While many of the measures relating to maternal and infant health are positive and welcome, the government s report does not address such crucial issues as the high suicide rate among rural women and the heightened mortality rate of female under-fives. They also have to provide women with appropriate maternity care. Women workers have been the last hired and the first fired, and are increasingly employed in informal and temporary jobs that carry limited or no benefits. They also make up the majority of the unemployed, leaving many completely uninsured.
Women also have less income to cover health care needs.
The lower status of girls and women means that they are less likely to receive care, which is increasingly expensive. Anecdotal evidence has found that women less frequently have health insurance, are less often admitted to the hospital, have shorter hospital stays when they are admitted and may receive less treatment during their stay than men. According to official statistics, life expectancy at birth for Chinese females is 71.3, while that of males is 67.3. Furthermore, in a World Bank survey covering 55 countries, while the probability of death for men placed China in the middle ranks of the survey sample, China ranked in the top twelve for the probability of death for women. This discrepancy reveals continued problems in Chinese women s access to healthcare.