CEDAW/C/SR.33 English Page 12 37. Ms. JAYASINGHE congratulated the representative of China on her country's report and praised the conciseness and frankness. She requested additional information about the percentage of women holding high-level positions in China and about the literacy rate for women, as compared to that for men. Since the report indicated that there were still some cases of discrimination and maltreatment of women, she requested clarification concerning the area in which such cases were found and what measures could be adopted to correct the situation. 38. Ms. MUKAYIRANGA observed that the report introduced by the representative of China showed that her Government had sought to fulfil the obligations assumed under the Convention. In that connection, she asked for more detailed information about the nature of the responsibility system which had enabled women peasants to develop fully their potentials. The report indicated that article 49 of the Constitution guaranteed the protection of marriage, mothers and the family. Accordingly, she asked why so much emphasis was placed on the institution of marriage, what was the situation of single mothers and whether their rights were any different from those of married mothers. She had noted that the report mentioned the fact that couples had the duty to practise family planning. Articles published in the international press had cited cases of sterilization following the birth of the second child. She asked whether that did not constitute a violation of human rights. In her opinion, couples should have as many children as they wanted, particularly if ther had sufficient income. She wondered whether obligatory family planning was among the ideals of the Chinese socialist society and why couples considered it to be a duty. It would also be interesting to know how equality was practised within the family, since the report indicated that there still existed certain prejudices and practices which were difticult to eliminate. She asked whether women continued to live under the sway of such prejudices and practices. She had been unable to find any mention in the report of the legislation governing nationality. She therefore asked whether it was possible in China for women who married foreigners to transmit their nationality to them and, vice versa, for Chinese women to adopt the nationality of their husbands. 39. Mr. NORDENFELT said that he had read China's report with great interest and wished to make a few comments in that regard. First of all, he requested additional information about the system of penalties to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Constitution and with the laws governing equality and to punish acts of discrimination. The report indicated that the Government had adopted several measures to control and eliminate those problems and, accordingly, he asked what those measures were. Referring to the fact that the women's federations were to set up legal advisory services, he asked what resources were available for that purpose. While the report contained specific figures on the participation of women in different sectors of the economy, he would like to have figures on the participation of women in public and political life. Referring to the distribution of women in the various sectors and occupations, he requested information on the different levels at which women participated and the corresponding figures. In addition, he asked what role women played in rural production under the new . managerial system, for example, whether women had an actual role to play, ditferent from that of men, or whether individual ability was the main criteria used in selecting people for managerial positions. He drew attention to the information / ...