Gender equality is a fundamental citizens' right and a core constitutional value of the People's Republic of China. Article 48 of the Constitution provides its most fundamental legal footing. However, persistent issues such as gender discrimination in employment, inadequate safeguarding of reproductive rights, and hindrances to property inheritance reveal a stark gap between the constitutional promise of equality and societal reality. After reviewing the legal development of gender equality in China through comparative law perspectives, this article looks at the current constitutional norms on gender equality. These norms reflect a conceptual orientation toward "gender protection" rather than "gender equality". They also have both "difference-egalitarian" and "difference- maternalist" characteristics. The maternalist-oriented clauses are not beneficial to eliminating the gender inequality's power disparity problems. And it also impedes later legal and judicial practices for gender equality. According to the above analysis, the author puts forward three ways of legal adjustment: changing the institutional foundation to the "idea of gender equality", creating a "China-specific" Gender Equality Law centered around equal rights, and making existing laws like the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests more operational. The purpose is to turn constitutional principles on gender equality into real, tangible rights protections that can be acted upon; to close the gap between values and actions; and to promote actual substantive equality for women.

Yanping Lou. Study on the Constitutional Provisions on Gender Equality in China under the Background of Practical Inequalities. International Journal of Frontiers in Sociology (2025), Vol. 7, Issue 8: 18-24. https://doi.org/10.25236/IJFS.2025.070803.

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