Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T11:35:10.433Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gender Inequality in Chinese Politics: An Empirical Analysis of Provincial Elites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2006

Fubing Su
Fubing Su
Affiliation:
Vassar College
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since its foundation, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has promoted gender equality, at least at the level of official rhetoric. Despite some progress in their social and economic lives, women have not been able to make headway in Chinese politics. Many scholars have studied this topic, but due to the CCP's political sensitivity, systematic data are not available. Drawing on a unique data set about provincial-level elites, I quantify gender inequality in Chinese politics and test several commonly held hypotheses. Although most empirical studies of Chinese women in politics focus on the National People's Congress (NPC), this paper focuses on officials in the Party-State, on the grounds that they wield more power than members of the NPC. Female leaders of the Party-State are more likely to be drawn from nonparty members and to occupy less prestigious positions than male leaders. There is no evidence, however, indicating that women and ethnic minority status are associated, or that women face more difficulties entering more powerful branches of the Party-State. Cross-regional analysis finds that political institutions, socioeconomic conditions, and culture have all played some role in promoting or hindering women's political careers.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago. I thank Louise Davidson-Schmich, Ying Huang, Marc Moskowitz, Dali Yang, two editors, and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and excellent suggestions. Anesa Uda-Diaz has offered excellent research support.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 143 - 163
Copyright
© 2006 The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bo, Zhiyue. 2002. Chinese Provincial Leaders: Economic Performance and Political Mobility Since 1949. Armonk, NY: Sharpe.
China State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Yearbook 2001, 2002. http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/index.htm (June 2005).
Croll, Elizabeth. 1978. Feminism and Socialism in China. Boston: Routledge & K. Paul.
Dai, Xiaoyun. 1992. “The Current Status of the Political Participation of Women in Shanghai and Ways of Dealing with the Problems.” Shanghai Funu 5 (May): 16–18. Quoted in Stanley Rosen. 1995. “Women and Political Participation in China.” Pacific Affairs 68 (Autumn): 315–27.Google Scholar
Davin, Delia. 1976. Woman Work: Women and the Party in Revolutionary China. Oxford: Clarendon.
Gilmartin, Christina, Gail Hershatter, Lisa Rofel, and Tyrene White, eds. 1994. Engendering China: Women, Culture, and the State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hsiung, Ping-Chun. 2001. “The Outsider Within and the Insider Without.” Asian Perspective 25 (4): 213–37.Google Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald, and Pippa Norris. 2003. Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Judd, Ellen. 2002. The Chinese Women's Movement Between State and Market. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Matland, Richard. 1998. “Women's Representation in National Legislatures: Developed and Developing Countries.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 23 (February): 109–25.Google Scholar
Ministry of Labor, and Social Security. China Labor Statistical Yearbook 2001. http://www.molss.gov.cn/index_tongji.htm (June 2005).
Moser, Robert. 2001. “The Effects of Electoral Systems on Women's Representation in Post-Communist States.” Electoral Studies 20 (September): 353–69.Google Scholar
Naughton, Barry, and Dali Yang, eds. 2004. Holding China Together. New York: Cambridge University Press.
O'Brien, Kevin. 2001. “Villagers, Elections, and Citizenship in Contemporary China.” Modern China 27 (October): 407–35.Google Scholar
Reynolds, Andrew. 1999. “Women in the Legislatures and Executives of the World: Knocking at the Highest Glass Ceiling.” World Politics 51 (July): 547–72.Google Scholar
Rosen, Stanley. 1995. “Women and Political Participation in China.” Pacific Affairs 68 (Autumn): 315–27.Google Scholar
Rueschemeyer, Marilyn, ed. 1998. Women in the Politics of Post-communist Eastern Europe. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
Rule, Wilma. 1987. “Electoral Systems, Contextual Factors and Women's Opportunity for Election to Parliament in Twenty-Three Democracies.” Western Political Quarterly 40 (September): 477–98.Google Scholar
Stacey, Judith. 1983. Patriarchy and Socialist Revolution in China. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Swers, Michele. 2001. “Understanding the Policy Impact of Electing Women: Evidence from Research on Congress and State Legislatures.” PS: Political Science and Politics 34 (June): 217–20.Google Scholar
Thomas, Sue. 1991. “The Impact of Women on State Legislative Policies.” Journal of Politics 53 (November): 958–76.Google Scholar
Wesoky, Sharon. 2002. Chinese Feminism Faces Globalization. New York: Routledge.
Zhang, Jinyun. 1993. “The Women's Federation and the Participation of Women in Politics.” Chinese Law and Government 26 (September–October): 64–77.Google Scholar