Attendants serve tea for delegates before the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 16, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
HONG KONG 鈥� As Xi Jinping consolidates power at China鈥檚 20th Communist Party Congress this week, Chinese women are not holding their breath for progress in gender equality.
Xi鈥檚 decade as the party鈥檚 general secretary has seen the number of women in politics and elite government roles decline and gender gaps in the workforce widen, academics and activists say. Feminist voices have also been muzzled and in recent years, the government has increasingly emphasized the value of traditional roles for women as mothers and carers, they add.
Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People鈥檚 Republic, famously said 鈥渨omen hold up half the sky鈥� and gender equality is enshrined in the country鈥檚 constitution.
But under Xi, power has become far more concentrated compared to 10-15 years ago when competing coalitions in Chinese politics sought to find favor with women that resulted in more female representation, said Cheng Li, an expert on Chinese politics at Brookings Institution.
鈥淭he trend (now) is usually women serve as a deputy or more symbolic position,鈥� he said.
The congress, held every five years, is poised to see the party鈥檚 highest leadership group 鈥� the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee 鈥� remain, as it has always been, all men.
For the 25-strong Politburo, the only obvious female candidate to join is Shen Yiqin, a provincial party chief. The sole current female member, Sun Chunlan, who has spearheaded China鈥檚 zero-COVID policy, is 72 and expected to retire.
Next in the party鈥檚 hierarchy is the central committee, where women currently comprise 8%, or 30 positions, among its full and alternate members鈥� total of 371. That鈥檚 down from 10% in 2007. And of China鈥檚 31 provincial-level governors, just two are women.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 16, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
The lack of senior female politicians appears to be at odds with a broad push by the Communist Party to increase female representation that saw the proportion of women party members climb to 29% in 2021, up from 24% in 2012.
There have been areas where women have made significant headway in China, most notably in business.
Women accounted for 13.8% of board directors at Chinese firms last year, up from 8.5% in 2016, according to a report by global index provider MSCI. Around 55% of Chinese tech startups are female-founded, the government has also said.
The lack of female leaders in government, however, has meant real setbacks for women, experts say.
鈥淭his really filters down into things that we see in society鈥omen鈥檚 rights, birth rates, gender pay gap and things like domestic abuse,鈥� said Valarie Tan, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies.
The Chinese government body in charge of women鈥檚 rights, the Women鈥檚 Federation, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
According to a September 27 statement on the Federation鈥檚 website, China has made 鈥渟teady progress in women鈥檚 causes鈥� over the past decade and the country鈥檚 women enjoy equal rights.
Good wives, good mothers
At a time when many countries have made progress in closing gender gaps in the workforce, education, health and politics, China now ranks 102nd in the World Economic Forum鈥檚 gender gap rankings of 146 countries, sliding from 69th position in 2012, the year Xi came to power.
鈥淭he environment has certainly gotten worse鈥t doesn鈥檛 mean that it was good before, it has always been bad, just now that exploitation has become more convenient,鈥� said Grace Wang, 28.
Wang said she felt she had been passed over for advancement at a previous job because of her gender and faces similar problems at her current workplace.
鈥淢y current attitude towards my career is just to make enough money to get by.鈥�
In one step forward, China last December flagged plans to overhaul a law in order to give women more protection against discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace 鈥� a review that has had tens of thousands of people suggesting amendments.
That said, experts and activists are concerned by the government鈥檚 ramping up of rhetoric about the value of women鈥檚 traditional roles as it seeks to tackle China鈥檚 demographic crises 鈥� one of the world鈥檚 lowest birth rates, an increasing reluctance to have children and a rapidly ageing population.
In a July 2021 speech, for example, Xi spoke of the importance of gender equality but also said Chinese women should be 鈥済ood wives, good mothers,鈥� and that they should shoulder the 鈥渕ission of their times, closely link their future and destiny with the future and destiny of the motherland.鈥�
Experts also point to more concrete setbacks for women鈥檚 rights.
China will discourage abortions that are not medically necessary, the National Health Authority said in August, sparking an outcry on social media. Similarly, a new law imposing a 30-day cooling-off period after applying for a divorce triggered widespread outrage including by groups concerned for victims of domestic abuse.
Feminist activism, which appeared to be gaining traction in China in 2018 with a fledgling #MeToo movement, is swiftly quashed by the government with the forced cancellation of events, discussions online censored and activists arrested.
鈥淭he feminist movement right now is very weak and lacks freedom to evolve. Many social movements have been silenced and women don鈥檛 have free will,鈥� said Lu Pin, an activist and founder of the defunct online Chinese media channel Feminist Voices who is now New York-based.