Corruption

China’s male-dominated, anti-graft politics by the numbers

China’s ruling Communist Party concludes a key meeting this week aimed at shoring up internal discipline and asserting General Secretary Xi Jinping’s authority. The gathering is also expected to lay the groundwork for next year’s national congress that will decide major leadership positions and lay out the agenda for Xi’s next five-year term.

While Xi has asserted himself as the most powerful leader in decades, the 6th plenary’s theme indicates that he still faces challenges keeping rank and file party members in line with his signature anti-corruption campaign and other programs aimed at keeping the party at the heart of Chinese political life.

The meeting also highlights the underrepresentation of women in its higher echelons; no women sit on the all-powerful seven-member Politburo Standing Committee and just two are represented in the second highest 25-member body.