Beijing: Stealing a march over India, China has decided to reserve atleast 22 per cent seats in Parliament for women.
China will have more women deputies in the next National People's Congress (NPC), according to a Bill, which is being discussed at the ongoing annual session of the parliament.
The bill, to be put for voting next week, says that "the proportion of women deputies to the 11th NPC should be no less than 22 per cent."
The 11th NPC will be constituted in 2008. The percentage of women deputies in China's top legislature has stagnated around 20 per cent since the election of the Fifth NPC deputies in 1978.
Although it only concerns a rise of two percentage points, the proposed change was still warmly hailed by lawmakers attending the current annual session.
"This is the first time that the ratio of women deputies has been clarified. I believe it will help increase women's influence on major policies and reflect women's rights and appeals," Zhang Meilan, a woman NPC deputy from the remote south-western province of Yunnan, said.
Observers say that Chinese women's status has advanced since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 as the country has issued a series of laws and regulations to safeguard gender equality.
Official statistics show that by 2004, a total of 368 Chinese women had become incumbent or vice mayors and women officials at or above the ministry level accounted for 9.9 per cent of the total at the same level, an increase of 2.8 percentage points over 1995.
To promote women's political involvement, China's Election Law stipulates that the NPC and local people's congresses should all have women deputies and the percentages of women deputies should be increased gradually.
The Communist Party of China, which is to hold its 17th national congress later this year, will also have more women delegates from across the country, Xinhua news agency reported.
Given the economic and social progress, there are still some practical obstacles in women's participation in the management of state and social affairs, NPC deputy Li Malin said.
"Male dominance is still very evident," she said. "Today, one out of five women in the world is from China," Li said, adding, "We should be fully aware that the development of Chinese women affects the whole of society, and even the whole world."
Comments
0 comment