Global Courant
BEIJING — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with female economists in Beijing on Saturday, in an attempt to highlight gender diversity following meetings with China’s largely male heads of government.
Ms. Yellen, the first woman to head the U.S. Treasury, has made women’s contributions and importance to economies a central focus of her tenure. leadership.
A senior Treasury Department official said the luncheon with Chinese economists would allow Ms Yellen, who was also the first woman to head the US Federal Reserve, to “associate with a number of people who are more or less more outside the normal policy structure”.
Treasury did not name the participating women.
In the ten years since Chinese President Xi Jinping has been secretary general of the party, the number of women in politics and top government positions has declined and the gender gap in the workforce has widened, with the government emphasizing more traditional roles for women.
A June report from the United Nations urged China to introduce legal quotas and a system of gender equality to boost women’s representation in government.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women found that women make up just over 26 percent of delegates to the 14th National People’s Congress and have had no representation on the Communist Party of China’s 24-member Politburo since October, a first in 20 years.
Currently, Shen Yiqin is China’s top female politician, who was appointed as one of China’s five state councilors in March. She ranks higher than a minister and oversees social welfare, veterans’ affairs, and sports.
Ms. Yellen, on the other hand, is one of 13 women in President Joe Biden’s 25-member cabinet, the most gender-diverse in U.S. history.
A quarter of the seats in the U.S. Senate and 28.7 percent of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are currently held by women, according to Rutgers University’s Center for Women in Politics.
China also lags behind in terms of women’s representation at the top of the industry, a recent survey found.
Bain & Company and leadership consultancy Spencer Stuart reported in March that women make up just 19 percent of top executives, compared to an average of 25 percent in leading countries. REUTERS
