Now Reading: Study says China state media pushes women back to family roles
-
01
Study says China state media pushes women back to family roles
A study of over 125,000 People's Daily articles from 1990 to 2023 found the Chinese Communist Party's official mouthpiece increasingly associates women with domestic and familial roles, according to a report by…
The Story in Brief
A study of over 125,000 People's Daily articles from 1990 to 2023 found the Chinese Communist Party's official mouthpiece increasingly associates women with domestic and familial roles, according to a report by the South China Morning Post. The analysis by Hong Kong researchers Jia Wang and Ruiyu Zhang shows references linking women to public roles declined sharply from the late 1990s, reaching their widest gap in 2018.
The study, published in Frontiers in Sociology in May, notes a modest rebound from 2020 onwards, possibly reflecting demographic pressures and labour needs. It comes as no woman has served on the powerful Politburo Standing Committee, and only one woman holds a provincial party chief post. The Hindustan Times reports the shift coincides with China's move from a one-child to a three-child policy.
The Indian Opinion
The study documents a slide in how state media frames women, but the real test is policy, not rhetoric. Beijing's pronatalist drive risks treating women as instruments, while its leadership remains overwhelmingly male. Watch whether the modest post-2020 rebound in public-role mentions translates into actual appointments, especially in economic and provincial posts that lead to the Politburo. If it does not, the slogan 'women hold up half the sky' is just words.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
