Where is the half sky? : women's representation at the County People's Congress of China

Abstract

This dissertation draws on fieldwork in four county units within Hunan and Hubei provinces in China. In using both large-n data analysis and fieldwork across two groups of most-similar cases—two counties and two urban districts—I argue and find that women’s access to the county-level congress is determined by the interplay of the multi-quota framework institutionalized within the dual candidate nomination system, and the local nominators’ normative practice to select/nominate the head of units in both public and private sector such as the party secretaries or CEOs. Once elected, women legislators do substantively represent women’s interests. However, this substantive representation largely transpires outside of formal congress activities, thus forming a pattern of “representation without legislation.” I argue that this pattern is attributable to two factors. The first is the limited jurisdiction of county-level legislature. The second is the norm in legislature of avoidance towards controversial motions and proposals, which include women and gender issues.