December 4, 2019 was the sixth “National Constitutional Day” in China.  The CPC pointed out in the decision adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of its Nineteenth Central Committee that China will improve the institutional mechanism for guaranteeing the comprehensive implementation of the Constitution. Recently Professor Liu Xiaomei, a research fellow at CASS Institute of International Law, was interviewed by the newspaper China Women's News on the impact of the decision on the implementation of the constitutional principle of gender equality in China

In the interview, Professor Liu pointed out that gender equality is an important constitutional principle and norm, a state that “ought to be”. The key to the realization of this principle in real life is to strengthen the implementation of the Constitution and the key to the implementation of the Constitution is the promotion of the constitutional review work. The Chinese Constitution provides in Article 5 Paragraph 3 that: “No laws or administrative or local rules and regulations may contravene the Constitution.” Through the constitutional interpretation procedure and mechanism, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress determines the constitutionality of laws and administrative regulations and ensures that every piece of legislation is in conformity with the spirit of the Constitution.

The principle of gender equality should be implemented in all the laws and administrative regulations relating to the safeguarding of women’s rights and interests, including those in the fields of marriage and family, education, employment, and political participation. China should make the constitutional principle of gender equality an important criterion in the constitutional review of laws and regulations, so as to ensure that every piece of legislation is in conformity with the principle and spirit of gender equality and then transform the constitutional principle into a right actually enjoyed by every woman in real life through the application of these laws and regulations by administrative and judicial organs.

The white paper “Equality, Development and Sharing: Progress of Women’s Cause in 70 Years Since New China’s Founding“ shows that, from 2012 to 2018, an evaluation system was set up in 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) for the evaluation of gender equality implications in laws and regulations. The concept of gender equality has been introduced into the drafting, implementation and supervision of laws and policies. As a result, a complete system has been formed, covering preliminary study before establishment, decision implementation, and post-implementation evaluation. Professor Liu pointed out that the evaluation is of great significance in that it can reveal whether local legislations and policies are in conformity with the constitutional principle of gender equality and whether there is reasonable differential treatment for women in some special fields. Women’s federations may carry out some preliminary work in this respect by carrying out third-party evaluation of the current situation of implementation of the principle of gender equality in laws and administrative regulations, so as to ensure that the principle of gender equality is taken as an important criterion in constitutional review.

In the opinion of Professor Liu, the constitutional review work in China is entering into an important period of substantive development, in which the conformity of all legislations with the constitutional principle of gender equality is ensured through the strengthening of the constitutional review system.