“I moved from Nanjing to Beijing in 1995, when the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women was taking place that summer. I was able to attend several sessions and felt deeply inspired by the women who had come from all over the world to share their hopes and experiences,” Elyn MacInnis, an expert in Kuliang culture and founder of the Kuliang Friends and Kuliang Families groups, recalled to CSST her experience of participating in the conference 30 years ago.

Three decades later, the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women returned to Beijing on Oct. 13–14, bringing together representatives from around the world to discuss the advancement of women’s development worldwide. Following the event closely, experts and scholars noted that over the past 30 years, China has continued to carry forward the spirit of the 1995 World Conference on Women, leading to remarkable progress in gender equality across the nation.

Gender equality with Chinese features

At the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered the keynote address, in which he outlined four proposals—to jointly foster an enabling environment for women’s growth and development; jointly cultivate powerful momentum for the high-quality development of women’s cause; jointly develop governance frameworks to protect women’s rights and interests; and jointly write a new chapter in promoting global cooperation on women.

MacInnis commented that President Xi’s four proposals offer a moral map for our time—peace as protection, inclusion as shared growth, fairness as justice, and cooperation as solidarity. “Each expresses the same truth: Civilization advances not through competition, but through caring—for one’s own people and for others alike. When nations choose to care, they create strength that endures, communities that flourish, and a world that holds together in kindness.”

Rebecca Lemos Igreja, secretary-general of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, told CSST that President Xi’s address reconnected the legacy of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, outcomes of the 1995 Conference, with the challenges of our century. “His four proposals reflect the conviction that gender equality is a condition for peace, sustainability, and shared progress.”

Wu Xiaoying, a research fellow from the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, underscored Xi’s assertion that “women in every corner of the world are bound together by a shared future,” an unprecedented view. In Wu’s opinion, the statement emphasizes the importance of building consensus, which is of great significance to today’s global landscape.

The four proposals Xi put forward, Wu observed, align with China’s experience in addressing imbalanced and insufficient regional development during its social development process, demonstrating a philosophy on gender equality with Chinese characteristics. “Equality here not only refers to equal rights, but also reflects the full participation of women in all aspects of economic and social development. We promote equality through participation and development, which is precisely what women’s liberation with Chinese characteristics stresses.”

China’s plan for action

Across the world, advances in education, employment, and political participation coexist with persistent inequality, insecurity, and violence. “We see women are gaining more and more space in issues like technology innovation, economic development, and so on, but there is still a great imbalance in some aspects,” Veronica Giordano, a professor from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, said during the interview with CSST.

Igreja echoed that in regions affected by war, conflict, and humanitarian crises, women face heightened vulnerability and a lack of protection. “Structural and economic barriers persist—unequal access to quality education, healthcare, and financial resources continues to limit their potential, while leadership positions in both public and private sectors remain largely male-dominated. Violence and discrimination—from domestic abuse to institutional bias—still undermine women’s autonomy. And without genuine representation in decision-making, from local communities to international governance, public policy often fails to reflect women’s realities and aspirations.”

In response to the above challenges, Giordano asserted that Xi’s speech represents more than mere rhetoric—it is a plan for action: “China will donate another $10 million to UN Women; earmark a quota of $100 million in China’s Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund for implementing development cooperation projects for women and girls in collaboration with international organizations; launch 1,000 ‘small and beautiful’ livelihood programs with Chinese assistance that take women and girls as priority beneficiaries; invite 50,000 women to China for exchange and training programs; and establish a Global Center for Women’s Capacity Building, which is aimed at conducting capacity building and other development cooperation with relevant countries and international organizations to train more female talent,” Xi announced at the meeting.

Giordano expressed strong appreciation for the last initiative, saying that it is grounded in people-to-people exchange, which has already proved to be very efficient in building mutual learning between China and the West.

In Igreja’s view, the five detailed measures announced by China function as large-scale pilot programs that can inform future research and policy design. The establishment of the Global Center for Women’s Capacity Building creates an institutional platform for collaborative research, curriculum development, and policy innovation. The “small and beautiful” livelihood projects and the exchange program for 50,000 women provide real-world laboratories for longitudinal studies on women’s empowerment, leadership, and social participation.

“These initiatives open new opportunities for academic partnerships, impact evaluation, and cross-regional learning,” Igreja summarized.