Status of Women

A new hotline for the protection of women's rights opened in Shanghai on June 15. The new line merges two preexisting local Shanghai hotlines for counseling on legal issues and domestic violence and will now offer legal, psychological, and social assistance and advice for callers from across China. The line will be staffed by members of the Human Rights Network of the Shanghai Women's Federation. Counselors include lawyers, psychologists, and sociologists, as well as a few senior police officials and judges. Another recent women's self-help effort is Women's Watch - China, which was started in Beijing in April 2005 to coordinate the work of women activists across several fields.

According to an article appearing on the Ministry of Justice Web site and citing education officials, new regulations now being drafted will lift longstanding prohibitions against the marriage and pregnancy of both undergraduate and graduate students. Over the past few years, many Chinese schools have relaxed restrictions on student marriages to varying extents, but bans on student pregnancies remain common. Women students who become pregnant, including graduate students wishing to have children before finishing their studies, often risk expulsion. If passed, the amended regulations would be a positive step in ensuring that Chinese students have the right to choose when to start a family.

2003年12月16日 星期二 第二次中国妇女地位调查结果显示―― 为什么女性领导人偏少 　　众所周知，中国政府高层领导中，女性的比例仍然很低。对两性权力参与比例的看法，是人的社会性别观念的一种反映。联合国规定各国女议员不得低于３０％，如果低于３０％，在体现女性群体利益方面，女领导人难以对决策过程和结果产生影响力。中国共产党和政府之所以要规定女性从政比例（远远低于３０％），是因为在目前女性处于弱势地位，以国家政策协助消除对妇女的歧视，以国家干预的方式提升妇女的地位，使之与男性平等，是十分必要的，是实行男女平等的必要手段。同时，规定女性从政比例符合民主的原则。有一定数量的妇女参与制定政策，可以避免因女性在决策中缺席所可能导致的决策内容上强制性和偏见，以及决策过程不公平等情况。 　　从第二次中国妇女地位调查的结果看，有８０％的人承认“各级领导班子中女性领导人偏少”，然而对于为什么“女性领导人偏少”的问题，不同群体有不同的看法，对于女性领导人偏少的原因共有五种，被访者入选率的排序依次为“社会对女性有偏见”、“培养、选拔不力”、“女性的领导能力差”、“家人不支持”和“女性不愿当官”。 　　一、被访者中承认“社会对女性有偏见”是女领导人偏少的原因的选择率占首位。这就意味着大多数人承认政治领域存在着性别歧视，承认观念上性别歧视将影响政策制度的制定，影响女性从政的积极性，减少女性从政的机会，从而使从政女性的比例较低。 　　１、城镇被访者的选择率高于农村，女性被访者的选择率高于男性。在被访者中，无论男女、不分城乡，大多数人认为“社会对女性有偏见”是女性领导人偏少的原因。其中，女性的选择率高于男性３个百分点。在农村男性、农村女性、城镇男性和城镇女性四个子群体中，城镇女性的选择率最高，农村男性最低，两者相差７个百分点。可见，对于政治上性别歧视的敏感程度，城镇女性最高，其次是城镇男性、农村女性，敏感度最低的是农村男性。 　　２、青年女性的选择率最高，老年男性的选择率最低，女性选择“社会对女性有偏见”的比例高出男性３．４个百分点。在各年龄段，女性的选择率均高于男性，其中老年人性别差异最大，女性高出男性５．１个百分点。另外，在分年龄分性别的子群体中，老年男性的选择率最低，青年女性的选择率最高。 　　３、文化程度越高，选择率越高。按性别和文化程度对比结果显示，随着文化程度的提高，男女两性承认“社会对女性有偏见”的人越来越多。

Author Jiang Hongbing, writing in the People's Daily, discusses efforts to change rural traditions favoring sons. Jiang notes recent trafficking cases in Inner Mongolia and Guangxi involving large numbers of children acquired from hospitals and clinics. Mostly girls, these infants had been given away, abandoned at the hospital, or even sold.
Jiang concludes that economic development and education, rather than coercion, are key to eliminating son preference. However, she does not question the family planning policy itself.

According to Human Rights in China, a group of peasants in Fujian province has written an open letter appealing for China’s central government to intervene on a case in which police brought in hired thugs to suppress a village protest. HRIC reports that the open letter says that on August 1st, a large group of law enforcement officers and individuals recently released from Reeeducation Through Labor and Reform Through Labor camps arrived at a factory where villagers were staging a sit-in and attacked the villagers, injuring at lease 15 people.