LEGISLATION FOR WOMEN IN CHINA Since the 1950s, women have been working to realize the philosophy of Chairman Mao that "women hold up half the sky." Many women want equality, but still do not have it in education, the family, or the job market. Older women from the Mao period still committed to working for these values, whereas they feel younger women are more and more content with staying at home in traditional roles. Chinese women are engaged in the same debate women have in the US over whether Chinese women really want to be treated as full equals to men. Some Chinese women state that for them, equality means being able to choose a good husband and a family over work. One of the platforms of action issues by the All China Women's Federation after 1995 was to make women "competent and talented persons, and to teach them to be self-sufficient." In my meetings with Chinese delegates, I was often told that the older women feel that the younger women were backtracking on gains made since 1995 (interview with the Institute of Women's Studies, June 1998). Since the Mao period, there has been a series of laws passed to protect the rights of women. In 1955 women were given the right to choose their own spouse. In 1982 article 48 of the constitution gave women equlaity with respect to the family, politics, society, economics, and education. In 1993 another package was passed essentially containing all previous laws. Although these laws have been passed, women have yet to achieve full equality. In the words of Wu Qing, Professor at the Beijing ForeignLAnguage Institute, "China is ruled by man, not the law. The people are dependent on a good magistrate." Return to "Women Hold up Half the Sky" Return to the Global Issues Home Page created by Dr. Deborah Vess. All rights reserved. Copyright 1998.