Xinyang, a city in central China's Henan Province, is well known for the green tea it produces called Xinyang maojian, a rare brew that is much in demand. Recently, however, the city made headlines for an entirely different reason--a new set of policies to take care of its women.

Yu Jinxia is one of those that have been benefited from the new policies. Yu used to be an office clerk in Shihe District. But her big chance came in September 2007, when she took part in an open selection test for candidates who would fill higher-level government vacancies. Yu scored 68 points in the exam. The acceptance mark was 69.5 points. So close, yet so far. Not this time. Yu was recruited as a section deputy director in the municipal government.

The reason? Xinyang's new women centered policies stipulate that, female students will have two points added to the original results of various tests for admission to secondary schools, either public, technical or vocational. This does not apply to men. In addition, a preferential policy is available to women who compete for positions in government agencies. According to Henan Business, a local daily newspaper, five women officials have been promoted to higher-level positions thanks to the new policy.

According to Lei Liping, Chairwoman of Xinyang Municipal Women's Federation, several reasons should be factored in for implementing the policies. After all, girls can be future mothers, and it is necessary to provide them with quality education since they have a large impact on their children.

"It could be a turning point for most girls because some low-income families will not invest in their daughters because of their perceived inferior social status," Lei said, adding that the caring credits will be a regular mechanism in Xinyang.

But Lei, who ruled out the possibility of bigger bonus points, explained that the practice might damage the girls' enthusiasm for study and the initiative won't be effective to motivate them in the long-term.

Professor Yang Chaoju at Zhengzhou University said that Xinyang's initiative has raised public awareness about the need to promote women in the workplace. But understandably it has received mixed responses among the public since implementation.

Some perceive it as a substantial step forward to show care and respect for women in a male-dominated society, and believe that it is a positive sign of gender equality.

Opponents criticize it as a way of showboating, arguing that in a society where full equality is given between genders, this special "care" for females will perhaps create discrimination and unfairness of new types.

In reality most women face less job opportunities and education resources. More merits should be given in the sectors of education, employment, medical care and insurance to make women more accessible to social welfare, financially and politically. Maybe lowering the cost of education or streamlining the employment process are more helpful than just giving two more credits, say those who balk at these policies.

Respecting women

Liu Kejun (hlj.rednet.cn): For most women, adding points to an exam score is useful at the turning points of their life. In most cases, however, the impact will be very limited, since anyone could hardly score 58 or 59 points in various exams.

It is said that such caring policies for women are carried out by the Xinyang local government in the form of administrative regulation. It contains more than just respect and care, it represents a social attitude toward women.

Xinyang's policies tell us women also are entitled to enjoy fair play and social equality. It is true that females are still inferior to males in many fields, such as education and employment, as a result of conservative minds and a deficient legal system.

Xinyang's initiative is thus a channel to balance social equity by attracting more public attention to differences between opposite genders.

Zhang Yongqi (www.bandao.cn): Credits for women will encourage them and may be an incentive toward narrowing gender differences. Statistics show that the number of male newborns is excessively higher than female babies in China. As we know, disproportionate components of different sexes will cause quite a handful of social problems.

In a male-dominated society, women are on comparatively lower ground due to distinctive physical characteristics.

Tangible credits for them are much better than hollow slogans in achieving gender equality. These points will not only boost women's confidence, but also will raise their social status, which is beneficial for social harmony.

Ye Lei (www.cnnb.com.cn): Gender equality is a common pursuit of all human beings. More care for women is a measure to help realize ultimate equality between different sexes, which represents the spirit and progress of modern civilization.

Despite social progress, we are still living in a society dominated by men, and it is undeniable that men have obvious advantages in employment and job promotion over women. Additionally, most women will have to bear responsibilities to raise kids and take on duties of running a home.

When most gender equality measures stay static in the form of wording or slogans, Xinyang's bold step has effectively taken concrete steps to put into practice long-existing principles, and will promote the development of local women to a new level.

Goes too far

Guo Jianhong (www.enorth.com.cn): It will produce new equality problems. Girls have two more points than boys even before entering exam rooms, and it is of course unfair. We could reduce the tuition or boarding expenses, but never violate fairness of tests. Whether men or women can be officials relies on whether they are capable of doing the job or not.

Women do not really need special care. What they need is an even playing field. If they are given the same opportunities, they can compete openly with men. If we give extra care, we have admitted that women are in need of protection and attention, and that's the very source of inequality. It is wrong to transfer more resources from men to women for gender equality, as that will only create new forms of discrimination and inequality.

Chen Cigui (www.cnhubei.com): We can easily go to extremes in addressing the gender equality issue by discriminating against men or women. Based on Xinyang's misunderstanding about gender equality, these new policies are unfair to men, and will have more side effects on the development of women.

In Chinese society, gender discrimination is commonly seen in some areas, and many individual reformists and organizations are dedicated to eliminating this discrimination, rather than producing them in new forms.

Wang Li (www.zjol.com.cn): Although we have put the gender equality issue on our agenda for a long time, we still have some unfair rules that hinder the development of women, such as fewer opportunities for higher education or in the job market, or even different retirement systems that stipulate an earlier retiring age for women.

Care for women should not be a kind of compensation full of mercy or sympathy towards them. It won't help stop inequality, but produce more friction between genders.

Peng Xueying (Ganzhou Evening News): It seems that caring merits for women will invisibly deepen conventional awareness of men's superiority by lowering women's social status. Only if women achieve equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities in human dignity and social value, will they have social equality in a real sense.

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