by Hu Yukun

     Women's political participation means women enjoy the equal rights as men to take part in the political, economic and social management in all spheres of life. Women's participation in decision-making is the core and the highest form. To equally share powers between men and women is essential to the empowerment of women. After the Fourth World Conference on Women, in order to turn commitment into action, women's organizations in China have made tremendous and effective efforts in this field. Here we will briefly review the challenges for women's participation in politics, the interaction between women's movement and women's political participation, and the future strategies.

Obstacles for Women's Participation in Decision-Making

     Today in China, when talking about women's political participation in a broader sense, we should say that women's grass-roots democratic participation is somewhat lagging behind if compared with the slight progress in attaining political power in legislative bodies. Along with the increasing gender awareness, more and more women have entered the areas of decision-making and power. For instance, in the 9th National People's Congress (NPC) which held in March, 1998, there were 650 female representatives, accounting for 21.81% of the total, 0.78 percentage higher than the last Congress, two of the women members of the NPC Standing Committee were elected its vice chairman. In the 9th Chinese People's Consultative Conference held at the same time, there were 341 female, comprising 15.54%, 2.02 percentage higher than the last one and 1 female vice president was elected. In the new administration, there is a female. State Councilor in the State Council and 2 women ministers among government departments. All these have put an end to the decreasing trend of women's participation in power and decision-making since the middle of the 1980s. The proportion of women representatives is increasing as well at provincial, autonomous regional and municipal levels. For example, all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have women politicians in senior posts. At the township levels, female representatives in the local legislative bodies make up 21.7% of the total, 2 percentage higher than the previous one. Furthermore, since the introduction of the policies of reform and opening to the outside world, many women have demonstrated outstanding leadership and capacity in non-government organizations, women's organizations as well as in public offices. However, as a whole, women are largely underrepresented at most levels and all areas. The above proportions are still much lower than the proportion of female population, lower than the target set forth by the Program for the Development of Chinese Women, and also lower than the target set by the Platform Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women, ensuring 30 per cent women in legislative bodies or decision-making levels.
     Although the proportion of women in power organs is an important indicator for women's participation in politics, the patterns and quality are even more important index. Along with the introduction of competitive mechanism in personnel system, there are conflicts between the new and old structures, to rely only on policy support such as quota is not enough for women's participation in power, it also depends on the attainment and capacity of women politicians themselves. It is therefore unavoidable for the fluctuation for the numbers of women in power. The power structure of women's political participation is now unbalanced, at one hand, there are very few women at the senior posts, we have never had a female premier or a female chairman. At the other hand, there are relatively fewer grass-roots women leaders at local levels, particularly for rural women, they are largely not politically conscious and almost totally excluded from politics due to various limits of the opportunities, forms and channels for political participation. There is consequently lack of organic links between women's power participation and women's democratic participation. This framework will not be conductive to women's political advancement. As for their age distribution, the composition of women leaders is uneven, the young women under 35 years old should be the backbone of women's movement for the next century and the immediate sources of women's politicians. Nevertheless, the proportion of this group of women leaders is lower. It means that when the old generation of women politicians withdraw from the power positions, there may emerge a disjointed phenomenon. Furthermore, women always assume the deputy positions and most of the positions headed by women are in the areas of tradition considered to be women's concerns, such as health, welfare, culture, education. Few of they are in charge of the traditionally non-female fields, such as the foreign affairs, defense, economics, finances, justice and foreign affairs.
     The participation of women's organizations in Government's policy-making and democratic management in the forms of groups should be an important channel for women's political participation. Chinese Government have never established a women's department or unit, All China Women's Federation virtually assume some functions of it, being responsible for democratic participation and democratic monitoring, but it can not perform well for its role as an NGO.
     From a broader context, we can see that women's ability to influence policy and participation in decision-making is obviously hampered by innumerable obstacles and deeply ingrained gender discrimination. For example, the tradition culture based on the views of male-superior/female inferior still affect women to assume leadership roles, they have to copy with domestic and professional responsibility simultaneously. The culture is also responsible for the unfavorable prejudice of voters towards women candidates for public office, not to mention the covert and overt discrimination in the workplace and in society at large. Low level of education, lack of experience, weak sense of self-confidence and self-esteem are all considered as prerequisite for decision-making positions in many cases,

Women's Movement and Women's Participation in Politics

     Women's movement in China has made great contributions to expanding women's political participation through advocating, mobilizing, publicizing and raising awareness. There now exists a good interaction. Since 1980s, particularly in the course of preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women, all kinds of women's groups and associations with various aims and objectives in many fields and professions have burgeoned: the Association of Women Entrepreneurs, the Women Intellects Get-together, the Association of Women Lawyers, the Association of Women Journalists, the Self-employed Women's Association and women's studies groups emerged constantly. All these women's NGOs try to seek ways to empower women and women's organizations. Their activities involve institution building, consciousness raising, public discussion, coalition building and education, etc. Many persons in charge of these organizations come from women in decision-making positions. The Party of Women Cadres which aims to empower women politicians at all levels play a even greater role in capacity building and consciousness raising. Consequently, many women in power join the activities for the research and promotion of women's political participation and become the backbone of women's movement.
     Realizing that women's equal participation in the decision-making process and the power structure of society plays a pivotal role in the general promotion of the advancement of women, as the largest women's organization, All China Women's Federation has engaged in broadening its network since the reform and opening to the outside world and become the major base of cultivating, training and providing women leaders. It has actively taken a series of measures, advocating the functional departments and decision-making bodies of the Government to remove the obstacles of women's political participation. Its major actions include: First, to cooperate with relevant government departments to set the quota for women and simultaneously monitor and inspect the implementation of it. Second, to develop a information network concerning the qualified personnel among women leaders and recommend them to relevant government departments through many channels. As early as 1991, All China Women's Federation established a database, which aims to collect information on women leaders at ministerial and provincial levels. Women's federations at all levels also have built information center on talented women which facing the whole society. Third, to faciliate and perfect the fostering and cultivating system for women leaders. For instance, women are increasingly mobilized and empowered groups, organizations, networks and movements by holding seminars, lectures, discussions and surveys. Furthermore, women's federations at all levels intensify their staff promotion through vertical and horizontal mobility, recruiting a lot of women in power to women's federations and also send them to government bodies.
     After the Fourth World Conference on Women, All China Women's federation have been engaged in urging the Government to implementation of the Platform of Action at one hand and carrying out the follow-up actions for itself at the other hand. It contributes greatly to redressing a gender imbalance in decision, increasing the capacity of women to influence policy that affect their lives, and to reducing the gap between dejure and de facto status of Chinese women.

III. Future Strategies

     The road ahead is full of challenges. According to the above analysis, In order to make a break through in women's political participation, several strategies are proposed:
     Firstly, to improve the quality of women politicians has become one of the major priorities for the advancement of women. The political participation of women can not divorce with the social development. China now is undergoing a fundamental reform, economic globalization, technological progress, and the fierce competition of marketing economic, all these demand a high quality for women politicians. So, there is an urgent need to research the characteristics of women in power, making use of their advantages and overcome their shortcomings. At present, we should intensify the leadership and self-esteem training for women in power, As a long-term strategy, next generation women leaders with expertise and qualifications should be trained also. More importantly we should achieve high education standards among the whole female population.
     Secondly, women's organizations should play a greater role in publicity and awareness raising. There is a need for a social education campaign to promote the consciousness of the public on the importance of women's political participation. Women's federations can do lots of work in building and strengthening solidarity among women through information, education and sensitization activities, so as to make women leaders place new items on the agenda that reflect women's gender-specific concerns, experience and clear the path for more women to reach high levels of government.
     Thirdly, women's political participation is not only a necessary for women's development, but also a demand for social justice or democracy, therefore there is need for the whole society to create a good climate for women politicians. At present, policy support is still important for women's political participation. Quota have provided perhaps the most effective means of achieving a more equal distribution of women and men in political bodies in the last decades, we should continue to apply a gender quota system, but there must be a corresponding fair competitive mechanism guaranteed. Only through this way, can we enable women to participate as equal partners with men in the decision-making process and also prevent to fill with the token women.