Gender equality: China will give female scientists priority in recruitment and research funding, provided they meet the mark

Female researchers will be given priority for talent recruitment and research funding grants, provided they are just as good as their male counterparts, according to a recent policy statement by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MST).

Age limits will be eased for women in talent programmes while research projects will be extended for female researchers who have been on maternity leave, according to a June document jointly issued by the ministry and 12 other authorities, which was made public on Monday.

When the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), the country’s two top science institutions, recruit new academicians, “more females should be nominated” and “approved first if they are as excellent as their male counterparts”, according to the document.

While women in China are widely educated with a high labour force participation rate, thanks to the country’s nine-year compulsory education strategy, top-level science jobs still tend to be dominated by men.

In 2019, 49 per cent of all college degree holders were women, but female representation among academicians at CAS and CAE was only 6 and 5.3 per cent respectively, according to the National Bureau of Statistics and MST.

Meanwhile, Nobel Prize winner Tu Youyou, a renowned traditional Chinese medicine specialist, has failed to receive the prestigious “academician” title several times.