Women officials above the county level amount to 573, and women for the first time sit on the judicial bench and can enter the bar. Meanwhile, in academia, there are 1.24 million women undergraduates and graduates, or about a third of the total, and 98.9 percent of school-age girls attend classes. The adult illiteracy rate among women has also dropped from 22.21 percent in 1990 to 16.14 percent in 1997. There are now close to 10 million women scientists and technicians and 62 women academicians in the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The problem is the country is still short of top-level women leaders.
Economic independence results in improved family status for women.
They may marry a husband of their choice, possess or inherit property, and can decide for themselves whether or not to have a child. Their human dignity, ideals and right to work and study are respected by their husbands and family elders. The state protects women's health in childbirth, providing centralized medical care in 1,240 municipalities and counties. In Tibet, women enjoy free medical care. As a result, the average life expectancy for women in China has increased from 36.7 years in pre-1949 days, to 73.2 years or 8.2 years higher than the U.N.'s target of a world average female life expectancy of 65 years by the year 2000.