Page 133 - Chinese Woman Living and Working

120 LOUISE EDWARDS
comprised 18.5 per cent of construction workers, 38 per cent of agricultural workers,
43 per cent of manufacturing workers, 45 per cent of retail and wholesale workers,
57 per cent of catering workers, 57 per cent of health and welfare workers, 44.5 per cent
of education workers and 33 per cent of workers in the scientific research sector but only
21.5 per cent of employees in Party Agencies and only 24 per cent of those in
Government Agencies (NBSC 2001: 126–7). As I noted in a previous study, ‘it is clear
that despite the government’s rhetoric about gender equality the party and government
sector of the workforce remains one of the most difficult for women to enter’ (Edwards
2000:72). Moreover, given that the real political power in China is held by the CCP and
not the NPC, the comparatively high rates of women’s representation in the latter body
(around 21 per cent) are less impressive than a superficial appraisal would suggest. Policy-
formation power resides with the CCP and the dearth of women in top leadership
positions within the Party exposes the relative weakness of women’s political clout in
post-reform China.
In addition to the low numbers of women in key political positions, Ye Zhonghai also
expressed concern that women politicians congregate in lower levels of the political
hierarchy and that women cadres are not regarded as serious politicians by men. She
explains these factors as resulting from the resilience of sexual inequality in society; that
is, women’s specific functions in society are regarded as being of less value than those of
men. Moreover, traditional notions of women’s inferiority continue to promote the idea
that ‘a strong woman is not as good as a strong man’. Finally, she argues that the double
burden faced by women politicians—home duties and employment duties—limits their
career advancement (Ye Zhonghai 2000:230–3). Lu Yin reiterated the problems of the
‘double burden’ by repeating a common saying: women cadres must work three times
harder than men cadres, have to marshal five times more courage than men, should have
seven times the stamina of men and face twelve times more hardship than men (Lu Yin
1989:18).
One structural problem for women aspiring to enter the PRC’s formal political sector
is the system of indirect elections beyond the level of the county. Individual citizens—
both men and women above the age of 18—vote directly for candidates to their Local
People’s Congress in secret ballots. But the People’s Congresses above the county level,
including the National People’s Congress and its executive committee, the State Council,
are election by People’s Congresses at a lower level. The proportion of women voting
decreases dramatically with each step away from the grass-roots. Wang Yinpeng wrote in
2001 that, while there are no extensive statistical data on the division of voters by sex,
NPC data suggest that women’s involvement in ‘grass-roots’ elections (direct elections)
has stood at above 95 per cent since 1984. In elections above the county level, the
proportion of female voters has been 20 per cent or so because the elections are made
indirectly and the proportions are determined by the proportions of women deputies in
people’s congresses at various levels. Within this system, it becomes increasingly difficult
for any ‘women’s vote’ to emerge because women represent a rapidly diminishing
proportion of the voters as the level of government rises.
However, M.Kent Jennings’ data gathered in 1990 suggest that there is a wide disparity
between men and women in both participatory and spectator engagement in politics