Upon receiving the draft outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan, Fang Yan, a National People's Congress (NPC) deputy and director of Beijing Jincheng Tongda & Neal Law Firm (Xi'an office), was delighted when she read the draft included a dedicated section on "promoting gender equality and women's all-round development."
"The draft outline places the basic national policy of gender equality and women's all-round development in a prominent position, providing top-level design and an institutional guarantee for the high-quality development of women's causes in the new era," Fang said.
Many women deputies and members said the dedicated section on women's development in the draft reflects the great importance the Party and the State attach to women's causes, and will surely inject strong momentum into implementing the basic national policy of gender equality, and into promoting women's all-round development.
Policy Guarantee
The draft clearly states the basic national policy of gender equality must be upheld, and women's equal participation in economic and social development, equal exercise of democratic rights, and equal access to the fruits of reform and development should be ensured.
"China has attached great importance to women's development, and China has made consistent plans and arrangements in this regard, and efforts are also being vigorously implemented at the grassroots level," said Qiao Yaqun, an NPC deputy and governor of Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in Northwest China's Qinghai Province.
Qiao said she has been "deeply moved" by the significant achievements China has made in safeguarding women's rights and interests in recent years. She suggested, during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), efforts to increase the allocation of high-quality educational resources to remote areas should continue. Also, she added efforts to promote educational equity and protect girls' right to education should not abate.
Hu Shu'e, an NPC deputy and an engineering-technology-application researcher at Rizhao Company of Shandong Iron and Steel Group (in East China's Shandong Province), said the draft adheres to the value of putting people first, and women, from all walks of life, will certainly gain equal opportunities and play important roles in promoting high-quality development, self-reliance and strength in science and technology, cultural prosperity and development, the building of a safe and harmonious society and a Beautiful China.
The draft also proposes improving the maternal- and child-health-service system, strengthening the comprehensive prevention and treatment of the two cancers (breast cancer and cervical cancer), and implementing free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations, for eligible girls, under the national immunization program.
In November 2025, the HPV vaccine was included in the national immunization program. Various regions are now systematically providing free, two-dose bivalent HPV vaccinations to girls aged 13 and older, and who were born after November 10, 2011.
Li Lijuan, a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee member and a professor with Guangdong University of Technology, in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, said emphasis on free HPV vaccination in the draft will lead to improvements in the prevention and treatment of the two cancers, and in the maternal- and child-health-service system.
The draft specifies "expanding the coverage of maternity insurance, reasonably enhancing the level of medical-expense coverage for prenatal check-ups, basically achieving zero out-of-pocket payments for policy-covered hospital-delivery expenses, and including appropriate labor analgesia in the coverage." Li said these livelihood policies will give women a tangible sense of security.
Employment Rights, Interests
The draft also proposes safeguarding women's equal rights to education and employment.
Xia Hua, an NPC deputy and chairperson of Eve Group, has led women's efforts to transform their unique "fingertip skills" into a "fingertip industry," by taking Miao embroidery from remote villages in Southwest China's Guizhou Province to the international stage. Xia said she hopes, during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, women in the deep mountains will have more employment opportunities, and that they will achieve the triple benefits of home-based employment, cultural heritage and increased income.
Zhang Yun, an NPC deputy and deputy director of the Government Investment Project Construction Center, in Jinping District, in Shantou, a city in Guangdong Province, said, "Industries need to provide equal employment opportunities to women by improving working conditions and creating more job positions suitable for women. The principle of equal pay for equal work should be implemented."
Rule of Law
The draft stipulates the rights of rural women, as members of rural collective economic organizations, and their land-contracting and -management rights should be protected in accordance with the law, and women should be supported as they participate in grassroots governance. Efforts should also be made to continuously prevent and stop domestic violence, and to severely crack down on illegal and criminal activities that infringe upon women's rights.
Jiang Shengnan, a CPPCC National Committee member, and a researcher with the School of Humanities of Wenzhou University, in Wenzhou, in East China's Zhejiang Province, said she believed the draft has made highly targeted provisions for the protection of various rights and interests of women. "In the Internet era, the transition of rural women's rights and interests from being ‘seen' to gradually being ‘actively promoted' represents a very significant step forward," Jiang said.
The Rural Collective Economic Organizations Law took effect on May 1, 2025. Jiang said she expects that law will be better implemented, to effectively protect the rights of women members of rural collective economic organizations.
Fang suggested strengthening legal guarantees for women's rights and interests. She emphasized the need to clarify departmental responsibilities, implement policies and make the draft more binding, to better protect women's comprehensive development.
This year marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan. Maggie Chan Man Ki, an NPC deputy, a member of the executive committee of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), and President of the ACWF Hong Kong Delegates Association, said as Hong Kong shifts from "integrating into" to "serving" the overall national development, it is necessary to identify the positioning of women in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), promote the efficient and synchronized development of women, children, families and the economy and society, advance family ties, values and traditions, expand women's international exchanges, and deepen the integrated and collaborative development of women in GBA. These efforts, she said, will gather the strength of women to ensure a strong start to the 15th Five-Year Plan.
Source: Women Voice
(Women of China English Monthly April 2026)
Editor: Wang Shasha
