Women's Engagement in Politics and Decision Making

(A) Efforts and Progress

1. Laws and regulations as well as policies have been improved in women's political engagement

The Villagers' Committee Organization Law revised in 2010 states that each villagers' committee should contain women members (Article 6) and women should account for more than one-third of village representatives (Article 25). In May 2013, the Ministry of Civil Affairs launched the Election Procedures for the Villagers' Committee, stipulating the following provisions to ensure female presence in the committee: "Women shall account for an appropriate quota in the candidates, and where there is no female candidate, the woman winning the most votes shall be selected as a candidate." "Where there is no female candidate elected as the chief or deputy chief of the village committee while  there are female candidates winning the majority of votes, the female candidate winning the most votes should be above all elected as a committee member, with other elected people admitted into the committee sequentially in accordance with their number of votes; If no female candidate gets the majority of votes, an additional seat for a female member should be picked out from the original quota until a woman is elected as the committee member, with other elected people admitted into the committee sequentially in accordance with their number of votes." And also, "any villagers' committee without a female member should incorporate at least one woman through election."

2. The outline of the national development plan sets out goals and initiatives for facilitating women's political engagement

The Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2011-2020) released in 2011 stipulates specific goals for women's engagement in decision making and governance: The leadership of a local government above the county level shall contain at least one female cadre, and the proportion should be gradually increased; the number of women cadres in state organs and ministries as well as governmental sectors at provincial and prefecture levels should also grow step by step; The proportion of female cadres serving as principals should be raised in local government departments across all levels above the county level, the proportions of female members and chiefs in the villagers' committee should increase to more than 30 and 10 percent respectively.The National Human Rights Action Plans of China (2012-2015) enacted by the State Council in 2012 also sets out goals to facilitate women's political engagement, such as engaging more female members in the NPC and CPPCC at both the state and local levels, ensuring at least one female member in the leadership of people's congress and CPPCC at county, provincial and municipal levels. Efforts should be made to gradually increase the proportion of women in the boards of directors and supervisors as well as in the senior management across businesses. The proportion of female representatives should be raised at the employee assembly and the faculty congress.

3. Government departments and NGOs have entered close cooperation to improve the proportion and competence of women in political decision making

In July 2014, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the ACWF held a joint symposium on the re-election of "two village committees," requiring all localities to incorporate the following terms when developing re-election-related opinions and programs: "two village committees" shall have at least one female member each, and shall contain the head of the village conference of women representatives, while the proportion of female members and principals in each committee shall be higher over the previous session. The Organization Department stipulated the plan to hold two special training sessions for women cadres each year, which was included in its cadre training schedule. In March and September 2014, the Organization Department, the ACWF and the Chinese Academy of Governance jointly organized two training courses on women's leadership development, with about 100 women cadres at the ministerial level trained. In 2011, the ACWF in cooperation with the UN Women launched a four-year project of facilitating Chinese women's political participation. Also, the ACWF worked with the Li Ka Shing Foundation to initiate a plan called Qi Pu (carving jade) between 2010 and 2012, training women cadres at the two village committees. On this basis, the Ministry of Civil Affairs collaborated with the Foundation to launch a successive plan called Zhan Pu (polishing jade), a project for rural community development as well as for capacity building across the two committees and grass-roots cadres responsible for civil affairs administration (2013-2016). Some local women's federations, as well as the Cultural Development Center for Rural Women, the Shaanxi Research Society of Women-related Theory, Marriage and Family, the Beijing Zhongze Women's Legal Consulting Services Center and other women's NGOs are also working closely with the government to advance women's political engagement through policy innovation, advocacy and capacity building, etc.

4. New progress has been made to rebuild women's voice in power and decision-making

First, the proportion of women engaged in politics at all levels has increased. Female representatives accounted for 23.4 percent of the total in 12th NPC 2013, 2.1 percentage points higher over the previous session (2008). The proportion of female members elected at 12th CPPCC was 17.8 percent, up 0.1 percentage point accordingly and recording a historical high since the beginning of reform and opening up. In 2009, female cadres accounted for 11.0 percent of the total compared to their male colleagues holding the same position at above provincial and ministerial levels, 3.4 percentage points higher over 1999; the figures at prefectural and county levels were respectively 13.7 and 16.4 percent, accordingly 3.5 and 1.4 percentage points higher compared with that in 1999 In 2012, the proportion of women members in villagers' committees was 22.1 percent, up 6.4 percentage points over 2000 In several villages in Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Anhui and some other provinces, female villager representatives accounted for 40 to 60 percent of the total.

Second, women engaged in political decision making have become more aware and capable of political affairs. The data from the third session of Chinese women's social status survey showed that the willingness, initiative and proportion of women engaged in various political activities were significantly higher than that of average women, exhibiting no significant difference from males. Besides, females engaged in political decision making have relatively strong gender awareness and hold a more positive attitude toward women's political participation.

Third, awareness and political participation of average women have also increased. According to Chinese women's social status survey in 2010, compared with 2000, women's attention to political affairs and the proportion of their engagement in democratic management, supervision and public service activities as well as in social organizations raised, with 52 percent of the members of social organizations being women, outnumbering men; among participants in social welfare organizations and community governance and activities, the proportion of women reached 56.2 and 61.6 percent respectively.

(B) Gaps and Challenges

1. Some unsatisfactory conditions remain in women's political engagement, such as a relatively low proportion and insufficient female principals in decision-making bodies

The proportion of women in power and decision-making at all levels is still way off from the targeted 30 percent advocated by the United Nations, while the proportion of female NPC representatives keeps on declining in terms of the rankings of female members at the International Parliamentary Union, standing at 62nd (September 2014) down from the 12th in 1994 . The proportion of women in the Standing Committee of 12th NPC 2013 was 15.5 percent, down 0.7 percentage point compared with the previous session . In the field of political engagement and decision-making, the low proportion of women principals remained almost the same. For instance, the proportion of women cadres serving as principals at the provincial level accounted for only 6.5 percent , and mainly in education, science, culture and health sectors as well as collective organizations.

2. Laws and policies on women's engagement in politics need to be further improved

Laws and policies lack specific requirement on the proportion of women in political decision making, coupled with the low threshold settings and the lack of non-compliance penalties, impeding effective enforcement. In the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses revised in 2010, provisions regarding female representatives of the people's congress were modified as "there should be an appropriate number of female representatives, the proportion of which shall be gradually increased," being an expression in principle instead of in practice and resulting in barriers in execution. The Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2011-2020) puts forward a goal that the leadership group of a local government above the county level shall contain at least one female cadre, and the proportion should be gradually increased, requiring the number rather than the proportion, thus not conducive to an enhanced proportion of women in government leadership. Few legal and policy provisions are mandatory relating to the proportion of women in politics, lacking penalties and remedies upon non-compliance.

3. Law and policy enforcement mechanisms are yet to be evolved regarding women's political participation 

Above all, there is an imbalance in policy implementation, with some places adopting more radical objectives and higher standards for women's political participation, even more than the national laws and policies have required, while some localities lack of practical actions and just repeat the  national laws policies verbally. Next, there are not effective supporting measures to guarantee the proportion of female decision makers. Congress electoral rules, including but not limited to quota allocation, demarcation of constituencies, listing of candidates and other rules, may have resulted in unfavorable results for women candidates. The systems for cadre selection and training have not taken into full account the special needs and the growth pattern of women cadres, failing to pave way for their career enhancement. A retirement system flawed in gender inequality has also imposed adverse impact on the training and selection of women cadres. In addition, training for women cadres, especially key women members at the grass-roots level, remains inadequate. The training is not clearly targeted and contains few gender mainstreaming courses. Disproportionate access to training resources as well as shortage of funds also constituted big challenges.

4. There remain adverse social and cultural factors against women's political engagement

In the social and cultural context, factors impeding women's political participation include the following: inadequate public awareness of women's participation in politics, almost unchanged dual-functionality assigned to women based on conventional roles of two genders, difficulty for females to get rid of the male-centered political culture given the male-dominated authority and decision-making procedures. According to the third session of Chinese women's social status survey, people endorsing the views such as "women are outperformed by men" or "women are not born to lead" accounted for more than 10 percent of the respondents, while nearly 30 percent of the public disagreed "to keep roughly equal numbers of men and women on leadership positions". Besides, 39.0 percent of women engaged in politics agreed "to sacrifice personal development opportunities for the family", a proportion nearly 10 percent higher than that of men engaged in politics.

(C) Suggestions in Response

1. Laws and policies to promote women's political participation should be bettered

In formulating and amending the relevant laws and regulations, we should specify the requirements for the proportion of women in political decision making based on the realities in China with a pursuit to the goal of 30 percent advocated by the United Nations; compensative and punitive measures should also be included in case of violations.

2. Supporting measures to promote women's political participation should be furthered

Congress electoral rules should be amended, so that female candidates can get the same opportunities as men in respect of quota allocation, demarcation of constituencies, listing of candidates and other arrangements. The systems for cadre selection and training should be restructured, taking into full account the special needs and the growth pattern of women cadres. A retirement system characterized by gender equality should be applied, enabling women cadres to balance between work and family. The presence of women in democratic management and supervision should be enhanced in democratization.

3. Women cadres and key women leaders at grassroots should be further trained 

In cadre training programs, the proportion of female trainees in various types of cadres should be specified, with special training sessions offered for women cadres, featuring targeted content and approach based on their nature and needs. More training opportunities should be delivered to key women leaders at grassroots.

4. It is necessary to strive for a favorable social environment for women's political engagement

It is recommended that policy makers at all levels should attend training on gender awareness and the importance of women's participation in politics, making them more willing to promote women's presence in politics. The basic state policy of gender equality and women's political significance should be publicized universally in the whole society, setting successful examples and positive images of women in politics to raise public awareness of women's voice in political issues. Shared family responsibilities between men and women should be encouraged to create a friendly family environment for women's political participation.

(Women of China)