Courageous women in the 20th century broke the boundaries before them to have the right to participate in the decision making process and to hold high positions that were almost inconceivable to the generations that came before them. The month of March is celebrated and honored around the world in the memory of all the women who have created a difference in the lives of other women. Over the past century, women around the world have made great progress in the fight to gain economic, social, and political equality but much more remains to be done to attain gender equality. 

The GSU of the YCA on March 8, 2017, in order to honor and celebrate International Women’s Day, invited Guo Ruixiang and Jenni Ratilainen of UN Women China, to talk about the contributions and challenges to gender equality in China under the topic of Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030. Both UN Women China representatives are making a mark in history by asserting their rights and political freedom to influence policy towards women to achieve gender equality in the traditional Chinese society.

Guo Ruixiang

“Gender-based violence is still a widespread phenomenon in China and women have less decision-making opportunities” said Jiang Anji, the Vice President of Yenching Academy’s GSU, “I with an identity of the Vice President and the only Chinese female in the Student Union of Yenching Academy, feel the responsibility to discuss gender inequality and the efforts to be made to attain gender equality.”

With two decades of experience of working on gender issues, Ms. Guo discussed with the Yenching Scholars of Peking University the unfinished revolution of gender equality in China. She emphasized that gender equality is key to achieving all of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and expressed her solidarity to the 1.3 billion women around the world who lack access to formal financial institutions. Ms. Guo encouraged the Yenching Scholars to participate in UN Women gender development research to help close the academic and practitioners’ gap.

Jenni Ratilainen

The UN Women China representative Ms. Ratilainen shared her “Gender Dimensions of Vulnerability to Climate Change in China” thesis with the Yenching Scholars and talked about gender gaps in China’s policy framework, attitudes, and gender composition of government institutions, and she talked about NGOs’ roles, as well men and women’s different vulnerabilities to the adverse impacts of climate change.

Alessio Wei Chen, the President of Yenching Academy’s GSU said “Ms. Guo Ruixiang and Ms. Jenni Ratilainen have brilliantly presented the current situation on the path towards gender equality in China and elsewhere. They have also conscientiously presented the work done by UN Women to support the effective implementation of equality in all sectors as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

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Author: Veeresh Kanduri

Designer & Editor: EAS