From DEBRA@OLN.comlink.apc.orgTue Sep 12 08:27:58 1995 Date: Sat, 09 Sep 1995 08:28:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing95-l@netcom.com, beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: WCW: Press Release: COC 4/9 [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] ## Original in: /HRNET/WOMEN ## author : apcwomen@wcw.apc.org ## date : 04.09.95 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speech made by Mme. Huang Qizao, Vice Chairperson of the COC and Vice President of the All-China Women's Federation on the Press Meeting; Sponsored by the China NGO Forum Committee of COC September 4, 1995 Ladies, gentlemen, and friends, Good afternoon. I am very glad to take this opportunity to brief you on the Chinese women's status. I would like to sum it up into the following five aspects; I. Review of the Historic Liberation of Chinese Women Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country had been ruled for several millennia by a feudal patriarchal system and for more than a century by a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Chinese women living under such a social system struggled at the bottom of the society. They possessed no political rights and were economically dependent. They were robbed of property and inheritance rights. Women were forced to obey their fathers before marriage, their husbands after marriage and their sons if they became widowed. They had no personal dignity. They enjoyed no freedom in marriage and were subjected to physical and mental torture. The overwhelming majority of women were forced to find their feet from childhood. For centries, "w omen with bound feet" was a synonym for the female gender in China. Chinese women waged a dauntless struggle for emancipation, freedom and equality. Ever since its founding, the Chinese Communist Party has set emancipation of women and equality between th The founding of the People's Republic of China ended the thousands of years of feudal oppression and enslavement of women and the country's history of being trampled and bullied by foreign aggressors. And the role and status of women are vividly describe d as the "hold up the half sky." II. Major achievements in Implementing the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies. Since the Nairobi Strategies were adopted a decade ago, rapid economic development has taken place in China resulting from its reform and opening efforts. The social and political enviroment of China is stable and people enjoy a happy life. Women's move ment also has a rapid development. a) The remarkable progress made by Chinese women in economic development in the past ten years has the following features: First, the number of employed women has grown steadily. Urban working women numbered 45 million in 1985 and that figure grew by 25 percent to 56.4 million in 1994. Rural industry have employed about 40 million rural women. They now make up 40 percent o f workers in township businesses. Second, the economic fields for women to participate in are widening and the structure tends to become more rational. For instance in rural areas, women not only participate in crop production, but also in livestock breeding, embroidering, weaving, sewin g, processing, commerce, transportation and general development of the courtyard economy. Women have contributed to the development of industry, commerce, banking, insurance, post and telecommunications, education, public health, science, and technology, etc. Third, the level of women in economic development is increasing. The number of women serving as government economic officials as well as those working as entrepreneurs has steadily increased. The Chinese Women Entrepreneures Association now has more tha n 3,000 members. Fourth, women, like men, are becoming the owners of natural resources, including land. They have the legal right to contract for land management and development. Rural women in two-thirds of the country's provinces can obtain bank loans on preferential interest rates by following simple procedures. Over the past five years, various levels of agricultrual banks across the country have provided rural women with a total of 7 billion yuan ($843 million) in loans. Fifth, women in poor areas and handicapped women are receiving technology, information, funds and materials support and services so as to help get themselves out of poverty. Poverty alleviation and welfare projects have also been established. Ladies, and gentlemen, I would also like to brief you on the "two leanings and two competitions" campaign carried out across the country by the All-China Women'[s Federation together with 12 government departments. This emulation drive carried out over t he past six years aims to encourage rural women to acquire more knowledge, technical skills, and vie for greater achievements and contributions. The number of women participating in these activities totals 120 million. 20.03 million women ahve become li terate and 96 million women received training on various kinds of practical skills. 510,000 rural women were awarded the titles of technicians. Women's extensive participation in the economy has not only increased their person incomes but also raised th eir status within the family. According to the sample survey carried out by the Chinese Research Institute on Women, the ration of income by men and women in rural areas is 100:82, while the ration is 100:77 in urban areas. b) Remarkable progress made by Chinese women in social development Chinese women's education level has generally improved in the decade since the implementation of the Nairobi Strategies. By the end of 1992, school attendance for 7-to-11-year-old girls had risen to 96.2 percent from less than 20 percent before 1949. Th e proportion of young women attending classes now numbers 43.1 percent in middle schools, 33.7 percnet in colleges and 24.8 percent in postgraduate institutions. There are 1,679 women's secondary vocational schools and three women's vocational colleges. More than 13 million women are enrolled in institutions of higher learning. Over a period of 45 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, more than 110 million illiterate women have learned to read, reducing female illiteracy from 90 p ercent in 1949 to 32 percent in 1993. The Chinese Government has attached great importance to training women scientists and technicians. In 1993, China had more than 8 million women scientists and technicians, accounting for 35 percent of the total. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has selec ted 29 women as academicians, and another 204 women were named State-level experts. In the aspect of public health care, China has 2.27 million women medical workers specializing in maternity and child care, accounting for 55 percent of all those in the medical professions. To date, 17 Chinese women have won the Nightingale Medal, the w orld's top honor for nurses. An urban and rural health network for women and children has been established. From 1982 to 1992, the number of maternity anbd children's health care centers grew from 272 to 346, or an increase of 27.2 percent. Chinese wome n's average life expectancy has risen from 36 years in 1949 to the present 72 years. Women made up more than 50 percent of Chinese prize winners in international ballet, piano, violin and vocal music competitions. At the 25th Olympic Games held in 1992, Chinese women athletes captured 12 gold medals, taking three quarters of the folds for China. c) China's effective efforts to guarantee women's equal legal status and equal right to participate in State affairs First, stronger laws protect the rights and interests of women. What is especially deserved to be mentioned is the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding the Rights and Interests of Women adopted by the NPC on April 3, 1992, which futher i mprove the legal system for the protection of Chinese women. In 1994, China promulgated the Labor Law and the Law on Maternal and Infant Health Care, which all include specific provisions on protection of women's rights and interests. Second, national institutions also have been established to protect women's rights. A special department was set up under the Civil Judicial Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) in 1989 especially to deal with maters concerning women and Chi ldren. In 1990, the State Council set up a women and children's affairs committee, composed of heads from 16 ministries and commissions under the State Council and four non-governmental organizations. Now there are such committees in all governments at provinci al levles and in some numicipal and county governments. Third, more promotion is being conducted for women's participation in government work. Plans for selecting women officials have been made at State and provincial levels. More women are holding senior positions. Women make up 21 percent of the represent atives of the NPC. The number of women ministers and vice-ministers under the State Council has increased from 11 in 1985 to 18 today. In local governments, there are 18 governors and deputy governors now, while there were only 9 in 1985, or increased f rom 5% to 12.26%. To date, all counties and 50 percent of towns in 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have women holding government positions. III. A strong Force of Non-Governmental Organizations Chinese women's non-governmental organizations have a long history. In April 1949, women from all walks of life united to establish the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) to represent and protect women's rights and promote equality between men and women. Now the ACWF has 5,8000 group members, 65,000 women's federations ar provincial, municipal, county and town levels and 810,000 women's representative committees at the village level, makeing up a network with 1.1 million volunteers. Women's federations at all levels have played a significant role in uniting women in society, encouraging women's self-esteem, self-confidence, self-reliance and self-improvement, promoting women's equality with men and protecting women's rights. For exa mple, the ACWF has proposed stipulating the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding the Rights and Interests of Women and the Programme for the Development of Chinese Women(1995-2000). IV. Support from Society and Mass Media The mass media in China pays great attention to spreading positive stories about women and improving people's knowledge about women's rights and roles. Various kinds of women's organizations have their own women's magazines and women's federations alone at all levels have 47 magazines or newspapers. The volume of distribution amounts to more than 10 million. There are special columns in some newspapers as well as special radio and TV programmes about women. Dozens of research institutes on women's matt ers also have been established. Ladies and gentlement, as you all know, China is a developing country. Barriers still exist to achieving equality in women's participation in political affairs, employment, education and marriage. Therefore, there is still a long way for Chinese women to go on women's emancipation and development. The recent promulgation of Programme for the Development of Chinese Women (1995-2000) is an encourageing significant event for Chinese Women. When Mme. Mongella got this news, she said with pleasure that "Th e Chinese Government has started its follow-up work of the Fourth World Conference on Women." Ladies, and gentlemen, I sincerely wish that everyone present here will bring seeds of friendship among us to all over the world. And let main theme of equality, development and peace be echoed in every corner of the world.