Mao Zedong succeeded in raising the status of women in China. Among the first legislation enacted by the Communist Party of China in 1950 was the Marriage Law under which women were given many new rights including the right to divorce and the right to own property. By 2010, 26% of urban women had university degrees, double the proportion ten years earlier. Women now regularly outperform men at Chinese universities. There is however a gender-based quota favouring men in some entrance examinations. What is surprising is that many of the earlier advances made by Chinese women have been set back in recent years. Traditional patriarchal attitudes have reasserted themselves.
The Communist Party is now said to be pushing for the return of women to the kitchen as did Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. In 1990, women’ s salaries in urban centres was 78% of the level of men’s pay. In 2010, it had decreased to 67%. The female urban employment rate also fell from 70% in 1990 to 61% in 2010. More women are now remaining single. The Party believes that a stable society needs fewer single women. Families drive consumption and the property boom. Women’s empowerment is also on the decline. An interpretation of the Supreme Court of China in 2011 of the 1950 Marriage Law stated that when a couple divorced, property should be shared equally. This has led to a number of divorces in recent years. Nevertheless, compared with women in most developing countries, Chinese women are still doing quite well, even better than their counterparts in Korea or Japan as regards status and participation. The trend of subjugation of women is there but Chinese women are fighting back