Women making up ground in work and studies

From 2010 to 2020, more girls and women received education at all levels, and found jobs in urban areas, according to a report published by the National Bureau of Statistics.

In 2020, about 23 million girls nationwide experienced preschool education, a rise of 68 percent from 2010.

Of those involved in the nine-year compulsory education system, there were about 73 million female students, up 2.8 percent from 2010, who accounted for about 47 percent of all students.

Female students performed better than males in higher education. Women's opportunities for higher education have grown as many forms of assistance and subsidies have been provided for poor and disabled female students to guarantee equal access to education, the report said.

In 2020, the female enrollment rate in higher education was 54 percent. That was 28 percentage points higher than in 2010.

In the same year, there were 68 million female employees in the urban areas, up 39 percent from 2010, accounting for 43 percent of all employed people in China.

An article published by the China Women's University last year said that some schoolteachers subconsciously evaluate boys and girls according to gender stereotypes. For example, they believe that girls are not as talented as boys in subjects such as mathematics and physics.

Textbooks usually contain more male role models than female ones. Men tend to play dominant roles such as heroes and leaders while women are mainly housewives and secretaries. Male roles are macho, powerful and knowledgeable, while female roles are humble, gentle and diligent, the article said.

These gender attitudes will not only affect the performance of girls in the classroom but may also affect the development of their self-esteem, it added.

In the job market, employers are not allowed to set gender restrictions, but it is generally believed that jobs requiring overtime, many business trips and science and engineering backgrounds automatically belong to men. That means the employment of women in such fields is affected and restricted, it said.

It is necessary to improve awareness of gender equality among educators in thought and deed, the article added.

Writers of textbooks need to recognize the necessity of gender equality. They should keep up with the times, increase parts for women and enrich female roles in their books, while employers should expand women's choices in engineering, medicine, agriculture, liberal arts and other booming sectors, it said.

In recent years, the State Council, China's Cabinet, has held many national gender equality education training courses for primary and secondary school students and educators, in addition to gender awareness training courses for educators.

Meanwhile, educational materials and curriculum standards that incorporate the concept of gender equality have been adopted in classrooms at primary and secondary schools.

As of 2020, most regions of the country had conducted gender equality education in primary and secondary schools, according to the All-China Women's Federation.