China Voice: Closing gender gap unfinished task

This month is the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995 and has been credited with laying out 12 critical areas of concerns that must be addressed to achieve gender equality.

At the conference, representatives from 189 countries and regions approved unanimously the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

It was announced later this month that a summit, co-hosted by China and the United Nations (UN), will see Chinese President Xi Jinping and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon invite world leaders to enhance their commitments to promote gender equality, empowerment and development of women.

Without a doubt, the world has made great progress in gender desegregation over the past 20 years. Decades ago, women in many parts of the world were treated as men's subordinates, now some countries have had a female head of state, with Sweden even coining a neutral pronoun to replace "he" or "she".

But for a single woman, status is still sadly decided mostly by where she is born. That's why it is worth reviewing the efforts of China, still the world's largest developing country, over the years in closing the gender gap.

China's progress has illustrated the power of political will in fighting gender inequality.

Since former Chinese leader Mao Zedong declared China's commitment to gender equality through his famous saying that "women hold up half the sky," more women have had the chance to compete with men in the workplace and make their fortune in the business world.

A white paper released by the State Council Information Office on Tuesday said that the number of female entrepreneurs accounts for one quarter of the total number of entrepreneurs in China, and about 55 percent of new Internet businesses are being founded by women.

The Chinese government encourages diversified roles of women.

In the last 20 years, many women have made breakthroughs in their fields, including the first female astronaut (Liu Yang), the first richest female entrepreneur (Zhang Yin of Nine Dragons Paper Holdings) and the first female Asian-born tennis player to win a Grand Slam championship (Li Na).

Women also have had a larger role in decision-making. More women have been elected or employed in the legislative organs, political advisory bodies and government agencies.

The ratio of female deputies to the first session of 12th National People's Congress in 2013 was 23.4 percent, 2.4 percentage points higher than 20 years ago.

Another reason for China's progress lies in its continuing legislation on gender equality. In 1950, in China's first marriage law, women's rights were clarified. Over the past two decades, more than 20 laws and regulations have been enacted and revised. Its first domestic violence law is also on the verge of getting adopted by the top legislature.

But 20 years later, argument over gender equality is only getting bigger and more controversial, with university graduates still crying they are facing employment discrimination. Besides, many women, already successful in their careers, are still expected to do the majority of chores and babysitting.

According to the white paper, the concept of men and women sharing housework is now more accepted in China, with the gap for time spent on household chores reduced by half.

Still, problems remains. However, the white paper can serve as a reminder that gender equality is not "mission complete." Endi