Women try to hold up half the political sky (3)

Glass ceiling

In 2008, 21 percent of Party members and 23 percent of the nation's civil servants were women in 2008, according to a report by the Women's Studies Institute of China.

At the time, female officials occupied 10.6 percent of positions at provincial level and higher, a slight increase from the 10.3 percent recorded in 2005. However, the proportion of women serving on village committees had risen more markedly, to 21.7 percent compared with 15.5 percent in 2005.

But there is a glass ceiling; women rarely become Party or State leaders.

All seven members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the Party's highest decision-making body, are male.

Of the 25 Politburo members, only two are women; Liu Yandong, 67, a State Councilor since 2008, and Sun Chunlan, 62, recently named Party Secretary of Tianjin Municipality.

Sun is also the only second female provincial-level Party secretary since 1949, while Li Bin, governor of Anhui province, is the only fourth woman to be appointed a provincial governor.

"If you compare the women's liberation movement in China with the progress in other countries historically, the pace of progress is not slow" said Zhen Xiaoying, former vice-president of the Central Institute of Socialism.

"You may find it surprising, but women in Switzerland didn't have the right to vote until 1971."

However, she admitted that most female officials only ever rise to the positions of deputies and very few are appointed to top leadership roles.

Better educational opportunities and greater equality socially and in the workplace have empowered an increasing number of women and allowed them to excel in many fields, including the world of commerce.

"But gaining entry to the political elite is more complicated," Zhen added.