China’s companies giving more opportunities to women

Beijing, China – Companies in China say they are recruiting more women and giving them more opportunities to succeed.

Twenty-eight more Chinese companies -- the majority of them led by women -- signed on to UN Women’s Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March. A total of 258 companies in China have now signed on.

Mulan Initiative, a partner in China working with the WeEmpowerAsia programme, has helped mobilize the CEOs to sign the principles. WeEmpowerAsia is a joint programme of the European Union and UN Women that aims to increase the number of women who participate in and lead private-sector businesses in Asia.

Many of the new signatories in China say they have taken steps to ensure parity in their organizations, such as by reserving for women 40 per cent or more of decision-making positions.  

Raymund Chao, Chairman of PwC Asia-Pacific and China, said:“Where we are today and amidst all the challenges that we are facing, is the most opportune time to seize the moment to reimagine economies, societies and political systems so that they uphold gender equality and leave no one behind.” Chao was a winner of UN Women’s WEPs Awards last year in the Leadership Commitment category.

China Electronics Standardization Association and China Textile Information Center, both industry groups, are collaborating with WeEmpowerAsia to promote the WEPs among companies across the value chains in China. Ten of their member companies publicly advocated for gender equality agenda in honour of International Women’s Day.

Winners of the WEPs Awards speak out for gender equality on social media. Photo: UN Women China/Wang Jinyi

In China, only 9.7 per cent of board members of publicly-listed companies are women, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020. That’s even though women accounted for 43.2 per cent of all employed people in 2019, according to National Bureau of Statistics of China.

The 28 companies that signed on to the WEPs to mark International Women’s Day 2021: 

Beijing Tootoo Ecological Agriculture Co., Ltd.

Gome Holdings Group

Shukun (Beijing) Network Technology

Guangzhou FAWA Cosmetics Co., Ltd. (China) 

Dong Yi Ri Sheng Home Decoration Group Co., Ltd.

Guangzhou FAWA Cosmetics Co., Ltd. (China)

Beijing Dangdang Information Technology Co., Ltd.

Eurocrane (China) Co., Ltd.

Chunyu Doctor

Idol Group

Taikang Pension Insurance Co., Ltd.

Beijing Upper East Asset Management & Technology Co., Ltd.

Wuhan EasyDiagnosis Biomedicine Co., Ltd.

China Yuhua Education Corporation Limited

FOR-U Smart Freight

Best Wonder Co., Ltd.

Walmart (China) Investment Co., Ltd.

QKM Technology (Dongguan) Co., Ltd.

PNC Process Systems Co., Ltd.

Noah Holdings Limited

Beijing Tianyishangjia New Material Corp., Ltd.

Meilleure Health International Industry Group

Chengdu Easton Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.

Beijing Moviebook Science and Technology Co., Ltd.

Ernst & Young Hua Ming LLP

Shanghai Ruixu Enterprise Management Co., Ltd.

Shenzhen Pindao Restaurant Management Co., Ltd.

Shanghai Zenmen Technology Co., Ltd.