Under Xi Jinping, Women in China Have Given Up Gains

In China’s state-media narrative, the Communist Party can pride itself on “historic achievements” on women’s causes during Xi Jinping’s tenure. By other measures, women have lost ground under Mr. Xi.

Since 2012, when Mr. Xi took power, there has been a drop in women’s labor-force participation, a crackdown on feminists and a new focus on women’s role in the family. China has dropped 33 places to the lower third in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, to No. 102 in the 2022 ranking of more than 100 countries, down from No. 69 in 2012.