Chinese Women: from Illiterate to IntellectThe contributions of Chinese female intellectuals have drastically increased, as a large group of women engaged in economic and social development are making great contributions to the modernization of the country.In feudalistic times, people valued illiterate women and women came to bear the sole responsibility of caring for their husbands and families. Statistics show that half a century ago, 90 percent of Chinese women were uneducated. The rate of educated females in China had not significantly changed until the foundation of New China in 1949. Chinese women were no longer exempted from school. The present average schooling for females over 15 is 6.5 years, one year more than in the 1990 survey. The increasing rate is higher than that for males. The proportion of illiterate females have decreased. The gap in male and female education levels have narrowed. In 1999, girls receiving education at primary, middle schools and higher levels was 39.2 percent, 45.9 percent and 47.6 percent respectively. There were 160,000 women higher education teachers throughout the country, 37.6 percent of the total number of working staff. Increasing access to higher education by female students has laid a solid foundation for women intellectuals to join economy construction and public administration. A number of highly educated female workers have assumed posts of importance in culture, technology, education and other fields. There were 62 female academicians in Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering of China by the end of 1998, higher than that of other countries. Female cadres totaled 13.83 million in government offices, state-owned units and enterprises as well as professional research fields by the end of 1997, accounting for 34 percent of the total number of cadres. |
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