A Study On The Participation Of Zhuang Nationality Rural Women In Village Autonomy

In recent years, with the advancement of gender mainstreaming and continuous improvement of the village self-governance system, the concept of equality between men and women in the participation of public affairs has slowly penetrated into the hearts of men, minority women in rural areas have gradually come out from family life, to participate in the management of village affairs. As important members of the minority rural women’s group, the involvement of Zhuang women in the villager autonomy in rural areas has achieved remarkable results. In this paper, Guzhai Village, in Guangxi, Mashan County was selected as the study area; the data collection method used was literature review, questionnaires, in-depth interviews and observational method. The aim of the study was to explore explore the status of zhuang nationality rural women’s participation in the self-governance of Guzhai village from the perspective of gender and social roles.The study found that Zhuang nationality rural women’s participation in village self-governance has achieved certain results, they now participate in democratic elections and hold important positions in the village committee; they participate in the democratic decision-making process; they play a role in democratic management of the village, participating in the development of the "mini-constitution" and modification and they also play a role in the supervision of the work of village committee. On the other hand, this process has put Zhuang nationality rural women’s thinking in-line with gender social relationships. In comparison with Zhuang nationality rural males, there exists some problems, such as Zhuang nationality rural women’s participation in the consciousness or awareness of their rights, low participation level, insufficient awareness of their rights, participation in the "Four Democratic" is very low; the number of Zhuang nationality rural women’s representatives at village level and the number of party members is too low.Zhuang rural women’s participation in the village autonomy faces some problems, the reasons for these problems are:the impact of multiple roles and traditional gender stereotypes, the levels of cultural and domestic economic constraints, promotion of laws and regulations is not fully in place and the role of grass-roots women’s organizations has not been fully exploited. These problems have resulted in some social impacts, mainly hindering Zhuang rural women from expressing their democratic rights, an increase in the difficulty of the management of local affairs, and obstructing the building of political civilization in rural areas.There is a need to promote Zhuang nationality women’s participation in village self-governance mainly to improve their cultural knowledge and consciousness of their rights. Focusing on family support; there is need to develop the role of women’s federation organizations, increase the number of Zhuang rural women acting as village representatives and also as party members, increase the promotion of related policies and regulations and strengthen the region’s poverty alleviation efforts.