No women made it onto the elite Politburo Standing Committee, the group of seven men at the pinnacle of the party. In the new Politburo, only one of its 25 members is a woman -- Sun Chunlan, head of the party body charged with outreach to non-Communists. One rung down, just 4.9 percent of the new Central Committee, a mere 10 of the body’s 204 members, are women. (For a graphic on 'Women in China's Communist Party' click tmsnrt.rs/2lcfg0w)The State Council Information Office, which doubles as the party’s propaganda department, did not respond to faxed questions for comment on why there are so few women in senior party positions. ASTRONAUTS AND HOUSEKEEPERSAt the Chinese party congress itself, the overall numbers were stronger: about a quarter of its 2,287 delegates were women - roughly commensurate with the proportion in the roughly 90 million-member party.

Source: Sunday Times October 25, 2017 11:15 UTC