Women Folk Work Great Wonders in China: Commentary

Home>>Opinion

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 28, 2003

Women Folk Work Great Wonders in China: Commentary

"Women are able to prop up half the sky" is a figurative speech. The expression "half the sky" not only means that women take up half of the population in China but also play a role irreplaceable in promoting the economic and social development in the country. In the reform and opening-up for the modernization construction, the "heroines are none the less inferior than the men" in every working unit and every aspect of life.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

In Anshan, one of the old industrial bases in Liaoning Province, Northeast China, a certain female star, Jiao Suyan by name was knocked off from her working post. However, she did not wait or rely on anybody else to help but on herself. With some 1000 yuan as the start-up capital she organized a "Small Pencil Packing Guild". At its initial stage it is a small workshop by no mean eye-catching. However, it was by-and-by made brisk under her management and guidance, taking in as many as 1500 laid-off women workers. With their assiduous work they worked out their own prismatic life of happiness.

"Women are able to prop up half the sky" is a figurative speech. The expression "half the sky" not only means that women take up half of the population in China but also play a role irreplaceable in promoting the economic and social development in the country. In the reform and opening-up for the modernization construction, the "heroines are none the less inferior than the men" in every working unit and every aspect of life. Vigorous on all fronts are many women workers and emerged from among them are many outstanding talents, representing the elegance and stance of the fair sex in the contemporary times of China.

During recent years the economic structure underwent a strategic readjustment in China. It has made conspicuous the problem of employment and reemployment in the country and this is especially so for those elder women workers in the SOEs. Quite a number of them have been laid off but it is very difficult for them to get re-employed. With the aid and assistance of the governments and women's organizations at all levels the Chinese women, by displaying their glorious tradition of "self-respect, self-confidence, self-reliance and with unremitting efforts to get stronger" succeeded in breaking up paths for other careers. These years have witnessed over 5 million laid-off women workers voluntarily accept the technical training of all kinds, among them more than 2 million realized employment and reemployment. This is an achievement not to be belittled with.

While it's difficult to get employed on the whole it is even more so for women folks to be employed and re-employed. This is a point of view for a number of people. Women represent a special colony in China but it is also a colony of many advantages to display with. The advantage of "half the sky" is something quite obvious but some other advantages are kept hidden in the lurch, some potential capability. This can be tapped for and given full play to through technical training at their posts or by way of support and aid from all social stratums. Judging the problem from a macro-environment the tertiary industry in China is booming but judging by the conditions of women themselves, they are clever and dexterous, able to do things carefully and meticulously and featuring a disposition of being enthusiastic and hardworking. In social communities they can provide service work, doing arts and handicrafts, knitting and weaving, house-keeping and cleaning, taking care of the babies and the elderly, preparing snacks and hairdressing or healthcare and so on. In these aspects, women have more advantages than men do in taking up the job. However, what's important is that they should be able to find out their own superiority and realize a change in the conception for employment, putting aside the traditional idea in which they considered themselves as being employed only by "taking up the iron bowl". The key point here is to give full play to the superiority while casting aside the inferiority so as to bring their advantageous potentials into full play. From a realistic point of view, if to be engaged in none full-time or temporary job and do some seasonal work, the job opportunity is by no means in the few with not bad income. They'll find it a spacious haven in which they are able to display their advantages.

For women folks, employment and reemployment is a matter of great importance which has something direct to do, with their personal interests, with their social status and dignity in society. We must not only put the conception into practice for man and woman to be on an equal footing in all walks of life but also the modern idea of equal job opportunity for man and woman so as to maintain and ensure the legal rights of the women folks. Moreover, attention must also be paid to bringing into play the advantages of the "half the sky" women folks, never to disregard them or put them in an awkward position in finding jobs to get re-employed. A coin has a head and a tail and there is advantage and disadvantage in anything and everything. In the deep-going reform and readjustment of economic structure there incurred some influences on some enterprise workers and in especial on some women folks. However, in a dialectic point of view the reform and readjustment has also provided some opportunities for women to get employed, for instance, some service trades or workforce density industries and so on. Of course, to turn special advantages into superiority and superiority into success there is still a long way to travel in between. The successful practices by some excellent women folks tell us a fact that it all depends on human efforts and the road is right in front of you. It is wished that the women folks would bring their superiority into play, be brave in finding jobs and good at creating job opportunities of their own accord and to work out continuously the new posts by resorting to hard work and sweat, wisdom and strength. In a word, new achievements can be worked out in this way, thereby creating a new life of happiness.

This is a commentary by People's Daily, translated by R.L. Han

Questions?Comments? Click here

President of All-China Women's Federation Elected

Ninth National Women's Congress Ends in Beijing

>> Full Coverage

Martin Luther King's Dream Hard to Be Fulfilled ( 23 Messages)

China's Economy Faces Stiff Challenges: Minister ( 3 Messages)

China's 150 million mu Forests Plagued by Exotic Pests ( 3 Messages)

Is a Good Husband Worth More Than a Good Job? ( 2 Messages)

Poll Shows More Americans Wouldn't Vote for Bush ( 15 Messages)