The issue brief linked here and included below finds that women have limited representation and voice across the top echelons of China’s political system.
Key findings:
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According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics data from 2022, China’s population comprises approximately 689.69 million females and 722.06 million males. Although women represent roughly 48.9 percent of the population, they occupy less than 8 percent of senior leadership positions.
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Leadership turnover following the 20th Party Congress in October 2022 resulted in no women in the Politburo for the first time in 25 years.
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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership has a stated commitment to equal opportunity but has recently shifted rhetorical focus toward traditional gender norms.
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The absence of women in Party leadership parallels low female representation within the group of Chinese nationals holding leadership positions in international organizations. Of the 39 Chinese nationals serving in top leadership positions in key international organizations, only eight are women.