The Study On The Problem Of Contemporary Chinese Women's Political Participation From Gender Perspective

Inequality between men and women is an ancient historical existence. In slave and feudal society dominated by male chauvinism, women, as a group, did not have the basic qualifications to participate in political activities. Since modern times, under the guidance of democracy, equality and freedom, female community consciousness has gradually awaken. They leave their homes and actively participate in national economic and social life, at the same time, they cry out for marching the male-dominated political sphere. Feminism, for a while, even becomes a measure of chivalry. Today, in the majority of countries, women and men have the same right to political participation. In some Western countries, women politicians even account for half of the cabinet, they, together with men, are playing an important role in the domestic and international political stage.In China, since ancient times, there has been a tradition that woman is not inferior to any man. But in feudal society leaded by male culture and male domination, women's participation in politics is limited to rare cases, such as Queen Lv, Empress Wu and Empress Dowager Cixi, which is hard to get rid of the curse of harem interference in domestic affairs. After the modern Western-style democracy spread to China, especially the founding of Chinese Communist Party and PRC, Chinese women, as a group, called for political participation and put it into action. Since its found, the Communist Party has put it as duty to liberate women, offer women equal political rights, and mobilized, organized women's participation in the revolutionary movement against imperialism and feudalism. After the founding of PRC, the party and the state pay more attention to improving women's political and legal status, and promulgate a series of important laws and regulations, which, based legislative principle on gender equality, clearly define the rights of women, and legally protect Chinese women's political participation. There was one time when the whole China was resounded with slogans like Times have changed, men and women are similar and women hold up half the sky. Half the sky once became a synonym for Chinese women. In 1995, gender equality was identified as the basic national policy. Since then, Chinese women's political status and political participation level have been greatly improved, and women have played an important role in the state political life.However, the unlimited scenery on the surface is hard to conceal embarrassing situations. Compared with the idea of true realization of gender equality, as well as the requirements of democratic political development, it does exist many problems on the level, scale and form of participation. In democratic participation, it is a widespread phenomenon for women to show their apathy towards politics, especially on the following aspects:low degree of autonomy and consciousness, high extent of negative participation, low rate of participation in primary elections, small numbers to petitions, hearings and other forms of participation. Participation in power is not optimistic, which shows in the following two aspects:first is that the women's participation in power has been at a standstill during the recent 30 years, which can be found in the sex structure of members of CNP, CPPCC and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that Chinese women's participation in power has been stagnant; second is the fact that the percentage of participation is low and the structure is unreasonable, whether it is in comparison with men, or with the women in other countries participating in politics, whether in the legislative, administrative and judicial agencies, or in political parties and other social organizations, whether in top authorities or in the grassroots level authorities.So, what causes this situation in contemporary China where gender equality is regarded as a basic national policy? Gender theory believes that the social differences between the sexes are not determined by the natural physiological differences, but by the social and cultural construction. Therefore besides the factors of women themselves, like the low comprehensive quality especially low political and cultural qualities, there are external social factors, mainly in three aspects:first, the economic factors. It is essential to have material foundation for citizens to participate in politics, so is to women. However, compared with men, women have to bear the heavy reproductive and productive tasks, and their employment status and income are generally poor. Second, the limitations of system and mechanism. In China, the laws and regulations promoting political participation are still not sound, it is quite general for people to randomly interpret the laws. Third, negative Influence of the traditional culture. China's strong traditional culture like state standard and officer's standard discourage people's participation. From the gender perspective, China's traditional male culture depreciates the value of women, resulting in a vassal of men, while at the same time, women are exclusive from the social and political life. The gender equality in political participation is not only an important component of the basic national policy, but also the trend of social development under the background of globalization and a necessity of China's political democratization harmonious society. In response to these problems and causes, we should adopt appropriate measures to actively promote the women's political participation in contemporary China.First, integrate gender awareness into public policies. Gender mainstreaming is a universal strategy adopted by international community to achieve a real sense of gender equality, it is a fundamental way to integrate gender awareness into public policies to achieve gender mainstreaming. Second, eliminate gender discrimination in employment and improve gender equality in the economic field. The economic base determines the superstructure, and only by improving women's economic status can really provide a good social and economic environment for women's political participation. Third, build an advanced gender culture and promote gender equity in education. Gender equality is the core of gender and cultural reflection and construction, therefore, constructing advanced culture can provide a good social and cultural environment for women's political participation. Promoting gender equity in education is an important way to promote gender equality in society, the higher level of education plays a positive role in raising the proportion of women's participation in politics and decision-making. Last but not the least, improve the degree of women's organizations to make them function properly. To some extent, the higher the degree of individual organization, the higher the level of political participation. To conclude, on the one hand, women's organizations in particular women's federations at all levels should function correctly, on the other hand, women in all sectors should be encouraged to build organizations that represents their interests.In short, without the full women's participation in politics, China's political democratization would be an empty word. Prospecting the future of women's participation in politics, we can notice that, on the whole, there are both challenges and opportunities. With the construction of a harmonious socialist society, the popularity of gender awareness and improvement of women's own quality, Chinese women's political participation is bound to get out of the bottleneck and steadily rise; at the same time, due to obstacles in politics, economy, culture and other aspects, the breadth and depth of women's political participation, as well as the realization of gender equality still face long-term and arduous tasks.