China values every woman as a key player in progress, and contributes concretely to the global development of women.
Participants at the 2025 Global Women’s Summit applaud the speech of Gertrude Mongella, Secretary General of the Fourth World Conference on Women, in Beijing, October 13, 2025.
The World Women’s Summit, themed “A Shared Future: A New and Accelerated Process for Women’s Comprehensive Development”, was held in Beijing on October 13-14, 2025. Representatives from many countries gathered to discuss women’s development and jointly chart a path toward more comprehensive gender equality.
In his important speech at the opening ceremony, Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the spiritual heritage of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and expressed China’s solemn commitment to promoting global women’s development in the new era.
From the World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 under the theme “Acting for Equality, Development and Peace” to today, where China is building a new framework for the development of women from the perspective of a community with a shared future for humanity, thirty years have passed. Throughout this journey, China has always demonstrated profound commitment, combining knowledge and action, and contributed inexhaustible “Chinese strength” to the development of women’s causes in the world.
Women’s liberation reshapes the course of human civilization
From the hard work of women in primitive societies to the transmission of wisdom in the agrarian age, from the colossal efforts of the Industrial Revolution to the innovative breakthroughs of the Information Age, women have always been essential to the progress of human civilization.
Throughout history, their contributions have often been ignored, their rights violated, and gender inequality rooted in social structures and cultural conceptions. The human quest for equality, however, has never ceased. In 1791, French feminist pioneer Olympe de Gouges made a resounding appeal: “Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights. » In 1910, the creation of International Working Women’s Day became a symbol of the global struggle for the rights of women in the workplace. In 1921, when it was founded, the Chinese Communist Party included women’s liberation in its program, opening a new era for the women’s movement in China.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the principle of “equal pay for equal work” was enshrined in the Constitution, making women “half of the sky” in the construction of socialism.
Throughout human history, each advance in women’s liberation has profoundly transformed the course of human civilization.
Every woman is an actress on the path to modernization with Chinese characteristics
“Women are important creators, promoters and heirs of human civilization. Promoting the development of the cause of women is a common responsibility of the international community. » This important statement by President Xi Jinping highlights the major contribution of women to the economic and social progress of humanity. China has always integrated the cause of women into its entire national development strategy by guaranteeing their rights through law, promoting their development through public policies, and guiding social values through culture.
From land reform that ensured women’s land rights, to poverty reduction programs supporting women through targeted microcredit; from the law against domestic violence, which provides strong legal protection, to the law on the protection of women’s rights and interests, completely revised to strengthen guarantees; from Yang Shuting, who created his business in his wheelchair and enabled more than a thousand people to find work, to women taikonauts who explore space, Chinese women stand out with pride and energy in all areas of society.
Today, in China, 690 million women have entered a moderately wealthy society; women represent more than half of higher education students; they constitute 45.8% of scientific researchers; more than half of entrepreneurs in the Internet sector are women; 42.3% of judges are women; and their average life expectancy exceeds 80 years.
The World Health Organization also ranks China among the ten best-performing countries in the world in terms of women’s and children’s health.
These concrete results demonstrate a striking reality: “On the new path of modernization with Chinese characteristics, every woman is a main actor. »
China at the forefront of global women’s cause
Even today, the cause of women in the world faces great challenges.
In some regions, armed conflicts persist, and 600 million women and girls still live in war-affected areas. The digital gender divide is not closed; 10% of women worldwide still do not have access to education, healthcare or employment. Implicit discrimination and cultural prejudices persist, hindering the full realization of women’s potential. Furthermore, the women’s issue is now closely linked to global issues such as sustainable development, climate change and digital transformation: it has become a key factor for the future of humanity.
China, for its part, has always been a staunch promoter and active participant in the cause of women around the world. She supports the work of UN Women and established the UNESCO-China Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education; she helps developing countries implement maternal and child health programs, and has trained hundreds of thousands of talented women around the world; it established international centers of cooperation and training for the development of women; it works to make the spirit of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action a widely recognized consensus within the United Nations.
True to an open and inclusive approach, China is transforming its national practices into global public goods, thereby bringing valuable “Eastern wisdom” to global women’s development.
This year’s Global Women’s Summit is not only a review of historical experience, but also a guide for future action.
It will help strengthen international consensus, encourage countries to integrate gender equality into their development strategies, improve legislative and policy frameworks, remove cultural barriers and intensify global cooperation.
China’s proposal, “Together write a new chapter in global cooperation for women”, aims to promote the construction of a fairer and more rational global governance system for women’s development, so that the light of gender equality shines in every corner of the world.
*ZHAO WENDAN is a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at the South-West University of Political Science and Law.
