Women Hold 41% of Political Power in NW China's Qinghai

Women held 41 percent of senior government positions in northwest China's Qinghai Province as of late 2013, according to the latest statistics released by the province's women's federation.

The percentage, well above the national average of 38.5 percent, indicates that the women of Qinghai are more involved in the policy-making process.

Data shows that in 2013, there were women officials in all leading groups of the Provincial Party Committee, People's Congress, government and the Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). At the municipal level, there were women officials in nearly 90 percent of the party committee and government leadership groups; and at county level, the percentages of Party Committee and government leadership groups with women officials were about 98 percent and 88 percent respectively.

Women accounted for 22.4 percent of all deputies to the 12th Qinghai People's Congress and provincial legislature, and about 24 percent of the total membership of the 11th Qinghai Committee of the CPPCC, the province's advisory body.

Among Qinghai's members that attended the 12th CPPCC in 2013, 12.5 percent were women.

According to a Guangzhou Daily report, the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), held in 2007, clarified for the first time the desired ratio of female deputies and stated that the female proportion for the 11th NPC should be no less than 22 percent, in order to further bolster women's influence on major polices and to reflect the importance of women's rights and interests.

The percentage of female deputies in China's top legislature has remained at around 20 percent since the election of the 5th NPC deputies, in 1978.

The ratio of female deputies in the 2013 NPC reached a record high, with 23.4 percent — or 699 out of a total of 2,987 — being women.

Despite that, Chinese women are still underrepresented when looked at through the lens of the United Nations' criteria: The United Nations has suggested that the female delegation in congress or other legislatures should attain at least 30 percent.

Statistics from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an international organization of parliaments, showed that Chinese women's political representation ranked 60th in the world by the end of 2011.

Consequently, proposals on women's welfare and interests made up only 1.4 percent of all NPC deputies' proposals in 2011.

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