More Women Should Be in Top China Posts, Says Senior Official

Too few of China's top political posts are held by women, despite them playing an active role at the local level, according to a senior Chinese official.

Huang Qingyi, the vice-president of the All-China Women's Federation, said women were better represented than at any point in the country's history, but warned that their numbers still fell far short of male counterparts and that gender inequality persisted.

"There needs to be more female leaders in more senior positions in China," she told a press conference ahead of next month's tenth National Women's Congress. "And that includes the very highest leadership."

Currently, there are only eight women among the dozens of decision-makers at the national level in China, she said. Women accounted for just 21% of deputies at the National People's Congress this year, and 18% of members at the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Yet, at the local level, women account for more than 48% of the members of urban residents' committees, and about 23% of villagers' committees, she said.

"It is not because there is a lack of good female cadres, it is just hard for them to reach the senior level," agreed Professor Lu Ying, of the SunYat-Sen University school of law. She pointed to the relative glut of senior women leaders in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Male cadres often had more respect for other men and were more likely to help them onto the next rung of the party ladder, said Lu. Valuable changes were taking place, but the reform and opening-up process had halted some of the early advances made under Communist rule.

"In the 50s, after the liberation, there was the gender equality marriage law, and 20 to 30% of the base level leaders were women. But economic reform and development has forced the cultivation of 'golden eagles' [the elite] - but not women. It becomes detached from ordinary people, and civil society, and it will not help cultivate women [leaders]," she said.

Lu cited Wu Yi - China's internationally respected "iron lady", who retired as vice premier this year - as a good example of someone who had the ability to be premier but lacked the opportunity. Wu was renowned for her tough negotiating style and was lauded for the way she tackled the Sars cover-up.