Thursday, March 9, 2000
Women losers in
reforms
Not their day: a group of women, out of work
after reforms to state-owned enterprises, wait for prospective
employers at a job centre in Shanghai. Agence France-Presse
photo
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in
Beijing
China's women have been bearing more than half the burden created by
the reform of state-owned enterprises, state media reported
yesterday.
Urban women account for more than half the country's laid-off
workers, expected to rise by five million this year, the China Daily
said, as the world marked International Women's Day.
"Local branches of the [All China Women's] Federation have
organised training courses for these women in an effort to help them
land new jobs," the report said.
Official figures, believed by many economists to be conservative,
show 11.9 million people have lost their jobs since major reforms to
state firms began in late 1997, with 6.5 million of the laid-off
workers remaining unemployed at the end of last year.
The Communist Party prides itself on having improved the social
status of women since it came to power. Former leader Mao Zedong
declared that "women hold up half the sky" and eradicated such
traditional practices as foot-binding.
But as in most other countries, women are conspicuous by their
absence from China's policy-making core, with all seven members of
the Politburo Standing Committee being men. |
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