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P 110131Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7548
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 000038 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV KWMN CH
SUBJECT: PRC: WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR VALERIE JARRETT 
LEADS FORUM ON WOMEN'S ISSUES AT EMBASSY 
 
REF: 09BEIJING3381 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  In a November 18 round table with White 
House Senior Advisor and Chair of the White House Council on 
Women and Girls Valerie Jarrett, Chinese activists working on 
issues effecting women and girls in China noted that while 
there had been significant improvements in China on women's 
issues since the 1995 World Conference on Women, further work 
was needed, particularly in political participation, health, 
and economic development and opportunities.  The proportion 
of female delegates in the National People's Congress (NPC) 
had increased, but remained insufficient.  Access to 
healthcare services remained a challenge for women, 
especially rural women; and there was still no specific 
criminal statute on domestic violence.  Chinese women 
continue to face challenges in balancing personal and 
professional demands.  End Summary. 
 
Women Leaders Discussion Forum 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) On November 18, White House Senior Advisor Valerie 
Jarrett met with a group of 18 Chinese women and men engaged 
in work on women's issues.  The participants spoke about the 
work of their organizations to improve the lives of Chinese 
women and girls, highlighting both traditional and innovative 
methods, such as micro-lending, being used to address the 
challenges facing women in China.  Participants noted the 
importance of taking country-specific conditions into account 
when crafting strategies for empowering and elevating women. 
Despite recognizing significant improvements in China over 
the last fifteen years, all participants cited the need for 
additional efforts, particularly in the areas of political 
participation, health and economic disparities.  Senior 
Advisor Jarrett briefed on U.S. initiatives to improve the 
lives of women and girls in the U.S. and globally. 
 
Women's Political Participation Continues to Fall Short 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Wan Yan, Deputy Director of the State Council Office 
of the National Working Committee on Children and Women 
(NWCCW), reported that while the proportion of female 
delegates in the National People's Congress (NPC) had 
increased, it still fell short of the thirty-percent mark 
required by the Beijing Platform for Action that was agreed 
upon at the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing 
in 1995.  According to Wan Yan, female deputies comprised 
over twenty-one percent of the 2009 NPC.  China only had 
three female cabinet members, she pointed out.  Asked about 
strategies used to increase political participation by women, 
Wan Yan cited the example of Guangdong provincial officials, 
who were now requiring that one-third of candidates standing 
for village elections be women in order for the elections to 
be recognized as valid. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Zou Xiaoqiao, from the All China Women's Federation 
(ACWF), acknowledged that political participation in rural 
regions was "not optimal."  To increase grassroots political 
participation, she said, the ACWF cooperated with villages 
and counties to train women in the skills needed to serve as 
village leaders. 
 
Challenges Remain in Health, Social Arenas 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) Access to healthcare services remained a challenge 
for women, especially rural women, Zou noted.  The ACWF was 
working with the government to provide cancer screening and 
aimed by 2011 to provide 1.2 million women the opportunity to 
receive such health checks.  The NWCCW, noted Wan Yan, was 
focusing efforts on lowering maternal mortality.  In 2001, 
one in 10,000 Chinese women had died in childbirth.  By 2006, 
that number had been reduced because of funding for pre-natal 
medical care.  Wan added that while most rural women 
previously had given birth at home, now 88 percent of women 
gave birth in hospitals.  Gao Xiaoxian, Chair of the Shanxi 
Province Research Association for Women and Family, commented 
that in addition to health care and health screening, basic 
health education remained a problem in rural areas.  To 
address this deficit, her NGO was working to increase health 
education through the establishment of health clinics and 
classrooms. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Chen Mingxia, a professor at the Institute of Law at 
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, described efforts 
made by her NGO, the Network for Combating Domestic Violence. 
 Over the last fifteen years, the Chinese public generally 
had acknowledged the phenomenon of domestic violence, which 
 
BEIJING 00000038  002 OF 003 
 
 
also had been addressed peripherally in existing Chinese law. 
 However, there was still no specific criminal statute on 
domestic violence, Chen said. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Wang Xingjuan, founder of the Maple Women's 
Counseling Center, emphasized the importance of mental health 
to women's overall wellbeing.  The Center primarily served 
rural women, single parents and victims of domestic violence. 
 Noting that suicide rates for women far exceeded those for 
men in China, Wu Qing, of the Practical Skills Training 
Center for Rural Women, explained that her organization was 
focused on suicide prevention.  (Note:  A 2007 China Daily 
article reported that China's suicide rates were among the 
world's highest and that rural suicides outnumbered urban 
suicides in China.) 
 
¶8. (SBU) Several participants noted that Chinese women faced 
challenges in balancing personal and professional demands. 
Feng Cui, head of the China Association of Women 
Entrepreneurs (CAWE), noted that two-thirds of woman 
entrepreneurs were responsible for taking care of their 
families (which in China typically includes an older 
generation as well as children), a situation which was often 
an obstacle to career advancement. 
 
Overcoming Economic Hurdles; Poverty Reduction 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶9. (SBU) ACWF's Zou discussed government efforts to provide 
interest-free micro-loans to women as a poverty-alleviation 
strategy.  These loans were primarily used to help women 
start their careers and set up companies, Zou said. China, 
women largely did not enter the business realm until the 
1990s, and even then, women worked mainly in private 
enterprises such as clothing and catering.  However, some 
women have recently made inroads in traditionally "male" 
fields such as the steel, automotive, and hi-tech industries, 
commented Feng.  CAWE's Feng said her organization provided 
legal aid and financial assistance to its members to support 
women's small and medium-sized enterprises, noting that these 
loans typically averaged 50,000-100,000 RMB.  The recent 
financial crisis had impacted women-owned enterprises in 
China.  A June 2009 CAWE survey found that 13 percent of 
women-run enterprises had cut employees, she said, but 
despite reductions in staff, many had been able to survive. 
 
Legal Aid, Education and Media Issues 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Guo Jianmei, a prominent women's rights lawyer, 
spoke about the legal assistance and advocacy efforts of her 
Women's Law Studies and Legal Action Center.  While demand 
for legal aid far exceeded supply, Guo said, she and the 
Center's twelve lawyers worked to select cases that best 
represented challenges facing Chinese women, and ones that 
had the potential to influence policy and set precedents.  In 
her view, over the last fifteen years, women's legal issues 
had been on a bumpy, but hopeful, pathway.  A continuous 
increase in the number of NGOs focusing on lawsuits 
protecting women's rights was one hopeful sign.  However, she 
said, a lack of human and other resources for this type of 
work remained a formidable obstacle to progress in the legal 
arena.  (Note:  On November 30, Peking University informed 
Guo that the Center needed to focus solely on legal research, 
vice legal aid, or disassociate from the university.) 
 
¶11. (SBU) Education of girls is crucial, Wu Qing, of the 
Practical Skills Training Center for Rural Women, said. 
Observing that mothers were often a child's first teacher, Wu 
noted that educating a girl educated an entire family.  Wu 
emphasized that one of the goals of her program was to 
educate girls to become "global citizens" and "whole people." 
 Education helped women understand their rights.  Illiteracy 
remained a serious problem in China, with one in ten people, 
or 100 million citizens, illiterate.  Wu invited Jarrett to 
visit a rural women's school on her next trip to China.  Zhao 
Jie, Director of the Gender and Participation Research Center 
at the Yunnan Province Academy of Social Sciences, pointed 
out the need to draw on unique aspects of minority cultures 
in educating girls, and to capitalize on local knowledge to 
empower women and girls. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Zhang Yue, anchorwoman of the CCTV program "Half 
the Sky," noted her program was the only television show to 
focus exclusively on women's issues.  The program addressed a 
range of topics, including girls' education, trafficking in 
persons and political participation of women, and provided a 
valuable and unique platform for the discussion of these 
issues in China. 
 
BEIJING 00000038  003 OF 003 
 
 
HUNTSMAN