Mr. Zhao Dongming
Director, Cultural Activities Department
Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games
Beijing Olympic Tower
267 Beisihuanzhonglu, Haidian
Beijing, 100083
P.R. China
Dear Mr. Zhao,
We write to express our concerns about your recent comments regarding presenters for the Olympic medal ceremonies next year in Beijing. According to media accounts, you said that the presenters must be female university students, aged between 18 and 25 and must fit into the uniforms provided. Furthermore you stated:
“We have some very clear conditions and demands. We have certain requirements for their height, since they are to present medals to our athletes. They need to be of a height between 1.68 and 1.78 meters…Generally speaking, they can’t be too fat. Their figure should be good. They shouldn’t be too heavy….It is not enough just to have a beautiful appearance.”
Gender, age, and appearance requirements arbitrarily exclude individuals from jobs for which they are professionally qualified and constitutes discrimination. Human Rights Watch is aware that similar requirements are often included in job advertisements in China, yet such discrimination relies on gender-based stereotypes and limits women and men’s equal access to employment, including prestigious jobs such as presenting awards at the Olympics.
As a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), China is obliged to eliminate all forms of discrimination in economic, social, cultural spheres and prevent discriminatory practices in both the public and the private sectors. In addition, China recently ratified International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 111 Concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation, which provides specifically for the elimination of discrimination at work. China is also a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and has therefore undertaken obligations to eliminate discrimination against women in the enjoyment of all rights, which includes preventing the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes.
In planning the Olympics, officials at the highest levels of government should publicly condemn discrimination rather than reinforce harmful stereotypes and unfair hiring practices. Gender discrimination is currently prohibited under Chinese domestic law. Human Rights Watch welcomes the new employment promotion law, which will strengthen efforts to prohibit discrimination by providing individuals suffering discrimination the right to sue their employers. This law will be in force in January 2008 and, therefore, in effect during the 2008 Olympic Games.
Women in China continue to face discrimination in all walks of life: in the home, at work, in the political realm. Increasingly skewed sex ratios point to the low status of women and girls—the last national census showed 117 boys for every 100 girls. Despite slowly increasing attention to domestic violence, public awareness and access to services in rural areas are especially low. Girls are more likely than boys to drop out of school prematurely and look for work in urban areas. Many end up trafficked or otherwise exploited in the workplace.
Finally, we note that you also insisted that the female presenters “have a very clear understanding of the Olympic spirit and the Olympic movement.” We submit that there is no better way for China to demonstrate its commitment to women’s rights and Olympic values than to ban ads and comments that so blatantly discriminate, even before the Games open in Beijing on August 8, 2008.
Sincerely,
Brad Adams
Executive Director
Asia Division
Human Rights Watch
