Observations on the status of women in China are always intriguing, especially so when we have reached the 38th anniversary of the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, plus, 2017 witnessed a boom in both gifts bought for International Women’s Day celebrations and investment in female-fronted start-ups in China and the world.

In 2017, according to online shopping statistics, over 2.5 million Chinese men bought gifts for women in the 10 days leading up to International Women's Day, which falls on March 8. Beauty products and kitchen supplies were a dominant theme. Women’s own purchases during that time period easily doubled that figure. 

Hence, the phrase “women hold up half the sky” has a new meaning: Chinese women are taking the lead, at least financially, in a relationship or family. Most Chinese women do claim they make all or most of the financial decisions in the household, the highest percentage among their Asian peers. 

According to the 2017 Hurun Businesswomen List, the world's five most successful female entrepreneurs are all from China. China now has more self-made female billionaires than any other country in the world, and many of these women entrepreneurs have rags-to-riches stories that have inspired others, which proves that the access to entrepreneurship has been made easier to women, thanks to the development of the internet and other new technologies. 

In the past, to start and develop a business required wide social connections, an understanding and ability to maneuver through the power structure, and even the ability to drink baijiu - a strong Chinese liquor - during dinners, which sets a high bar for entry. Now, highly developed advances in science and technology have greatly lowered the threshold, endowing many women with opportunities to start their own businesses. Globally, between 2014 and 2016, entrepreneurship activity among women increased by 10 percent. 

However, if we look further through the surface, it is still much more difficult for women than men to get investment. 

One stunning figure is that female entrepreneurs received only 3 percent of VC funding. As a result, most women have to put their own money into start-ups, which block the enterprises from gaining substantial development quickly. The people involved seem to remain in the early stage of understanding this new phenomenon: Fueling the growth of women-led businesses isn’t simply good for society, it is better for the economy. It is actually estimated that closing the gender entrepreneurship gap worldwide could grow global GDP by as much as 2 percent - more so for China given its GDP growth rate. 

Chinese women are regarded as the hardest working group in the world. Thanks to Chairman Mao’s advocate on women’s rights by saying “women hold up half the sky”, China has the highest rate of female employment in the world, outperforming the world average at 74 percent. They work the longest hours both at work and at home every day, demonstrating diligence on the one hand and bearing a huge pressure on the other, including the pressure of seeking gender equality. If they are not free from pressure, how can family happiness be guaranteed, and how can society develop sustainably? 

There is one encouraging figure shared by Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo's chairman and CEO, one of the top female leaders in the global business sector, which is that companies with the highest representation of women on their senior management teams had a 35-percent higher return on equity than companies with the lowest. Her Chinese branch proved this in practice. Moreover, women have started to outshine their male counterparts in journalism, teaching, healthcare and even on the police force. 

Beyond businesses, in a move to encourage women in rural regions to participate in politics, female officials were elected into all village committees in many Chinese provinces. The relatively small number of female politicians in China is a topic of criticism by Western media. However, the ratio of female lawmakers on the national stage stands at 22 percent, compared with only 17 percent in the US. The China National Program for Women's Development (2011-2020) stipulates that all local governments above the county level should have more than one female leader by the end of 2020. 

(The author is a research fellow of Chongyang Research Institute of Renmin University of China. The article reflects the author’s opinion, not necessarily the views of CGTN.)