China wants women to stay home and bear children

Every five years China holds a national women’s congress. Like the country’s annual plenary session of parliament or the Communist Party’s own five-yearly congress, the gathering of women is a pomp-filled affair, taking place on the red carpets and under the gaudy chandeliers of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Few people pay much attention to it. But at this year’s event, held in late October, subtle changes in rhetoric from top officials raised some eyebrows. They seemed to confirm a shift in the government’s thinking about the role of women in society.