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Huang Qingyi, Deputy-Chairwoman of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), delivers a work report to the 10th National Women's Congress on behalf of the ACWF Executive Committee.
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Huang said that, under the leadership of the Communist Party and the direction of the All-China Women's Federation, hundreds of millions of Chinese women have made great strides in their advancement and development.
The achievements of China's reform and opening up have demonstrated that the development of Chinese women is closely bound up with that of the whole nation. Opening up and reform have broadened women's ideas and vision; as a result their outlook and values have changed fundamentally.
Chinese women have made great contributions to economic and social reconstruction. Women make up 45.4 percent of the workforce as a whole and over 65 percent in rural areas, where they are the major force in the building of a new socialist countryside. The structure of women's employment has improved, as they occupy more skilled and senior positions.
In the political field, Chinese women's status has also improved considerably. There are now eight female Party and state leaders. At the 11th National People's Congress and the National Committee of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, women deputies and women members made up 21.33 percent and 17.7 percent respectively, an increase of 1.09 and 1 percent point over the tenth sessions. In urban residents committees and village committees, women account for 48.2 percent and 23.2 percent of representatives respectively.
Chinese women are actively carrying forward the fine traditions of the Chinese nation and spreading new ideas, for example in campaigns to promoting civic values and welcome visitors to the Beijing Olympics. Faced with terrible natural disasters in 2008, women overcame difficulties, came together, and were at the forefront of relief efforts, demonstrating once again their noble qualities of perseverance and selflessness.