sum credit loans to directly aid a total of 2.5 million women
to get re-employed. Over the past decade, the number and ratio of
women employed have remained fairly high. By the end of 2004, the
number of both urban and rural women workers reached 337 million
nationwide, accounting for 44.8 percent of the total employed; and
the number of women workers in urban work units stood at 42.27
million, accounting for 38.1 percent of the national total.
Improving the employment structure of women. Over the past few
years, the tertiary industry has become the main channel for
providing jobs to women, and an increasing number of women are
entering the computer, communications, finance and insurance and
other high- and new-tech industries, thus becoming an important
force in these fields. At present, women owners of small and
medium-sized enterprises account for about 20 percent of the
national total number of entrepreneurs, and 60 percent of them have
emerged in the past decade. State organs, enterprises and public
institutions have long pursued the principle of equality between
men and women in terms of recruitment, training of professionals
and technicians, as well as promotion in ranks and granting of
professional titles to encourage women to display their abilities
and come to the fore. By the end of 2004, women accounted for 43.6
percent of the total number of professionals and technicians in
state-owned enterprises and institutions nationwide, up 6.3
percentage points over the 37.3 percent of 1995, among whom, the
number of senior and intermediate-level women professionals and
technicians rose from 20.1 percent and 33.4 percent to 30.5 percent
and 42.0 percent, respectively.
Enhancing social security for urban women. In recent years, the
Chinese government has stepped up the construction of a social
security system, with pension insurance, unemployment insurance,
medical insurance, employment injury insurance and maternity
insurance as the main contents. It has also carried out significant
reforms of the urban social relief system, and gradually
established and improved three funds: minimum urban living
guarantee fund, basic living guarantee for laid-off workers fund
and unemployment guarantee fund. The Trial Measures for Maternity
Insurance of Enterprise Employees the state promulgated in 1994 put
maternity insurance, which used to be borne by employers, under
overall social planning. By the end of 2004, the practice of
overall social planning had been introduced in 28 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central
government, with 43.84 million employees, or 60 percent of the
total number of urban employees covered. In October 1999, the
Regulations on the Minimum Standard of Living for Urban Residents
went into effect. By the end of 2004, 22.05 million urban
residents, including women, were receiving minimum subsistence
allowances. All those who needed such help were by and large
covered.
Giving full play to women's role in the rural economy. China is
basically an agricultural country, and women account for more than
60 percent of the rural labor force and are a major force in
farming activities. The Law of the People's Republic of China on
Rural Land Contracting, which came into effect in 2003, states that
women and men enjoy equal rights in contracting land in rural
areas, and no organization or individual shall deprive women of the
right to contract and operate land or infringe upon their right to
do so. In recent years, the Chinese government has adopted active
policies and measures to solve the problems concerning agriculture,
rural areas and farmers, increased its input into agriculture,
pushed forward tax reform in rural areas, and implemented the
strategy of invigorating agriculture by applying science and
technology. Government departments and women's federations at all
levels have jointly organized activities to encourage rural women
to acquire knowledge and learn science and technology, and compete
in their development and contributions, so as to bring their role
in invigorating and developing the rural economy into full
play.
Safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of rural women
working in cities. Over the past few years, the Chinese government
has gradually reduced or eliminated the restrictive regulations on
the employment of rural people in cities, and made great efforts to
solve the problems of salaries in arrears, vocational safety, equal
pay for equal work and social security for them so as to relieve
rural migrant workers of anxieties regarding residence registration
in cities and the schooling of their children, and actively
protects the legitimate rights and interests of rural women working
in cities. At the same time, the state also encourages and supports
the building of training schools and legal aid centers, and the
publication of typical cases of infringement as a means to raise
awareness of their rights among migrant women workers and enhance
their ability to safeguard their rights in accordance with the
law.
To actively promote gender equality in employment and raise
women's ability to find employment or start businesses, the Chinese
government has begun to cooperate with the United Nations
Development Program, International Labor Organization and other
international organizations, with satisfactory results. At present,
it is accelerating, proceeding from the national conditions of
China, the process for the approval of the UN's Discrimination
(Employment and Occupation) Convention in China.
III. Women and Poverty
Elimination
To alleviate and eliminate poverty is a goal that the Chinese
government is determined to realize. With the implementation of
large-scale and effective special poverty-reduction development
programs, the government has succeeded in reducing the
poverty-stricken rural population, the majority of whom are women,
by 53.9 million - from 80 million in 1994 to 26.1 million in
2004.
Formulating preferential policies for the elimination of poverty
among women. The Outline for the Development of Chinese
Women puts forth the main goals of reducing the extent of
poverty among and the number of poor women, and calls for more
support for poverty-stricken women in the country's western
development strategy, so that women will be the main receivers of
poverty-reduction resources and the direct beneficiaries of the
achievements of the poverty-reduction efforts. The state
poverty-reduction program has made it clear that the government
strives to further motivate women in the poverty-stricken areas to
engage in household sideline production and the "courtyard
economy," launch labor-intensive and other poverty-reduction
projects that are particularly suitable for women, and organize
women to learn practical skills and enhance their ability to shake
off poverty and become well-off. At the Global Conference on
Speeding Up Poverty Reduction, held in Shanghai in 2004, the
Chinese government made a statement on its policy concerning the
alleviation and elimination of poverty, which stressed the
principle that, all factors being equal, preference will be given
to poor women, and encouraged poor women to take part in
poverty-reduction programs, and promised that the ratio of women
participants would be no less than 40 percent of the total.
Adopting effective measures to gradually eliminate poverty among
women in rural areas. Since 2001, the Chinese government has made
sex indicator a component of the poverty monitoring work in rural
areas, and stressed that attention should be paid to gender
equality in the poverty-reduction work. In recent years, the
government has increased its financial input into poverty-reduction
work. In 2004 alone, 12.2 billion yuan was allocated by the central
treasury for poverty reduction projects, and local governments also
increased their inputs into this field. At the same time, and on
the basis of the specific conditions in different areas, they have
endeavored to help rural women get rid of poverty by way of
provision of small-sum credit loans, labor export and pairing-off
assistance. During the period from 2001 to 2004, a total of 13.52
billion yuan in small-sum credit loans for rural households was
granted from the state poverty-reduction discount loans, and more
than half of the money went to women. Since 2001, the Chinese
government has taken poverty-reduction projects in the form of
participation of the poor as the main way to "enhance the whole
village," and such projects now cover 148,000 poverty-stricken
villages nationwide.
Supporting and encouraging NGOs to help women get rid of poverty
and become well-off. In recent years, thanks to the support and
initiative of the Chinese government, women's federations at all
levels have launched, in view of local conditions, the
"Poverty-Reduction Action for Women" with provision of small-sum
credit loans, poverty elimination group by group, labor export,
pairing-off assistance and mutual help between the eastern and
western parts of the country as the main contents. The China
Population Welfare Foundation has launched "Happiness Project" with
an aim to help poor mothers. It raises funds to help poor mothers
participate in economic and social development, and enhance their
health and cultural level. The project of "Love of the Earth, Water
Cellars for Mothers," initiated by the China Women's Development
Foundation, has raised funds for building more than 90,000
rain-water collecting cellars and 1,100 small central water supply
projects in the water-short northwest part of China, benefiting
nearly one million poverty-stricken people. In addition, women's
federations and other NGOs have tried every means to get
international funds and material aid to support the
poverty-reduction projects and help women in poverty-stricken areas
improve their lot.
IV. Women's Participation in Decision
Making and Management
Women's ability to be involved in the management of state and
social affairs has been constantly strengthened, and their ability
in handling political affairs has gradually enhanced. China's
Constitution clearly stipulates the basic principle that men and
women have equal political rights. The Law on the Protection of
Rights and Interests of Women has made further stipulations to
ensure that women can participate in decision making and
management. The Outline for the Development of Chinese
Women clearly defines the specific goals to be reached for
women to participate in government work. All these have laid the
legal and policy foundation for increasing women's participation in
government work.
The people's congress system is a fundamental political system
in China, and the state pays great attention to the important role
played by women in the people's congresses at all levels. The
Election Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's
Congresses at All Levels of the People's Republic of China,
promulgated in 1995, stipulates that deputies to the National
People's Congress (NPC) and local people's congresses at all levels
should include appropriate numbers of women, and the proportion of
women deputies should be increased step by step. In the past
decade, women have displayed great enthusiasm for participating in
electing deputies to the people's congresses at all levels and
exercising their democratic rights. Some 73.4 percent of women
turned out to elect deputies to local people's congresses. Of all
the deputies to the various National People's Congresses, more than
20 percent have been women. The proportion of women among the
deputies to the Tenth National People's Congress is 20.2 percent;
and women members account for 13.2 percent of all members of the
Standing Committee of the NPC, an increase of 0.5 percentage point
over the previous national congress. Moreover, three of the
vice-chairpersons of the NPC's Standing Committee are women.
The system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation
under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is a
basic political system in China. The CPC is the ruling party, while
all other political parties are participants in state affairs. They
are allies working closely with the CPC. Women account for a
certain number of CPC members. In 2004, female membership in the
CPC was 12.956 million, accounting for 18.6 percent of all CPC
members, an increase of 3 percentage points over 1995. Women
deputies accounted for 18 percent of all deputies to the 16th CPC
National Congress, an increase of 1.2 percentage points over the
previous congress. Of the members of the 16th Central Committee of
the CPC, 7.6 percent are women (as either members or alternate
members), an increase of 0.3 of one percentage point over the
previous congress. Female membership is relatively high in the
eight democratic parties, exceeding 30 percent in seven of them.
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is
an important organ of the multi-party cooperation and political
consultation system under the leadership of the CPC. At present,
four of the vice-chairpersons of the National Committee of the
CPPCC are women. Women members and women Standing Committee members
of the first conference of the Tenth National Congress of the CPPCC
accounted for 16.7 and 11.7 percent, respectively, up 1.2
percentage points and 1.7 percentage points over the first
conference of the previous congress.
The state has clearly defined the objective for training and
selecting women cadres, and has strengthened the work of training
and selecting women cadres. As a result, women are now widely
participating in the state and social administrative work, and a
large number of outstanding women serve as leading cadres at
various levels. By the end of 2004, women cadres at county
(division) or prefecture (department) level accounted for 16.9
percent and 12.6 percent of all cadres at the corresponding level
in all Party committees, people's congresses, governments, CPPCC
organizations, courts, procuratorates, democratic parties and mass
organizations across the country, 4.3 percentage points and 4.5
percentage points higher than in 1995, respectively; 368 incumbent
or vice mayors (commissioners and prefects) were women; and women
cadres at or above the provincial (ministry) level accounted for
9.9 percent of the total at that level, an increase of 2.8
percentage points over 1995. At present, China has one woman
vice-premier and one woman state councilor on the State Council,
and 25 women incumbent or vice ministers or ministerial-level
directors or heads in the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme
People's Procuratorate, and the ministries and commissions under
the State Council. The proportion of women civil servants recruited
in 2003 nationwide was 27.8 percent of the total; and that in the
organs of the CPC Central Committee and central government was 37.7
percent. In addition, China also attaches great importance to the
training of women cadres of ethnic groups, and to strengthening
their ability to participate in state affairs.
The level of participation in state affairs by women at the
grassroots level has also risen continuously. Women in both rural
and urban areas enthusiastically take part in the elections of
neighborhood committees and village committees. In 2004, the number
of women neighborhood committee members reached 237,000, and that
of women village committee members reached 443,000, accounting for
55.8 percent and 15.1 percent of the total members of neighborhood
committees and village committees, respectively. A large number of
women have come to the fore as chairpersons of neighborhood and
village committees.
The role of women's federations in participating in and
supervising government work has been strengthened. The channels for
women's democratic participation have been constantly widened. As
the representatives of all China's women, women's federations at
all levels are involved in formulating and revising laws and
regulations regarding women's rights and interests. They are also
involved in supervising the enforcement of such laws and
regulations. Relevant government departments earnestly solicit the
comments of women's federations and make a point of reflecting
their opinions in related policies and plans.
V. Women and
Education
In China, women enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men
to receive education. Such rights and opportunities are clearly
defined in China's Education Law, Compulsory Education Law and
Vocational Education Law. The state takes concrete measures and
actions to ensure that girls receive nine-year compulsory education
and that women have more opportunities to receive secondary and
higher education. The state is determined to eliminate illiteracy
among young and middle-aged women, promote lifelong education for
women and extend their average years of education.
The Chinese government makes great efforts to eliminate gender
disparities at the stage of compulsory education, and improve the
education environment for girls. In 2004, the enrollment of boys
and girls was 98.97 percent and 98.93 percent, respectively. The
difference in access to education between boys and girls was
reduced from 0.7 percentage point in 1995 to 0.04 percentage point.
The government has unceasingly increased its input into compulsory
education in the countryside, so as to improve the compulsory
education environment there and ensure that all girls, like boys,
have the chance to receive compulsory education. In 2004, the
educational appropriation from the state treasury for compulsory
education in rural areas reached 139.362 billion yuan, two times
the amount in 1995. In recent years, the state has raised money
from many channels for grants to students in primary and middle
schools. Under one policy known as "Two Exemptions and One
Allowance," the government provides subsidies so that students from
families with financial difficulties in rural areas, particularly
in central and west China, are exempt from paying textbook fees and
other fees, and students attending boarding schools get allowances.
Governments at all levels have formulated special policies and
taken measures concerning the education of girls in poor areas and
areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, work hard to raise the level
of compulsory education for girls in rural China. In addition, the
state has adopted special policies to ensure that migrant children
(including girls) from rural areas receive compulsory education.
For many years, governments at all levels have worked hard to help
NGOs in organizing donation activities to pool money to improve the
education of girls. The Hope Project and the Spring Buds Program
initiated by the China Youth Development Foundation and the China
Children's Foundation have provided financial assistance to large
numbers of girl dropouts to help them return to school.
The state exerts great efforts to ensure that women have the
opportunity to receive secondary and higher education. As a result,
the proportion of women in all types of schools at all levels has
increased considerably. In 2004, the proportion of girl students in
junior and senior middle schools reached 47.4 percent and 45.8
percent, respectively; the proportion of girl students in secondary
vocational schools reached 51.5 percent; the number of girl
students in institutions of higher learning nationwide reached
6,090,000, accounting for 45.7 percent of all students in such
schools and an increase of 10.3 percentage points over 1995. The
proportion of female postgraduate and doctoral students was 44.2
percent and 31.4 percent, 13.6 percentage points and 15.9
percentage points higher respectively over the figures for 1995. In
recent years, the Chinese government has introduced the state loan
system and established state scholarships for students at
institutions of higher learning, providing loans at discounted
interest, scholarship and stipends to poor students (including
girls) to help them complete their studies. Meanwhile, the
government encourages enterprises, private institutions and
individuals to donate to education and to help female students with
financial difficulties receive education. The state attaches
importance to the fostering and training of women teachers, and
gives full play to their role in promoting women's education. In
2004, the proportions of women teachers in junior and senior middle
schools were 45.9 percent and 41.7 percent, respectively; and the
proportions of full-time women teachers in secondary vocational
schools and institutions of higher learning was 46.5 percent and
42.5 percent, respectively.
For many years, the Chinese government has paid great attention
to eliminating illiteracy among women, curbing emergence of new
women illiterates, and preventing women from becoming illiterates
again. Its policy priority in this respect is to promote
illiteracy-elimination education for women in poor areas and areas
inhabited by ethnic minorities. Relevant government departments and
the All-China Women's Federation have jointly launched the
Illiteracy-elimination Program among Women. In 2004, the illiteracy
rate among women 15 years of age and above in urban areas was 8.2
percent, a decrease of 5.7 percentage points from that of 1995; the
illiteracy rate among women 15 years of age and above in rural
areas was 16.9 percent, a decrease of 10.5 percentage points from
that of 1995. The illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged women
across the country was 4.2 percent, a drop of 5.2 percentage points
from that of 1995, and the rate of decrease is higher than the rate
of decrease of illiteracy among the general population.
The state has made energetic endeavors to develop vocational
education, adult education and technical education, the level of
lifelong education of women has been raised and the gap between the
genders narrowed. According to the fifth national census, conducted
in 2000, the average number of years of education of Chinese women
was seven - one and a half years more than in 1990 - and the gap
between the genders had been narrowed by half a year in that
decade. In 2004 alone, the number of women studying at
correspondence and night schools and other higher learning
institutions for adults stood at 2.09 million, 50 percent of the
total number of students of such educational institutions.
In recent years the state has intensified efforts to train women
in vocational skills. By adopting various training methods, the
state aims to help women in urban areas enhance their competitive
abilities, to help women in rural areas get better harvests and
become well-off, and to help migrant workers (including women)
become better qualified for the labor market.
VI. Women and Health
The Chinese government considers women's health an area of
priority in promoting gender equality and the development of women.
Over the past decade, the state has promulgated and implemented
such statutes as the Law of the People's Republic of China on
Health Protection of Mothers and Infants and Law of the People's
Republic of China on Population and Family Planning. It has also
set the goals for women's health in the Outline for the
Development of Chinese Women. The state has continuously
increased its monetary input to improve the health of women and
infants. It has gradually improved the women's healthcare service
network. By the end of 2004, there were 2,997 healthcare institutes
for women and children throughout China, with 243,000 beds for
women.
Paying great attention to satisfying women's demands for
healthcare service at all periods of their life, and extending
women's life expectancy. For years, the healthcare departments at
all levels have considered the examination and treatment of
gynecological diseases routine work. Every year, over one third of
married women under the age of 65 across China go through
examinations for gynecological diseases. In 2004, some 37.3 percent
of them had this examination. The government also pays attention to
the health of teenagers and elderly women. It has launched
educational campaigns in schools and neighborhood communities on
knowledge about sex and the prevention of AIDS, so as to raise
female teenagers' awareness of the importance of a healthy sex life
and strengthen their self-protection ability. Scientific healthcare
methods are disseminated through many channels, and more and more
special outpatient services are available for elderly women,
providing consultancy on healthcare and related services. As a
result, the quality of life of elderly women has improved markedly.
The average life expectancy for women was 74 years in 2003.
Lowering the mortality rate of women in pregnancy and childbirth
to ensure the safety of the mother. In the 2000-2001 period, the
state invested 200 million yuan in a project intended to "lower the
mortality rate of women in pregnancy and childbirth and eliminate
tetanus among the newborn," which covered 378 state-level poor
counties. From 2002 to 2005, the central treasury and relevant
local areas allocated an additional 400 million yuan for the
continuation of this project, extending it to 1,000 counties and
benefiting more than 300 million people. Over the past few years,
hundreds of thousands of poor women have delivered children safely
thanks to the support of this project. In addition, the Chinese
government has made efforts to improve child delivery conditions in
clinics in townships (towns). By taking measures such as opening
emergency green channels for women in childbirth and giving
financial support to poor women in childbirth, it has increased the
number of women in the countryside who go to hospital to give
birth, thereby increasing the safety of the mothers. In the past
decade, the mortality rate of women in childbirth has declined
steadily - from 61.9 per 100,000 in 1995 to 48.3 per 100,000 in
2004.
Actively promoting high-quality family planning services in line
with the people-first principle to guarantee women's right to
family planning. In 1995, out of consideration for women's
reproductive health, the Chinese government launched the project of
providing high-quality family planning services in line with the
people-first principle. Centered on the demands of women of
childbearing age, it informs women of their choices in terms of
contraceptive methods, and encourages men to get involved in
reproductive health activities. In addition, it gives adolescent
girls consultancy on reproductive health. Over the past decade,
this project has been promoted in more than 800 counties (cities,
districts) all over China, satisfying the demand of women for
family planning services and safeguarding their rights in this
respect.
Making every effort to provide healthcare services to migrant
women. As the population of migrants moving between rural and urban
areas keeps increasing, the state, by following the principle of
equal treatment, appropriate guidance, better management and
quality services, has made great efforts to provide migrant women
with the same family planning preferential policies and technical
services as enjoyed by women with permanent residence. The
Outline for the Development of Chinese Women emphasizes
that the healthcare of pregnant women and women in childbirth among
the migrant population should be included in the healthcare
services for such women in the places they migrate to. The relevant
government departments at all levels are exploring a special mode
of healthcare service for migrant women in the neighborhood
communities. Using a variety of channels, they provide education
and consultancy on healthy sex and reproduction. They organize
migrant women to have medical checkups, distribute contraceptive
devices to them free of charge and give free services to poor
migrant women in childbirth. These measures have improved the
health of migrant women substantially.
Strengthening the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, showing
special concern for women in this regard. In recent years, the
state has paid great attention to the prevention and treatment of
AIDS, set up the State Council Work Committee on the Prevention and
Treatment of AIDS, and earmarked extra funds for this purpose. As a
result, practical effects have been achieved in the prevention and
treatment of AIDS. Faced with the trend of more and more women
being infected with HIV/AIDS, the state considers the prevention of
the spread of AIDS from mother to baby an important part of the
healthcare work for women and children. In order to find an
intervention mode and experience suited to China's conditions, a
team made up of specialists has been created to do pilot work
regarding the prevention of AIDS, stemming the spread of AIDS from
mother to baby free of charge, showing special concern for pregnant
women tested HIV positive and their babies. Relevant government
departments have launched campaigns to educate the public about the
prevention and treatment of AIDS, and provide relevant services,
promote the use of condoms, and get more men involved in AIDS
prevention so as to reduce the number of women infected. On World
AIDS Day in 2004, activities were launched throughout China under
the theme "Show Concern for Women, Say No to AIDS."
Encouraging NGOs to launch various activities to promote women's
healthcare and widely carry out international cooperation. One of
the many programs launched by the All-China Women's Federation is
known as "Health Express for Mother," in which face-to-face
publicity and educational activities under the theme "Stay away
from AIDS to Benefit the Whole Family" were organized in 51 areas
for the prevention and treatment of AIDS in a comprehensive way.
The Family Planning Association of China has launched programs in
which children and young people teach each other knowledge about
the prevention of venereal diseases and AIDS in universities and
middle schools, and among migrant teenagers. In the countryside,
the association combines efforts to help women increase their
income with healthcare for women and children, as well as family
planning, effectively improving women's health conditions. In
recent years, the Chinese government has conducted international
cooperation with many international organizations, including the
United Nations Fund for Population Activities, United Nations
Children Fund, United Nations Development Fund for Women, World
Bank, World Health Organization, and Joint United Nations Program
on HIV/AIDS, in the fields of hygiene for women and children,
reproductive health, family planning, and the prevention and
treatment of AIDS. This cooperation has produced good results. More
than one third of the capital for programs to assist China under
the management and coordination of the Ministry of Commerce is used
to support healthcare services for women and children.
VII. Women, Marriage and the
Family
In the early 1950s, the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of
China, the first law promulgated since the founding of New China in
1949, clearly stipulated women's equal status in marriage and the
family. The revised Marriage Law, promulgated in 2001, reiterated
the basic principle of equality between men and women, stressed the
equal status of husband and wife and their equal rights and
responsibilities in marriage and the family, and, in consideration
of actual situation, added articles forbidding domestic violence
and bigamy with the clear aim of protecting women's rights. Today,
women have a lot more say in decision-making concerning their own
marriage and play a bigger role in family decisions, and their
personal and property rights are better protected.
Adhering to the basic national policy of family planning and
advocating late marriage and late childbirth. Over the last decade,
the rate of early marriage among women has dropped, the average age
for first marriage has gone up, and the general childbirth rate was
kept at a fairly low level - 1.8 per couple in 2004. In the course
of promoting family planning, the state stresses gender
consciousness in society while respecting women's rights concerning
childbirth, integrating family planning with the promotion of
gender equality. The Law on Population and Family Planning,
implemented since 2002, further stipulates that husband and wife
must both be responsible for family planning, thus providing
favorable conditions for gender equality in family life.
Greatly developing social welfare undertakings, giving priority
to community public services that directly concern family life with
the aim of socializing housework, and enabling women to have more
free time. In tandem with the rapid development of housework
services, the rate of expenditure on such services is increasing.
The prevalence of household appliances and the development of
nurseries and kindergartens, as well as the increased percentage of
housework shared by men have all lightened women's housework burden
and further narrowed the gap in housework time between men and
women.
Protecting girls' and baby girls' legal rights to subsistence
and development and cutting down the disparity in number between
baby boys and girls. The Law on Population and Family Planning
forbids fetus gender identification by means of ultrasonic and
other technical methods for non-medical purposes, and forbids
termination of pregnancy out of consideration for a fetus' gender
for non-medical purposes. In recent years, government departments
concerned have initiated the drive to "Bringing a New Ethos of
Marriage and Childbirth to Myriads of Households," to further
stress equality between men and women and promote social esteem for
both male and female babies. In 2003, the "Care-for-Girl Action"
started, which put forward the ideas that "gender discrimination
should be eradicated from the prenatal stage and gender equality
should be stressed in early childhood." Through wide and intensive
publicity, the action is aimed at establishing, step by step, an
interest-oriented mechanism favorable for girls and their family
development, changing the traditional preference for boys to girls,
safeguarding girls' legitimate rights and interests, and striving
to enhance their status in the family.
Paying due attention to protecting elderly women's legitimate
rights and interests, and raising their status in marriage and the
family. To provide legal and institutional guarantees for the
protection of the rights and interests of elderly people of whom
women form the majority, the state has formulated a series of laws
and policies over the last decade, with the Law of the People's
Republic of China on the Protection of Rights and Interests of the
Aged as the core. The Chinese government is especially concerned
about the special problems of elderly women, and provides
guarantees for their basic subsistence and protection of their
legitimate rights and interests. The state also encourages the
development of undertakings and industries aimed at serving elderly
people, and gradually achieving the goal of offering socialized
services for the aged. It also pays attention to ensuring the
physical and mental health of elderly women, and enriching their
spiritual and cultural life.
Striving to create a household environment featuring respect for
women and gender equality. In September 2001, the state promulgated
the Implementation Outline for the Project for Enhancing the Moral
Standards of Chinese Citizens, which sets forth the ideas of
achieving equality between men and women in family life, respecting
and protecting women's legitimate rights and interests, and
opposing discrimination against and persecution of women. The
outline also advocates making one's own decision in love and
marriage, and promoting the new civilized ethos of "respect for the
elderly and care for the young, equality between men and women,
industrious and thrifty household management, and harmonious family
life and neighborly unity." With great support from the government,
a sound environment for gender equality in household affairs is
taking shape.
Actively promoting international exchanges and cooperation in
the aspect of families. The Chinese government has all along
actively participated in UN resolutions, consultations and other
activities concerning family issues. China joined the World Family
Organization in 2001 and attended the United Nations Doha
International Conference on the Family in 2004. China supports the
Doha Declaration in its encouragement of equal partnership between
husband and wife within a committed marital relationship, and
condemns domestic violence. In the same year, China hosted the
World Family Summit, and advocated that gender equality should
begin in the family, to foster a harmonious partnership among
family members.
VIII. Women and the
Environment
The Chinese government has continuously tried to optimize
women's living and development environment, to bring their role
into full play in protecting and improving the environment, and to
enable women to live and develop in a sound environment.
Formulating a strategic goal for women to participate in
sustainable development. In accordance with China's Agenda 21 and
the requirement for reaching the goal of the Outline for the
Development of Chinese Women, governments at all levels have
actively encouraged women's participation in scientific research,
evaluation, planning, designing, supervision and management of the
environment. At present, quite a number of women are serving in
departments related to environmental protection at various levels,
some even taking leading positions, with about 30 percent of
environmental monitoring and law-enforcement officials in the
country being female. The state encourages women to take an active
part in non-governmentally organized environmental protection
activities. With the support of the government, the All-China
Women's Federation has waged social mobilization and publicity
campaigns, such as the March 8 Green Project, which involves over
100 million women volunteers a year in tree planting, shelterbelt
construction and small drainage area control. In 1999, the
All-China Women's Federation won the Global 500 Award of the United
Nations Environment Program. In addition, some environmental
protection NGOs initiated and participated in by women have urged
enterprises to assume more social responsibilities, promoted green
production and lifestyle, and played an active role in training and
mobilizing the public to participate in environmental
protection.
Protecting and improving the natural and living conditions for
women's subsistence and development. In the past decade, with
marked improvement in living conditions for both urban and rural
residents, the average housing space and greenbelt area per person
have increased by a large margin. The building and opening of many
cultural, sport and recreational facilities has resulted in more
public space for women and created favorable conditions for them to
improve their quality of life. In recent years, the government has
made great efforts to upgrade public toilets and water sewage
treatment, and raise the rate of use of tap water and sanitary
toilets in rural areas. From 2001 to 2004, the central government
earmarked 9.7 billion yuan to solve the problem of drinking water
for rural residents, providing safe drinking water for an average
of 6.9 million rural women a year. In 2004, as many as 53.1 percent
of rural households in China had access to sanitary toilets. The
sanitary disposal rate of night soil in rural areas rose quickly
from 28.5 percent in 1998 to 57.5 percent in 2004. The upgrading of
public toilets and sewage facilities has eased the heavy burden of
many rural women to carry water, and reduced health hazards for
them and their family members, thus effectively improving their
living and development conditions.
Actively creating a social environment conducive to gender
equality and women's development, and gradually eliminating social
prejudice, discrimination and suppression of women. The state has
strengthened its publicity work concerning the basic national
policy of gender equality. Officials in charge of government
departments concerned and leaders of provinces (autonomous regions
and municipalities directly under the central government) have
published articles in the central and local mass media to expound
the importance of gender equality for social development, and
confirm women's role and contributions to the economy and all
social sectors. A large number of programs and reports promoting
gender equality and women's rights and interests, and showing
women's talents, have been published, shown and broadcast in
newspapers and on TV and radio programs. Besides, the government
supports women's organizations to cooperate with the mass media in
running programs to demonstrate women's functions in and
contributions to social and economic development, and encourages
them to use and attain access to information resources. With the
wide application of the Internet in China, many women organizations
have created their own websites, which have become an important
means to publicize the idea of gender equality and promote women's
development.
IX. Legal Guarantees of Women's
Rights and Interests
The state's legal system for protecting women's legitimate
rights and interests has been improved constantly. In the last
decade, China has enacted and revised, in succession, the Marriage
Law, the Population and Family Planning Law, the Law on Rural Land
Contracting, and the Law on Protection of Rights and Interests of
Women, and promulgated and implemented over 100 rules and
regulations concerning the protection of women's rights and
interests, such as the Regulations on Implementing the Law on
Mother and Infant Healthcare.
Gradually setting up a socialized work mechanism for protecting
women's rights and interests. The state has established a national
coordination group for the protection of women's and children's
rights and interests, composed of members from 19 government
departments. Some courts have established specialized tribunals to
accept and adjudicate civil cases involving the protection of
women's rights and interests, and people's jurors from women's
federations and other relevant organs are invited by the courts to
participate directly in the hearing of such cases. The state has
made positive efforts to cultivate gender awareness among law
enforcement and judicial officials, bringing into full play
judicial officials' role in safeguarding women's rights. The state
also sets store by increasing the number of female judicial
officials and their ratio in the total number. In 2004, female
judges and procurators accounted for 22.7 percent and 21.7 percent
of the total numbers, up 5.9 percentage points and 5 percentage
points, respectively, as compared with 1995.
Holding legal aid and publicity activities concerning the legal
system for safeguarding women's legitimate rights and interests. To
ensure that women's legitimate rights and interests are properly
protected, the relevant department of the Chinese government issued
a special notice, stressing that no legal aid institutions, law
firms, notarization institutions or grassroots legal service
institutions may decline to handle or postpone without proper
reason an accusation, appeal or prosecution that involves
infringement on women's rights and interests. Moreover, legal
service fees should be reduced or exempted for women in straitened
circumstances. The Regulations on Legal Aid, put into effect in
China in 2003, expressly stipulates that it is the government's
responsibility to provide legal aid, and citizens in straitened
circumstances can obtain legal aid free of charge, which therefore
provides material aid to impoverished women against infringement of
their rights. By the end of 2004, 3,023 governmental legal aid
institutions had been established in China. In addition, the
Chinese government also supports NGOs' efforts to set up hotlines
to protect women's rights and legal consultation centers to provide
legal aid and similar services for women. China is now engaged in
its fourth five-year publicity campaign. Highlighted in the
publicity activities are the Law on Protection of Rights and
Interests of Women, the Labor Law, the Marriage Law, the Population
and Family Planning Law, and the Law on Rural Land Contracting, all
of which are closely related to women's rights and interests.
Combating domestic violence against women and taking practical
measures to solve the problem. The Criminal Law, the Criminal
Procedure Law, the General Rules of the Civil Law, the Marriage
Law, and the Law on Protection of Rights and Interests of Women all
forbid violence against women by anyone and in any form.
Legislation and judicial practice both stress that those who have
committed domestic violence against women shall be penalized in
civil and criminal terms according to the seriousness of the
violence, and active legal aids should be provided to the victims.
In recent years, local statutes outlawing domestic violence have
been enacted in some areas, and by the end of 2004 some 22
provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the
central government) had formulated such rules, policies and
measures. Besides, the Chinese government has cooperated actively
with NGOs to launch intervening projects, as well as vigorous
publicity, education and training activities; set up alarm centers,
injury assessment centers and women's aid stations; open
anti-domestic-violence hotlines; and provide multiple services for
female victims, including consultation, shelter, medical care and
psychological help.
Stringently cracking down on crimes of abducting and trafficking
in women. The charges for abduction, trafficking in and buying
women were revised and added to the Criminal Law in 1997, and the
penalties for such crimes were made more severe. The Supreme
People's Court has laid down judicial interpretations on the
related legal clauses to facilitate their execution. In recent
years, public security organs throughout the country have taken a
series of special actions to crack down on the abducting of and
trafficking in women and children, set up transfer, training and
rehabilitating centers for rescued women and children. All these
actions have achieved remarkable results. Meanwhile, the public
security and judicial organs have made the crackdown on the crimes
of abducting and trafficking in women and children an important
field of international cooperation, and have signed agreements on
bilateral police service cooperation and treaties on judicial
assistance in criminal cases with related countries in joint
undertakings to prevent and crack down on crimes of abducting and
trafficking in women and children.
Protecting the legal rights of female criminals and criminal
suspects. The state strictly observes the system of separate jails
and management for male and female criminals, with female criminals
directly managed by policewomen. Women doctors are assigned to
female criminals, and the latter are allowed to spend festivals
with their minor children. Education in law, culture and vocations
suitable for female criminals' physiology and psychology, and a
rich variety of cultural and sport activities are conducted to help
their rehabilitation.
Conclusion
It is obvious to all that great progress has been achieved in
the promotion of gender equality and women's development in China
over the past decade.
At the same time, the Chinese government is highly aware that,
restricted by the country's limited level of economic and social
development, especially in the process of economic restructuring
and in establishing and improving a socialist market economic
system, China is confronted with new situations and problems in its
efforts to promote gender equality and women's development. Chinese
women have become increasingly more diversified in their social
status, and thus their needs for subsistence, development and
protection of their rights and interests also vary. There is an
obvious imbalance in the development of women in different regions,
social status and groups; the outmoded conventions and custom of
inequality between men and women handed down from China's history
and culture have not yet been completely eradicated, and women's
rights and interests are still being infringed upon to varying
degrees in some areas. There is a long way to go and arduous tasks
to tackle to achieve gender equality and promote women's
development in China to a satisfactory level.
In the new historical stage of building a comparatively well-off
society in an all-round way, the Chinese government aims, from the
strategic height of building a harmonious socialist society in the
light of China's national conditions, to promote the scientific
concept of people-oriented, overall, coordinated and sustainable
development, further implement the basic national policy of
equality between men and women, safeguard women's rights and
interests according to law, put into effect the requirements for
the goals of the Outline for the Development of Chinese
Women, and strive to ensure that women enjoy the same rights
as men in politics, economy, culture, society and family life. The
Chinese government will continue its efforts to encourage all
social sectors to help promote gender equality and women's
development, strengthen its exchanges and cooperation with the
United Nations and other international organizations concerned and
the governments of various countries, and make active contributions
to promoting worldwide equality, development and peace.
(China.org.cn August 24, 2005)
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