Chinese officials painted a bright picture of gender equality in the country this month, saying more women are entering the workforce, getting a basic education and moving into positions of power in government.
However, women have yet to break into the highest echelon in the Communist Party. And other recent reports have painted a more grim portrait of their daily lives in China.
Calling the advances “remarkable achievements,” Huang Qingyi, vice chairwoman of the National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council, said Chinese women make up 45 percent of the workforce and account for about 40 percent of government positions.
“The number of female cadres has increased rapidly with an increasing participation in the political affairs of China,” Huang said in a briefing. “Currently in China there are nine female state leaders; that’s five more than 2001.”
By the end of 2005, Huang said 241 officials at provincial or ministerial levels were women.
Since the implementation of two programs aimed at improving the lives of women and children in 2001, more than 4 million rural women have been lifted out of poverty, according to Huang. Women’s average life expectancy reached 74.1 years, and infant mortality rate dropped by 41 percent. Virtually all young people attend the compulsory nine years of school, and literacy among the young and middle-aged last year reached 98 percent, she said.
Despite the government’s glowing statements, other reports have been less optimistic about the situation of women and the rural poor.
According to a census data reported in the China Daily last month, the number of Chinese who can’t read grew by 30 million over the past five years to 116 million.
The traditional Chinese preference for boys also has led to a high rate of abortions, often aimed at preventing the birth of girls. The result has been a birth ratio of about 119 boys to every 100 girls.
This gender imbalance means men will have a harder time finding wives, which experts say could lead to more prostitution and more kidnappings and trafficking of women.
The misery of some impoverished rural Chinese women is evident in the country’s high suicide rate. According to the World Health Organization, China is the only country where more women than men commit suicide. Every year, an estimated 1.5 million women reportedly try to kill themselves and about 150,000 succeed, the government reports.
