8/26/2019 Women gain political representation and leadership in rural China | UN Women – Headquarters

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Women gain political representation and

leadership in rural China
Working at the grassroots level, a programme in the world’s most populous country successfully trained
young women to run in local elections, and dismantled negative perceptions and discriminatory rules that
hindered women’s political participation.

Date: Thursday, September 15, 2016

Liao Bin, from the Hunan province in China, was elected as the head of her Village Committee at 27. Her
average day looks like this: hours spent in efforts to boost the economy of the village, caring for left-behind
children of migrant workers, and then whatever is left of the day, she spends visiting village residents to hear
about their concerns, and organizing various skills training programmes for the villagers.

“Chinese women are as capable to govern and lead as men, and must be given equal opportunities to do so,”
she says.

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8/26/2019 Women gain political representation and leadership in rural China | UN Women – Headquarters

Liao Bin, Head of her Village Committee in Hunan, China. Photo: UN Women/Jenni Ratilainen.

Three years ago, Bin decided to pursue a career in local governance after participating in trainings on
leadership and political participation for women under the “Enhancing Chinese Women’s Political
Participation” programme, run by All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF), which is funded by UN Women’s
Fund for Gender Equality (FGE).

Although it was an early champion of adopting temporary special measures and electoral quotas, China
ranked 54 in 2015 in terms women’s parliamentary representation, with only 23.6 per cent parliamentarians
being women.

From 2011 to 2015, the All-China Women’s Federation programme aimed at improving laws and policies,
increasing women’s in uence in local government, and strengthening the capacity of government, women’s
groups and civil society to monitor Chinese women’s political participation and rights in the provinces of
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8/26/2019 Women gain political representation and leadership in rural China | UN Women – Headquarters

Shanxi, Heilongjiang and Hunan. It contributed towards the adoption of many progressive policies—in Hunan,
the updated election guidelines stipulated 30 per cent representation of women in the village committees; in
Heilongjiang the proportion was set to be more than 25 per cent; and in Shanxi, at least 15 per cent.

Through advocacy and leadership trainings, where women learned campaigning and management skills, and
by working with both men and women in leadership positions, the programme led to a signi cant rise in the
number of women active in politics and public life, exceeding the quotas. In Shanxi, women’s representation
went up to 25.52 per cent in 2014 from 8.61 per cent in 2008; and in Heilongjiang, it reached 25.35 per cent in
2014, an increase of 4.05 per cent from 2011. The programme engaged more than 1,800 policy-makers,
1,000 administrative and party school teachers and students, as well as 8,000 men and women at the village
level.

Local women in China after casting their vote for Village Committee election. Photo: ACWF.

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Chu Lijuan, 41, had some experience in running for local elections when she heard about the training
workshops in 2013. “I joined the workshop to gain campaigning skills so that I could prepare a better
campaign for the next election,” she says. In 2014, Lijuan’s efforts paid off, and she became the head of the
Party Committee in her village in the Heilongjiang province.

Along with setting up temporary special measures and quotas, the programme also engaged the media in
advocacy for gender equality, highlighting positive role models and helped amend discriminatory village rules
that hindered women’s political participation.

The gains that the programme made continue to grow today, contributing towards changes at the national
level as well. Last year, the Chinese Human Resources Authority issued a regulation stipulating the same
retirement age for female and male division chief/county-level o cials and senior professionals, improving
women’s chances to rise to higher-level management positions.

“We are con dent that the female political leaders whom the programme supported are helping to change
negative perceptions of women’s capacities and inspiring other women to aspire to leadership positions,”
says Julia Broussard, UN Women Country Programme Manager in China. “Chinese women have enormous
leadership potential. It is important they get equal opportunities to demonstrate it.”

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