and Be Masters of the Country
For 90 percent of the women in old Tibet, to
be "tralpa" and "duiqion, " was to be a
serf. Five percent of the Tibetan women were u Hangman,
" which meant that they were hereditary serfs. The
13-Article Code and l6-Article Code, which were enforced for
several hundred of years in old Tibet, divided people into
three classes and nine ranks, stating that people were
unequal in legal status. The code said " ... as people
are divided into different classes, the value of a life
correspondingly differs ... "
The highest
class included the Prince and the Great Living buddha whose
lives were calculated in gold to the same weight as their
dead bodies; the lowest class included women, butchers,
hunters, artisans; their lives were worth a straw rope.
In other words, the lives of women were as
insignificant as a straw rope. The code also stipulated
" ... do not give women the right of discussing state
affairs ... " and " .. slaves and women are not
allowed to participate in matters concerning the army and
the government ... " These statements had
completely deprived women of their rights to participate in
government and political affairs.
''Women's
status was the lowest in old Tibet. Even a woman
like me who comes from a noble family did not enjoy
political status, let alone a slave, said Nagapoi
Tsdop Dollar . Vice-president of the All-china Women s
Federation.
Today, Tibetan women are protected
by the Constitution like all women from other
ethnic groups. The Constitution states clearly.
Women in the People s Republic of China enjoy equal
rights with men in all spheres of life, in
political, economic, cultural, social and family life.''
In accordance the Constitution, the Fifth
session of the Seventh National People s Congress
approved the ''Law of the People s Republic of
China on the Protection of Women's Rights and
Interests'' on April 4, 1992. This is China's first special
law and regulation which comprehensively protects
women's rights and interests. Article 1 1 of this
law stipulates that ''the state shall actively train and
select female cadres, State bodies, public organizations,
enterprises and institutions must, in appointing cadres,
adhere to the principle of equality between men and women,
The state shall pay attention to the training and selection
of female cadres of minority nationalities.''
Tibetan women, who have been granted rights in
the light of the state law, have entered the political arena
to participate in government and political
affairs. Today there are about 19,000 women cadres
in Tibet, comprising 34 percent of the total
number of cadres, higher than the 30.26 percent
proportion of women cadres in the country.
At the Autonomous Region level (equivalent to
provincial level) there are six women leading cadres who are
all of the Tibetan nationality. Women leading cadres are
working at almost all prefectures, city and county level.
According to 1991 statistics, women leading cadres at the
tibet Autonomous Region account for 10.5 percent, higher
than the 6.25 percent proportion of women cadres at the
provincial level. In the Tibet Autonomous Region, 1 l .6
percent of women leading cadres are at the prefectures and
city level, which is also higher than the 4.1 1 percent
proportion of women cadres at the state's prefectures and
city level. Most of the women cadres are of the Tibetan
nationality.
Tsering Dollar Vice-president of
the People's Government of Tibet Autonomous Region, used to
be a serf, ''I was born in 1943 to a serf's family in
Zedang, Shannan Prefecture,'' she said, ''My mother died of
massive haemorrhage when she gave birth to me, I was brought
up by my aunt. From age 7 to 13 I was a maid at the tribal
chief Wangdu's home. I had to carry water carry the baby on
my back and wash the diapers. I was often beaten.
''In 1955, the first health organization-the
Zedang medical beam was established by the People's
Liberation Army in Zedang, I resigned from the corvee the
following year and went to the medical team as a member of
the nursing staff, soon afterward, the medical team was
expanded into the shannon People's Hospital. They recruited
me and some other tibetan young people and sent us to attend
a medical training bourse. I learned how to recognize and
use common medicines, and to diagnose and treat common
diseases.
''We Tibetans have a saying:
'Without growing highland barley where comes the wine;'
'only bags that are filled up with things can stand up.?
Later on I got chance to study at the medical Department of
the Northwest Institute for Nationalities and the Public
Health Management Department of Beijing Medical
University.''
In 1971 she became the
Vice-Director of the Autonomous region's Public Health
Department and in 1980, the Director of 'he Public Health
Department.
Many people say that Tiering
Dolkar is the founding member of Tibet's health service.
During the 1960s she went to 'rural and pastoral areas to
prevent and cure diseases among 'he herdsmen; in the 1970s
she built hospitals and epidemic prevention stations in
cities and prefectures, and trained Medical personnel; in
the 1980s, she set up hospitals for women and children at
prefectures and county levels, making use of 'he economic
reform and open-door policy to attract more humanitarianism
support from international organizations to accelerate the
development of tibet's medical and health service.
Tsering Dolkar's efforts at every stage have
achieved outstanding results. The promotion of Tibet's
medical and health services has prolonged the average
life-span and screamed the Tibetan population. All these
factors are inseparable from Tsering Dolkar's hard work.
People in Tibet say, Tsering Dolkar is a woman of action,
The work she has done is like the stars in the sky-visible
but uncountable."
Tsering Dolkar enjoys
the love and esteem of the people. . At the end of 1993. she
was elected Vice-president of the people's
Government of Tibet Autonomous Region, in
charge of culture, health and education. Under her
leadership, an unprecedented large-scale project of
prevention and treatment of diseases, and to strengthen
immune systems was tarried out in the Autonomous Region in
which 2,09 million people received preventive inoculations.
After the promulgation of the ''Teachers' Law of the
People's Republic of China,'' Tsering Dolkar actively lead
and organized a project to nut the Teachers' Law into effect
in Tibet Autonomous Region.
The first woman to
hold the post of Vice-president of the People's Government
of Tibet Autonomous Region before Tsering Dolkar was Pasang.
Pasang's parents were slaves, and she herself
was a slave for nine years. When she was eight, an epidemic
killed her mother, By ten she was summoned to be a slave for
her mother's previous feudal lord. When she turned 12, her
feudal lord gave her to
another noble family
in Lhasa. where she continued as a slave.
''Slaves were like beasts of burden who could
speak. They were ordered about, beaten, abused, bought and
sold at will,'' Pasang said, ''They did not have the least
personal freedom. they did not have enough to eat or dress
and went about barefoot. Many times, I stood at the edge of
the river thinking that if I could meet my family members
once more, I'd die, then the P.L.A. arrived in Lhasa in 1951
.
'The P.L.A.'August 1st Farm' was just
opposite our village. l could see that the people worked and
lived there freely and unrestrained. I envied them greatly.
I started to think about 'unning away. In 1956, when l was
19, I was beaten by my raster again. That same night I
finally escaped. I hid myself in the mountains during the
day and hurried on with my journey at night. After five days
and six nights. I managed to arrive at Vdam-gzhung airport,
where 1 found the P.L.A. My original name was Kalsang. I was
afraid that I'd be sent back to be a slave again so I
changed my name to Pasang.
"I signed up
for work to repair the road. Nine years of life as a slave
came to an end. In 1957 I was sent to attend school n the
inland and returned to Tibet in 1959 and participated in the
Democratic Reform at Shannan Prefecture. I witnessed with my
own eyes that many slaves like me were emancipated."
Pasang is an able woman among a million
emancipated serfs. After she gained freedom she studied and
worked hard. In 1971, in order to exercise the right to
become masters of the country. Pasang, then 34, took the
post of Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region
Committee of the Communist Party of China.
She
is delegate to the Tenth and Eleventh National Congress of
the CPC, a member of the Twelfth Central Committee of the
CPC, a delegate to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth National
Congress of the CPC; a deputy to the Fourth and Fifth
Session of the National People's Congress, and member of the
Standing Committee of the NPC.
From the early
1970s to the present day, Pasang has participated in many
policy-making meetings on major issues concerning the Tibet
Autonomous Region and has proposed many valuable suggestions
in Tibet's long-term plan of development. She is a leading
cadre who enjoys familiarity and the esteem of the Tibetan
people.
At the term-expiring nomination of the
Sixth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of
the Tibetan Committee. Pasang, the Deputy Party
Secretary of the CPC Committee of the Autonomous Region, was
appointed as first Vice-Chairman
of the CPPCC
Tibetan Committee.
Tangmai Kunchok Palmo is
the daughter of former nobleman Sangpo. She joined the
workforce in 1950, She was previously a teacher at the cadre
school of the military region if Tibet, and later held the
post of Vice-Director of Lhasa City and the Autonomous
Region's Women's Federation. Rabshe Sonam Dolma is the
mother of the late Tenth Bainqen Erdeni Qoigyi Gyaincan.
Tsetop Dolma is a famous singer and a leading
actress in china. She is also a member of the Standing
Committee of the Eighth National CPPCC, Vice-president of
the China Federation of Literal and Art Circles,
Vice-president of the Association of Chinese Musicians and
Chairman of the Tibet Federation of Literary and Art
Circles.
The CPPCC is a patriotic united front
of the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC. It is
an important form of promoting socialist democracy in
political life. It conducts political consultations of major
issues concerned with state and governmental policies and
people's lives. It brings into play the Function Of
democratic supervision through suggestions and criticisms.
The CPPCC of the Tibetan Committee is a patriotic united
front Of people from all ethnic groups and all walks of life
in Tibet. In 1993, 19 people were nominated as chairmen and
vice-chairmen at the Sixth CPPCC of the Tibetan
committee, among which four vice-chairmen are Tibetan women,
accounting for 21 percent.
The Tibet
Autonomous People's Congress is the highest institution of
power in Tibet, there has always been a certain proportion
of Tibetan women at all the previous People's Congresses and
its Standing Committees of Tibet Autonomous Region. Among
the 30 members of the Standing Committee of the Autonomous
Region's People's Congress elected in 1993, five are women,
they are Tibetan nationality women Gao Shizhen Yang Jin and
Lu Sheng; Tsomo of the Naxi nationality and Lhamo of the
Shar-pa people, comprising 16.6 percent of the total number
of the members of the Standing Committee of the People's
Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region, samdhing Dorje Dhagmo
Dechen Choedon was elected as Vice-Director of the Standing
Committee of the People's Congress of Tibet Autonomous
Region.
In 1947 Sashing Dorje Dhagmo Dechen
Choedon was elected as the Twelfth Living Buddha of Samdhing
Monastery. She was later named the Vice-Director of the
Standing Committee of the Fourth and Fifth People's Congress
of Tibet Autonomous Region; Vice-chairman from the First to
the Fifth CPPCC of the Tibetan Committee; deputy to the
Fifth and Sixth NPC. Today she is a member of the
Standing Committee of the Eighth National CPPCC.
She is a woman who enjoys the respect of the
Tibetan people.
In the People's Government of
Tibet, there are 40 Tibetan women cadres who are directors
of departments and bureaus and assistant directors of
prefectures. Among them are Gao Shizhen who is
Director of the Standing Committee of the People's
Congress in Lhasa; Dolkar is Deputy Assistant Director
of Shannan Prefecture; Sonam is Vice-Director of
the Autonomous Region's Cultural Department; Tsomo, of the
Naxi nationality, is Vice-Directo'r of the Autonomous
Region's Committee of Nationalities and Religion
Affairs.All are outstanding cadres.
The NPC is
the highest organ of state power. There are
Tibetan women among the deputies of the NPC. They
exercise, participate and manage state power on
behalf of the Tibetan women.
Soinam,
who comes from a serf family, is from Xigaze
Prefecture. She is a graduate of the Northwest
Institute for Nationalities. As a deputy to the
Seventh NPC, before attending meetings in Beijing, she
listened to the opinions, requirements and
suggestions of the local people and would prepare
her proposals in advance. In 1988, Soinam, along with other
deputies, proposed to the NPC to develop the valleys of
Yarlung Zangbo, Lhasa and Nyang Qu rivers, which received
great attention from the state and was placed in
the state's Eighth Five-Year Plan. Beginning from 1991, the
state invested one billion yuan (RMB) to carry out a project
to open up the river basins and valleys of the three rivers,
gradually building 'it to a base area of Tibet for producing
commodity grain, nonstaple food, light industrial goods,
textiles and handicrafts, and processed food, as well as for
the demonstration and popularization of scientific and
technological achievements.
Soinam also
proposed to open up the Sine-Nepal Highway, so as to benefit
economy and develop tourism. In 1991 the original Sine-Nepal
mud road was replaced by an asphalt highway. In the Eighth
Five-Year Plan, the state bas begun to invest over one
billion yuan (RMB) to repair and renovate the Qinghai-Tibet,
the Sichuan-Tibet, the Nagqu-Qamdo and the Sine-Nepal
highways. Soinam also has proposed to guarantee the
continuity of Tibet's free medical system, which has also
been adopted.
Tashi Lhamo, deputy to the
Seventh NPC, is a Tibetan woman from Qamdo Prefecture. In
1988, when she first entered the people's Great Haft in
Beijing, she put forward two proposals: to renovate the
discarded Bamda airport; and to change the route of Qamgdo
Vdar-mala Mountain Highway because snow accumulates heavily
on the roadway and j accidents often occur. This was the
response lashi Lhamo l received in 1990 to her proposal: the
state will start to invest l money from 1991 to
expand and rebuild Bamda airport; 200 million
yuan (RMB) will be allocated to repair the Kangding- Tibet
Highway. At present the reconstruction of the Bamda airport
is coming to an end, and people are being trained to work at
the facility. It is expected that the air service to Lhasa,
Chengdu and Qamdo will be opened soon.
In
1993, a Tibetan woman named Pad-sgron, a principal of Lhasa
No.1 Primary School, was elected as deputy to the Eighth
NPC. At the First Session of the Eighth NPC, President Jiang
Zemin participated in the discussion with the Tibetan
delegation.
Pad-sgron reported to President
Jiang that t'eachers' wages were too low and she called on
society to attach more importance
to education
and respect to teachers. She said that leading cadres
especially should place education on their work agenda.
President Jiang approved, commenting, "lt's a very nice
talk indeed.''
Many NPC deputies put forward
various opinions and suggestions to develop China's
education. Therefore the NPC formu lated and promulgated the
''Teachers' Law of the People's Republic of China.'' The
Chinese government has also formulated a series of policies
and measures to develop education.
Citizens
have the right to elect deputies to the People's Congresses
at all levels.Tibetan women have actively participated in
voting activites. In 1988 there were 784,754 voters in the
election of the Fifth People's Congress in Nagqu, Nyingchi,
Shannan, Xigaze prefectures and Lhasa City. More than
736,700 voters participated in the election. The women's
voting rate was higher than 90 percent.
Women
deputies elected by the people can be found at 11 levels of
the People's Congress in Tibet. At every meeting of he
People's Congress, they would be fully prepared, walking
into the meeting places with the demands of the people,
women deputies account for 15 percent among deputies of
Stodlung-bdechen County People's Congress.
Tibetan women not only have their own women
representatives, committee members and cadres, but have also
set up their own organization. On March 8, 1953, the Lhasa
amniotic Women's Association was established-first women's
reanimation in Tibet's history. In June, 1960, Tibetan women
convened for the First Women's Congress and established the
Tibetan Women's Federation. The Women's Federation has
networks that reach out from the autonomous region to the
prefectures, counties,
townships and villages.
For more than 30 years, the Tibetan women's organization has
carried out work to safeguard and represent the rights and
interests of women, organizing the Tibetan women to join in
the construction and participate in development.
In recent years, the women's federation has
carried out the ''learn and compete'' campaign in villages
where women Compete with each other in knowledge and skills
and in their achievements and contributions; in urban areas
''contributions from women'' activities as well as other
activities that promote cation of the ''Law of the PRC on
the Protection of lights and Interests of
omen" '' All these are welcomed by the Tibetan women.
The women refer to the women's federation as "mother's
home."
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