Catalog

Working Toward Equality
ADB Review [ January - February 2004 ]

By Guy Sacerdoti (gsacerdoti@adb.org)
Consultant, Office of External Relations

Wu Qing, professor, politician, activist

Background

Professor, politician, and activist. Wu Qing of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a true representative of a mass constituency: women. She not only is a democratically elected politician as Beijing Deputy, but for more than 40 years she has influenced generations of students, urban and rural poor, political elite, and the international community in breaking down the traditional and cultural constraints that limit women. She describes the gender movement as part of the PRC’s democratic movement. Recipient of the 2001 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, Prof. Qing is also a member of the Asian Development Bank’s External Forum on Gender.

How are gender issues and democracy related?

Gender equality is very important to lay the groundwork for democracy and freedom. In a true democracy everyone—men and women, old and young—are given the opportunity to be heard. After all, women make up half the world’s population. They need better representation. Women need to get into decisionmaking positions to better represent their constituents. If policies are made without the input of women, the policies will be wrong.

What are the main issues confronting women in the PRC?

With restructuring in the economy and the breaking down of social benefits in cities, women face unemployment, fewer day-care centers, more domestic violence, lack of education opportunities, and poverty.

What do you see as some of the major challenges for women in the PRC?

There is feminization of poverty, agriculture, and migration in the PRC. Unemployment and lack of social benefits, medical and health services, and financial and emotional support for elderly women.

You started the PRC’s first women’s nongovernment organization. Now you are a Beijing Deputy. How do the two relate?

Law is with the constitution. It’s all there. Women need to know their rights, and so do the policymakers, who are mostly men. So we need to work at two levels: the grass roots, through NGOs, and we need to lobby at the top through participation in formal politics. And we must do it carefully. We don’t want to scare the men off.

I have spoken at plenaries to raise the awareness of deputies and achieved good results. With 35 other deputies at the Haidian District People’s Congress, we success-fully got the approval to set up a Women’s Bureau. I am often invited to university campuses and different parts of the PRC to offer training on gender and citizenship.

What is your opinion on tackling gender issues?

It’s a very slow process. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s like rain. A downpour can wash away the topsoil. But if it drizzles, the water seeps down and irrigates. So change needs to be gradual. I’m optimistic it will happen—gradually—over time.

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