What is HIV and AIDS?

etween socializing and alcohol use; by the frequency of drug abuse, including
injection; and by the number of predominantly male occupations that entail migration
and thus disrupt family life (Balaquit, 2007).
Gender in China
“Women hold up half the sky”
Mao Zedong
The World Bank stated in its 2002 Country Review of China that “the developmental
gap between men and women is widening. In fact, the various gaps separating men
and women’s status, income, and power keep shifting in response to constantly
changing social, economic, cultural and political realities in China”. This is very true of
China today. In many cities across this vast country, women enjoy the same equal
status in society as men. Looking at major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, it is
easy to believe that gender is not an issue in China. To some extent, the gender
issues present in China are not as prominent as those in other countries; there is very
little research or data available regarding this issue. However, in those reports that
are available, gender inequalities are still very much present in rural China today.
The World Bank describes the increasing “feminisation of poverty”. In its work with
Chinese scholars and researchers, they identified barriers to gender equality.
These include:
1. Inequality in the labour market in terms of income gaps, discrimination in hiring
and firing and also discrimination in top-level positions. Women are generally
employed in lower status and lower-wage jobs, and are often neglected in
promotions to management level, coming up against the “glass-ceiling” (Asian
Development Bank, 2006).
2. Uneven impacts of education and health reforms. Women tend to be heavier
users of health services due to their reproductive role. Their ability to access
these services depends on their income levels, which are lower in comparison to
men resulting in unequal access. There is also evidence showing high levels of
illiteracy particularly amongst girls and women in rural counties, with three out of
four illiterate people being women.
3. The one-child family planning policy that has reinforced the traditional cultural
preference for boys over girls. This has been reflected in the birth ratio of 117
males to 100 females in 1999. Fewer female partners for men has resulted in an
increase in trafficking of women and girls particularly from border regions.
An increasing concern for China is the unusually high female suicide rate. The
worldwide is 1.6% whereas China’s is 4.5% (World Bank, 2002). The reasons for this
are complex. They include women’s increasing workload as men move to urban areas
to find work, women are left with both the agricultural and domestic duties (Asian
Development Bank, 2006). Forced marriages and domestic abuse are other causes.
As mentioned above, gender is also an issue for vulnerable men, particular males
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