Zhang Qi, a government official in Binzhou city, East China's Shandong Province, designs wall paintings for a village. Photo: VCG

A decision to punish two officials by Suijiang county in Southwest China's Yunnan Province has triggered an uproar. The two women were pulled up for refusing to be promoted as township leaders from the county's finance bureau.

Zhong Shangmin was warned of disciplinary action and Wan Xinqin censured for disobeying personnel rules and making ruses about family and health to bargain with the organization. This violated rules of the Communist Party of China (CPC), according to a post released by the county's disciplinary commission on its official WeChat account on June 20.

Zhong claimed that the new position might distract her from taking care of her family, and Wan said her health may not permit her from handling the new job. According to a colleague of the duo, one of them has just given birth to her second child.

More sacrifice

The incident reflects the predicament of those working at the grassroots level of the administration. It has been hard for women employees to balance work, family and personal life.

Hu Shali, 35, a committee member in charge of organizational work in a township government of Ningshan county, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and mother of a 9-year-old boy, told the Global Times on Sunday that she could not even be with her son in hospital when he fell sick.

Hu and her husband are both grassroots officials who have to stay in villages four days a week for poverty alleviation work. They have no choice but to leave their son behind with their aged parents.

"We implement poverty alleviation policies from door to door, collect villager's opinions and solve their problems," said Hu. 

"I really feel so sorry for my son and parents as both of us spend too little time with them," Hu told the Global Times. "My son calls me every day and asks whether I am coming home today."

"Women hold up half the sky," the slogan once used to encourage women to take up jobs, has materialized among grassroots level officials. According to statistics, the proportion of newly employed female officials in grassroots governments has been increasing, and reached 44.1 percent in 2015, according to a post released on "Xuexi Xiaozu," an official WeChat account of the office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission.

The post said that grassroots work is frivolous and random, and does not fit the traditional image of Chinese women, who tend to take up more family responsibilities. The randomness of the work comes in the way of family obligations.

Another township official surnamed Hou in East China's Shandong Province told the Global Times that she can't relax on weekends as county-level officials may drop by for inspection. 

Another county level official surnamed Wu, who is a mother of a 9-month-old, told the Global Times that when it comes to large scale activities, all department members have to work till midnight.

"We've seen many overbearing people who shout at young female officials but behave in front of stronger male colleagues," said Wu.

Wu told the Global Times that she understands the two officials' woes. "Many towns are an hour's drive from the county seat and it will be difficult for them to go home every day, let alone take care of family."

Hu agrees with Wu, saying that most grassroots female officials have been irked by the decision.

Another dilemma is that although the number of female officials at the grassroots level is increasing, senior women officials are still rare, and the number keeps decreasing at higher levels, said the post by Xuexi Xiaozu.

Young female officials have to take care of more family responsibilities after starting a family, which inevitably influences their promotion. Grassroots female officials have to put in more effort than their male colleagues, analyzed the post.

More considerations

Zhi Zhenfeng, a law pundit with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the punishment to the two female grassroots civil servants was not exactly in keeping with the regulations on cadre appointment.

According to the regulation on the CPC and governmental officials' selection and appointment released in March, the recruitment and appointment of Party and governmental officials should follow five steps: motivation after analysis, democratic recommendation, inspection, discussion by an establishment subcommittee, approval by the county council in this case, said Xiakedao, the official WeChat account operated by the overseas edition of the People's Daily, in an article posted on Saturday.

The two civil servants expressed their unwillingness to be promoted in the third step, as one spoke her mind in the beginning of the inspection, and the other dodged questions from the inspection subcommittee, did not submit required information and notified her unwillingness via short messages.

According to Xiakedao, the two civil servants should bear responsibility for ignoring regulations on CPC cadre management. 

The punishment is reasonable to stop the "argy-bargy conduct" as Zhong and Wan dodged the questions, delayed required information and refused the promotion via short messages.

The incident also revealed the ineffectiveness of the Suijiang county government in balancing organizational requirements with official's personal needs.

CPC members are also members of the society with families. They should be allowed to devote more time to their families after daily work as family is the basic unit of society and the Party also attaches importance to family tradition. 

Zhi wants more leeway for female employees although all CPC members should bear hardships before enjoying comfort irrespective of gender. Female officials have to undertake family roles as wives and mothers in addition to political and administrative responsibilities.
Newspaper headline: Trouble at roots