Where are the women? China’s new leadership reveals equality is a low priority
Alice Wu says the lack of women in the Politburo Standing Committee – and the Politburo in general – shows that President Xi Jinping’s plan for Chinese greatness doesn’t include prioritising gender equality
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Those great efforts can be greater, especially since the wider 25-member Politburo has shrunk its room for women from two to one token female – Sun Chunlan, head of the party’s United Front Work Department, who, at 67, is close to retirement age.
The younger Li Bin, from the National Health and Family Planning Commission, was tipped to join Sun, but unfortunately that did not happen. The glass ceiling for women is real and just got thicker.
We understand that change happens slowly in a long-standing patriarchal society. But we have to recognise the factors that impede women’s political ambition. The requirement for women officials to retire up to 10 years earlier than men is a systemic impediment. It takes time to climb up to the top; cutting women’s time to reach it installs another layer of reinforced glass to that fortified ceiling.
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In fact, China Daily’s attempt to gloat over the Weinstein scandal only puts its disregard for victims of sexual harassment on display. We all know sexual harassment is a problem that reaches beyond Hollywood, across cultures and borders.
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We have to work harder to inspire change beyond our borders. That begins by being engaged, even if we’re relegated to watching from the political periphery.
Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA