Women try to hold up half the political sky

"The example of one woman could be overlooked, but how about 10 women, 20, or even more? What if half of the members of the national legislature were female, and they all appealed for women's rights? Their voice could not be ignored," said Rong.

"That's why we first need a considerable number of women to participate in politics."

In addition to the rising number of female delegates, another positive note is that the presence of female officials is more tangible nowadays. Women are no longer simply playing a walk-on role for the sake of political correctness, said Yin Yicui, newly elected chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress.

"Ensuring representation used to be compulsory, or a 'must-do', so governments tended to set quotas by increasing the number of women on governing bodies such as Party committees, local legislatures and government agencies," said Yin, who is also a delegate to this year's NPC.

But the situation has changed from an artificial arrangement and is now closer to a level playing field, she noted.

"Now you see people competing, irrespective of gender, and it's become commonplace to have two or more female politicians in the same office," she said.

Greater equality of educational opportunities has provided a crucial avenue by which female participation in Chinese politics and government has been greatly strengthened.

Education can empower women and break stereotypical assumptions that they should stay away from politics and its traditional notions of masculinity, and stick to their private sphere, which is closely associated with the family, said Yin.

Song Yuying, a deputy to the ongoing Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top advisory body, was cautiously optimistic.

"The political status of women in China has risen in recent decades and we have been given a lot of opportunities, otherwise we wouldn't be here," she said.

"But, have all the problems been solved? No, not really. At the local government level, it's like 'mission accomplished' when there is one female cadre. But why not two or three, as long as they are qualified?"

 

Glass ceiling

In 2008, 21 percent of Party members and 23 percent of the nation's civil servants were women in 2008, according to a report by the Women's Studies Institute of China.

At the time, female officials occupied 10.6 percent of positions at provincial level and higher, a slight increase from the 10.3 percent recorded in 2005. However, the proportion of women serving on village committees had risen more markedly, to 21.7 percent compared with 15.5 percent in 2005.

But there is a glass ceiling; women rarely become Party or State leaders.

All seven members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the Party's highest decision-making body, are male.