Under the slavery system, women, no matter of what ethnic group, could never have had equal social status as men. They were suppressed at the bottom of the social ranking. The old code of the former Tibetan authorities stipulated clearly that women were forbidden to engage in political affairs.

Things have changed since the peaceful liberation in Tibet as the government of the new autonomous region declared women would enjoy the same rights as men and so are entitled to taking part in social affairs and activities.

Since the first election of representatives to the people's legislatures at grassroots level in the autonomous region, 90 percent of women have involved themselves the successive elections.

A number of women of capability, literacy and achievement have been elected to the people's congress and people's political consultative conference at all levels in Tibet, enacting their legal rights in managing public affairs and formulating development policies for the region.

Statistics show that the percentage rate for women members in the autonomous region's seventh people's congress and seventh people's political consultative conference were 20.1 percent and 16.5 percent respectively.

Women officials accounted for 33.7 percent of the total number of officials in Tibet. Women made up 14.3 percent, 11.3 percent and 11 percent of officials at provincial, city, and county levels respectively.

The governments of all seven cities under the autonomous region have women officials and 80 percent of county-level governments have women officials, according to statistics.

In towns, female workers have accounted for 35.1 percent of the total; and women technicians have even accounted for 42.6 percent of the total technological personnel of the region. Some 277 women in the region have got senior professional titles.

(People’s Daily 06/22/2001)