ABSTRACT
Chinese women since the 1950s have been involved in factories, agricultural production brigades or urban neighbourhood committees, through which they could be promoted and reach high levels of decision making. During the First World Decade on Women from 1975 to 1985, Chinese women’s political participation reached the highest level in history and was envied by women in both developing and developed countries. Since then, however, women in China have been losing their past gains as China moves deeper into a transition from a planned economy to one based on a market economy and increasingly influenced by globalization. Previous chapters have shown that this economic and social transition has caused the loss ofmanywomen’s jobs and the decline of women’s status. Women’s low representation at all levels of decision making, moreover, has weakened their voice and limited their ability to resist the challenges of the transition. Previous chapters have demonstrated the need of a gender strategy, integrating human rights standards, to overcome the challenges, topping which is the declining role in decision making, which women face in both rural and urban areas. This strategy requires the strengthening of women’s organizations at all levels and the creation of political and institutional mechanisms for women to gain a higher representation at all levels of decision making and to make gender issues part of policy concerns. This chapter focuses on investigating for such political and institutional mechanisms that will bring women closer to the decision making ranks through an analysis of the leading barriers that have prevented women from maintaining their previous level of political participation.
