China
Flag of China
Population (in Mil.)	1330.1
Sex Ratio (m/f)	1,06
Life Expectancy Ratio (f/m)	1.05
Fertility Rate	1.76
Income Ratio (f/m)	0.68
Literacy Ratio (f/m)	0,91
Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (f/m)	0,84
Women in Parliament (in %)	20,3
SIGI Rank	83
More information on variables
Did you know that China ranks number 83 of 102 countries on the OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index? To learn more, see the official country note "Gender Equality and Social Institutions in China" at genderindex.org:

Social Institutions

The overall situation of Chinese women has improved greatly over the past century, and in particular since the government made gender equality a policy objective in 1949: female education and labour force participation has increased, harmful practices - such as foot-binding of young girls - have been abolished and patriarchal norms have weakened. More recently, however, there is growing concern that the gap between men and women is widening again following China’s rapidly changing economic, social and political conditions. Women appear to be over-represented among the country’s poor, discrimination in the labour market has become more apparent and the political participation of women remains low. There is still a strong preference for sons, and women - although to a lesser extent than before - are considered the weaker sex. It should also be noted that there are large regional disparities and that rural women face more challenges than urban women.

Family Code

Family relations are governed by the Marriage Law as amended in 2001. The law contains provisions on marriage, acquisition and disposal of joint property, divorce and custody rights. The average age of marriage has risen in China over the past decades and early marriages are increasingly uncommon: only 1 percent of Chinese girls between 15 and 19 years of age are married, divorced or widowed (UN, 2004). The legal age of marriage is 20 years for women and 22 years for men and the law stipulates that all marriages should be based on mutual consent. Still, traditions of arranged and patrilocal marriages, whereby women move to the village of their husband, remain in much of rural China. Many couples intentionally evade marriage registration in order to avoid the country’s restrictive reproduction policy (Chen, 2002). Long-running traditions of polygamy and concubinage have been outlawed in mainland China and less and less people find them morally acceptable. Rapid economic growth in southern China, however, has brought about a new type of polygamous relationships and it is not uncommon that married businessmen from Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei - who cross the border regularly - take a second wife or mistress in mainland China (Lang and Smart, 2002). In ancient China, the father constituted absolute authority in the family but today men and women enjoy the same legal status. For example, parental authority is granted equally to both parents and they are subject to the same rules and regulations. China’s one-child policy has led to smaller families and parents are encouraged to share the responsibilities related to their child’s upbringing, health and education. In the event of divorce, custody of infants is generally given to the mother. A court will decide who gets custody of older children, taking into account the best interest of the child and the condition of the parents. Women have the same right as men to pass on their nationality to their children. Traditionally, Chinese women did not enjoy the right to inherit and they had no independent sources of income. Although women in modern China are guaranteed equal inheritance rights under the Inheritance Law, fieldwork conducted by Zhang (2002) in northern China shows that there is still a significant gap between legislation and reality, and that in rural households daughters risk losing their statutory rights to their brothers.

Physical Integrity

Female genital mutilation has never been practiced in China. Young girls were instead subjected to another harmful practice, namely foot-binding. Violence against women has received increased legal attention in recent years. Amendments to the Marriage Law in 2001 included the incorporation of provisions that explicitly prohibits domestic violence. Low public awareness of the law, however, has limited its effectiveness in practice and spousal abuse – known to be a common problem – remains largely unreported. A 2004 survey conducted by the All-China Women’s Federation show that almost one third of sampled families had some experiences of domestic violence (U.S. Department of State, 2007). Tens of thousands of Chinese women also run the risk of being subject to physical and psychological abuse following prostitution and related trafficking. Recently introduced provisions in the Criminal Code aim to combat abduction and forced prostitution of women and young girls, but their implementation and enforcement are difficult given the wide scope of the problem. The occurrence of missing women, as indicated by an abnormal sex ratio between men and women, is widespread in China: census data show that over 40 million Chinese women were missing in 2000 (Hudson et al, 2005). This is primarily the result of son preference, female sex-selective abortions or through relative neglect of girls compared to boys in early childhood (including abandonment). Female infanticide is also a likely side effect of China’s one-child policy introduced in 1979. A study of individual communities revealed that in 1982 the sex ratio was as high as 503 in a village in the Hubei Province (Ruan and Lau, 1997-2001).

Civil Liberties

Women’s civil liberties have improved greatly and there are no restrictions on the freedom of movement today that applies specifically to women. The most severe limitation on women’s freedom of movement in traditional China followed from foot-binding, which prevented many women from even leaving the house. There are no restrictions on women’s freedom of dress. Women (and men) belonging to ethnic minorities may wear traditional clothing.

Ownership Rights

It was only in 1950 that women received the legal right to own land: the Marriage Law gave women the right to land within the household unit and the Agrarian Reform Law granted men and women equal right to land in general. Nevertheless, China’s current land laws fail to specifically define women’s land rights – instead a greater understanding of such rights is offered by laws on marriage, inheritance and intra-household land transactions (Duncan Li-Ping, 2001). Although overall women’s access to land has improved, legal amendments will only be useful if they are properly enforced and socially recognized. Customary practices still play a great role in much of rural China and sons are often considered the natural heirs of land. There are no legal restrictions on women’s access to property other than land. Marital property is governed by the Marriage Law which, following the 2001 amendments, allows for separate property but also stipulates that husbands and wives shall have the equal right to manage and dispose of jointly-owned property (CEDAW, 2004). In rural areas, however, it is not uncommon that women forfeit both their land and property rights to their husband in the event of divorce (U.S. Department of State, 2007). There are no legal provisions that discriminate against women in their rights to obtain bank loans, mortgages and other types of credit. There is an increasing number of credit institutions and organizations that target women. Some aim to help laid-off women start their own businesses and others provide benefits to women farmers.

Sources

• Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China, passed at the 21st Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People’s Congress on April 28, 2001.
• CEDAW (2004), Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, combined fifth and sixth periodic report of States parties, China, CEDAW/C/CHN/5-6.
• Chen, Y. (2002), Civil Law Development: China and Taiwan, Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, Spring 2002, Volume 2.
• Duncan Li Ping, J. (2001), Women and Land Tenure in China: A Study of Women’s Land Rights in Dongfang County, Hainan Province, RDI Reports on Foreign Aid and Development # 10, April 2001.
• Klasen, K. and C. Wink (2003), “Missing Women”: Revisiting the Debate, Feminist Economics 1/2003, Volume 9, Issue 2-3.
• Lang, G. and J. Smart (2002), Migration and the Second Wife in South China: Toward cross-border polygyny, The International migration review, volume 36, no. 2, Blackwell Oxford.
• OECD (2006), The Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base, www.oecd.org/dev/gender/gid.
• Ruan, F. and M.P. Lau (1997-2001), China (Zhonghua Renmin Gonghe Guo), in The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality, volume I-IV, 1997-2001, edited by Robert T. Francoeur, Continuum, New York.
• United Nations (2004), Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Fertility Report, New York.
• U.S. Department of State (2007), Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2006: China.
• World Bank (2002), China - Country Gender Review, East Asia Environment & Social Development Unit, June 2002.
• Zhang, X.Q.H. (2003), Gender difference in inheritance rights: observations from a Chinese village, Journal of Peasant Studies, 2003, vol. 30, no. 3/4.

Further reading 

• UNIFEM stories from the field : China Gender Facility: Stories of Women Overcoming Challenges

The Women, Business and the Law

Where are laws equal for men and women? 

The Women, Business and the Law report presents indicators based on laws and regulations affecting women's prospects as entrepreneurs and employees. Several of these indicators draw on the Gender Law Library, a collection of over 2,000 legal provisions impacting women's economic status. This report does not seek to judge or rank countries, but to provide information to inform discussions about women’s economic rights. Covering 128 economies, Women, Business and the Law provides data covering 6 areas: accessing institutions,using property, getting a job, dealing with taxes, building credit, and going to court.Read more about the methodology.

For detailed information on China, please visit the Women, Business and
the Law China page.

Sources

• Women, Business and the Law: Creating economic opportunity for women
• The Gender Law Library