CEDAW/C/SR.36 English Page 7 (Ms. Zhang Zhong-an, China) 30. Elderly people were cared for and respected in China, and normally children did their best to ensure a happy life for their aging parents. The rare cases of maltreatment of parents were punishable by law, and parents could legally demand financial support from their children. 31. Single mothers were divided into three categories: the divorced woman who lived with her child or children, in which case the father of the child was responsible for the child's living and educational expenses; the widow, who was provided with a pension; and the unmarried mother. The last case was very rare in China because Chinese ethics prohibited couples from living together before marriage, and most young people abided by that norm. However, a child born out of wedlock had the same rights as one born within wedlock, and the father was responsible for the living and educational expenses of the child. 32. A Chinese citizen could not lose citizenship by marrying a foreigner, but could apply for foreign citizenship. 33. Traffic in women and prostitution were illegal in China. Since the early days of the new China, the Government had undertaken a re-education programme under which prostitutes had been given educational and technical training, and prostitution had almost been eliminated. To suppress a resurgence in some regions, the State public security bureaux were enforcing penalties. 34. In China's 3000-year history, women had been denied education, and before 1949 the illiteracy rate had been as high as 80 per cent. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, however, the Government had abrogated all laws and regulations prejudicial to the education of women. Schools, many of them with flexible programmes to accommodate seasonal occupations in the various geographical regions, enrolled women at all levels. The sharing of chores was advocated within the family to encourage women to return to school, and mobile schools and special educational funds had been provided. All those improvements had led to an increase in female enrolment in schools and a decrease in the drop-out rate. In 1982, women accounted for 25.7 per cent of the university population, an unprecedentedly large number. Enrolment in schools had gone from 20 to 93 per cent of all school-age children, and illiteracy had been cut down from 80 to 25 per cent. Greater efforts needed to be made with respect to rural women's education, however, as women still represented 70 per cent of the illiterate population, mainly in the rural areas. 35. In support of women's participation in politics, efforts were being made to help women advance to leadership posts. The Constitution guaranteed equal rights for women, and article 48 was unprecedented in its stipulation that the training and election of female cadres should be included in the work plan at all levels of government, ensuring the participation of a specified percentage of women. While the actual number of women leaders was unfortunately still too low, at the national level, approximately 21 per cent of the delegates to the Sixth National People's Congress, 9 per cent of its Standing Committee and 20 Vice-Chairmen of that Committee were women, 7 per cent of the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of the Sixth National Congress of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference were / ...