In China, women are excluded from the upper echelons of power

A message from Beijing

The National People’s Congress, which just closed its doors in Beijing, has taken a victim: women. Of the 2,977 delegates, 791 (or 26%) were women. A slightly lower percentage of them are in the party (29.1% of the 95 million members of the CCP are women). It is that as soon as one rises up the hierarchy of the administration or the party, women disappear. Since October 2022 and 20^H PCC Convention, no other woman would appear among the 24 Politburo members. The first in twenty years.

Those who had hoped that a woman would eventually be among the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee were not satisfied. Not only was no woman accepted into the first circle of power, but she also disappeared from the second. Since all promotions are made partly by seniority, we will now have to wait for the next congress, in 2027, for women to be able to enter political office again, and then five more years, 2032, so they will have very little chance of entering the holy of holies. It’s all for the party.

On the state side, the situation is hardly better. It is not surprising that the new prime minister, Li Qiang, is also the number two in the Chinese Communist Party. But the four vice prime ministers are also men, while two women, Liu Yandong (2013-2018) and Sun Chunlan (2018-2022), have achieved this rank in the past 10 years. You have to go down to N-2, the level of state councilors, to find a wife.

Only two women out of twenty-six ministers

Among the five members of the State Council — a rank lower than that of deputy prime minister, but theoretically higher than that of a minister — there is now a woman: Shen Yizhen, who until the fall of 2022 was Guizhou provincial party secretary. She was also the only woman to lead a boycott. Logically, the name of this woman, part of the Dai minority, circulated to enter political office in October. But she didn’t get it. His appointment to the post of State Counselor may be seen as a consolation prize; However, it is legitimate to wonder what exactly he weighs.

The other four state councilors are already supporters of Xi’s team and hold important jobs in parallel. Qin Gang is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Li Shangfu, the Minister of Defense, Wang Xiaohong, the Minister of Public Security, Wu Zhenglong, the Secretary-General of the State Council, the equivalent of the government. Shen Yiqin has no portfolio to manage.

You have 51.94% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.