每日英语：Women Gain Ground in China. Or Do They?

On this year＊s Women＊s Day, a host of Chinese media outlets are trumpeting a new study that finds China＊s businesses rank the highest in the world for employing women in senior management roles.

The proportion of women in senior management in China has climbed to 51% this year, up from 25% in 2012 and outpacing the global average of 21%, according to the study, produced by the Beijing arm of accounting firm Grant Thornton. In a survey of 200 businesses in China, 94% of them employed women in senior roles, the study said.

outpacing：超过，赶过　　　　

The survey＊s findings would seem to represent great news for women in a country with a long history of entrenched patriarchy except they conflict significantly with other studies that show Chinese women have actually been losing ground in the labor force, politics and society.

entrenched：确立，确保，根深蒂固的，稳固的　　　　patriarchy：父权制，父系社会　　　　

One recent study by National University of Singapore＊s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the New York-based Asia Society, for every five Chinese men who rises to a senior position in the workplace only one woman achieves the same level of advancement. The ratio is even more lopsided inside the Communist Party: In the party＊s Central Committee, where major policy decisions are discussed, only 10 of the 205 members are women, and no woman has ever held a spot on the Politburo Standing Committee, the party＊s top decision-making body.

lopsided：不平衡的，倾向一方的　　　　

Things are slightly better in the country＊s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People＊s Congress, where 23% of the 2,987 delegates are female.

In the World Economic Forum＊s gender equality index, an annual ranking of countries by their ability to develop, retain and attract female talent, China＊s ranking declined to 69th last year, down from 57th in 2008.

gender equality：男女平等　　　　

State-controlled media and economic restructuring have actually added pressure for women to settle down at home, said Leta Hong Fincher, a doctoral candidate at Tsinghua University in Beijing who studies gender and wealth equality in China. She cites the legacy of the restructuring of China＊s massive state-owned companies in previous decades, which that led to millions of job cuts that took a hefty toll on employed women.

legacy：遗赠，遗产　　　　job cuts：裁员　　　　 a hefty toll：高昂代价　　　　

In a 2010 survey of women＊s social status in China by the All-China Women＊s Federation, the Chinese government＊s women＊s advocacy organization, 61.6% of men and 54.6% of women said that ※men belong in public life and women belong at home,§ an increase of 7.7 and 4.4 percentage points respectively from 2000.

advocacy：主张，拥护，辩护　　　　

※There＊s an increase in the number of people who believe women should be in the home,§ Ms. Fincher said. ※That＊s unusual. In most other societies you see more progression.§

Around one-third of the businesses surveyed by Grant Thornton were state owned and public businesses, while one third were privately owned and the other third were foreign-funded.

Grant Thornton concedes that females still face obstacles in China＊s business world. ※ Women still lack equal opportunities with men in various career opportunities,§ said Xu Hua, Grant Thornton＊s China CEO.