Presidents Discussed the Federations' Development in Xinjiang
　　On July 4, the presidents of women's federations at provincial, autonomous region, and municipal levels held the 2001 working meeting in Urumqi, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The main task of the meeting was to study in depth how to further strengthen the self-construction of women's federations under the current situation.

　　Peng Peiyun, Vice Chairperson of the NPC Standing Committee and President of the ACWF, delivered an important speech at the meeting. She said the current situation had posed new tasks and demands on women's federations. Women's federations should improve implementation of their basic functions and sincerely undertake serving the female masses as both the starting point and foothold of all their works. They should actively participate in democratic management and supervision, uplift their level of participation in political affairs, widely and deeply publicize the basic state policy of equality between men and women, as well as advocating the advanced concepts of women. They should also actively promote women's development in a fresh new spirit and give full play to the construction of both spiritual and material development.

　　Peng Peiyun stressed the key to the success of women's work in the new period is to build a contingent of highly qualified cadres. Women's federations at all levels should fully recognize the importance of study, continuously uplifting all cadres' theoretical caliber, knowledge and work competence, which will improve the level of cadre's ranks.

　　At the opening ceremony, Gu Xiulian, Vice President and the First Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, delivered a working report entitled "Strengthen Women's Federation's Self-Construction and Push Forward Women's Work in the New Century." She elaborated on four aspects: ideological construction, organizational construction, business construction and working style. She demanded that women's federations at all levels should carry forward their own advantages to promote grassroots organizations through reform and creation, to set up a network of women's federations and to organize a team for women's work, which will be composed of professional, part-time workers and volunteers. The women's federations should closely combine business construction with performing the functions of women's federations, making increased efforts to do business according to the rules of the market economy. They should strengthen the consciousness of serving the female masses and grassroots organizations, go deep into the realities of life, strengthen investigation and study, improve the working mechanics as well as increase working efficiency.

　　More than 100 people, including vice presidents of the ACWF, members of the ACWF's Secretariat, leaders of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as well as presidents of 31 provincial, autonomous region and municipal women's federations, attended the meeting.

Result of the Second Survey on Women's Status Issued
　　On the morning of September 4, 2001, a news release of the main data of the second survey on Chinese women's social status was held at the China Women Activity Center. Peng Peiyun, Vice Chairperson of the NPC Standing Committee and President of the ACWF, attended the meeting and delivered an important speech. Gu Xiulian, Vice President and First Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF presided over the meeting. Li Qiufang, Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, delivered the report on the survey. Zhu Xiangdong, Deputy Director of the National Bureau of Statistics made a speech and Lu Xueyi, a famous sociologist and Director of China's Sociological Society spoke at the meeting on behalf of the experts' group.

　　In her report, Li Qiufang pointed out that the survey was another nation-wide, large-scale sample survey organized by the ACWF and the National Bureau of Statistics after the first one conducted in 1990. This survey defined social status as: the degree of the recognition of rights, resources, responsibilities and functions of women from different groups in both social life and social relations compared with those of men.

　　The survey covered a total of 19,512 samples distributed in 404 counties, cities and districts of 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, half of them being from the countryside. On the basis of the general survey, special ones were conducted among the four groups of people experiencing the greater changes during the social transformation. These include rural women who have left their homes to go to towns or cities, women entrepreneurs and high level mangers, women workers in state-run enterprises and women of minority ethnic groups.

　　The survey data indicates that over the past 10 years, along with the economic and social development, Chinese women's status has made progress in many aspects. This progress is shown in the following aspects: Some women's employment level has been upgraded, professional structure tends to be rational and employment decided by women themselves has increased. The degree of women's concern with state affairs has been uplifted, the consciousness of participating in policymaking has become stronger and the level of involvement in politics has also been elevated. Women's level of education has substantially improved as the year gap between men and women in receiving education further narrowed and the chances for continued education increased. Furthermore, the degree of marriage freedom for both sexes has been further uplifted, and women have more say in family decisions and personal matters. In addition, women's reproductive health has been greatly improved and concern for their own health has gradually grown. Women have also expanded their scope of activities and social contacts, while their way of passing leisure time tends to be varied and they show quite a high degree of satisfaction. The awareness of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests and the level of exercising the law has also been raised. "Men and women are equal" has become the awareness of the mainstream public and women's capabilities have been recognized universally. Moreover, the traditional division of gender roles has been challenged and women's consciousness to make decisions on their own has increased.

　　The survey data also points out that the general gap and gaps at different levels of social status between men and women still exist. This is shown in the decline of women's employment rate and the difficulties in finding re-employment as well as the widening of the income gap between men and women. Women's participation in policymaking in state and social affairs also remains low. Furthermore, rural women's level of education is much lower than that of men and the women, especially those from in the Western regions, enjoy fewer health services. In addition, the traditional gender concepts still have considerable influence.

　　The report recommends to give full play to the role of the government's macro-adjustments in women's development and to further improve gender statistics and gender development analysis. In addition, the report suggests to place more focus on the key indexes to upgrade women's status, and to make increased efforts to solve the development problems in the countryside and less developed regions, as well as making feasible improvements to the social and cultural environment for women's development.

　　Peng Peiyun pointed out in her speech that the survey has important meaning for understanding and studying Chinese women's development status and for implementing and supervising The Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2001--2010). In addition, it will enable women's development to be further coordinated with the national economic and social development during the implementation of the 10th Five-Year Plan.

　　In his speech, Zhu Xiangdong recommended combining the results of the survey with normal statistical information, which would provide an all-round and thorough understanding of women's development and the existing gender differences, as well as ensuring a broader field of vision for analysis and study.

Project Benefits Laid-Off Women Workers in Tianjin
　　Tianjin Women's Federation's project for laid-off women workers' re-employment and business start-up is run in cooperation with UN's Development Program, Australian Agency for International Development and the Tianjin Government. The project consists of two main parts: to provide small loans to laid-off women workers and to set up Tianjin Women's Business Incubator.

　　Following the aim of serving laid-off women workers, the work to provide small loans has started in the six districts of Tianjin. Since December 30, 1999, it has provided a total of 3.24 million yuan's worth of loans to 791 persons and the recovery rate has reached 100 percent. It is anticipated that by the end of this year, there will be 1,100 laid-off women workers receiving benefit from the project. After more than one year's operation, a successful mode for providing small loans has been formed, which has been recognized and welcomed by laid-off women workers.
　　Tianjin Women's Business Incubator was formally set up on October 18, 2000. One of its functions is to provide job opportunities. Up till now, 34 enterprises have entered the incubator and created 1,619 jobs, of which approximately 300 jobs have been offered right at the incubator. Another function of the incubator is to provide consultation and training. Since its opening, the incubator has received approximately 2,000 laid-off women workers and provided training for more than 600 persons.

“Women Supporting the Poor”Produces Marked Effect in Henan
　　In recent years, women's federations at all levels in Henan Province have made marked efforts to promote the project for helping women to become rich through science and technology by setting up "women supporting the poor demonstrative villages," which stress development whilst at the same time maintaining women's rights. During the 9th Five-Year Plan, women's federations in the province trained more than one million poor women to read and write as well as to learn production skills. The heads of women's representative committees in 4,480 poor villages received training in turn. As a result, every village in the province now has a female farm technician. In total, 65,000 women farm technicians have been trained and 82 "women supporting the poor demonstrative villages," have been established, which has alleviated 500,000 women from poverty. They also carried out farming projects to help rural women increase their income and thus become more prosperous. In addition, they have strengthening both spiritual and material development in poor areas, which has provided vitality in the work of supporting the poor.

　　Since 1997, the Henan Women's Federation has made use of the special funds allocated by the government to carry out a small loans project to help the poor by drawing on the experience of the Bangladeshi Model. In total, it has made use of 32.9 million yuan's worth of funds allocated by the Henan Government and 800,000 yuan's worth of supporting funds to help 192 poor villages and 11,061 poor households eradicate poverty. Through the activity of "going to the countryside to create warmth and make friends," women's federations have become familiar with the conditions of the people in the countryside and hence were able to determine appropriate projects and methods. After more than three years' practice, a group of projects that are easy for women to carry out and quick to produce profits have been formed. These projects include the raising of black chickens, turkeys and rabbits, the processing of sheet jelly, noodles and vermicelli made from beans or sweet potato starch, the planting of mushrooms and Chinese herbs in addition to the weaving of straw and wicker. During the process for creating demonstrative villages, women's federations paid special attention to maintaining the rights of women and children, spreading culture and legal knowledge, thus enthusiastically promoting spiritual development in the countryside. By the end of last year, 191 villages in 21 poverty-stricken counties participated in the project for establishing "women supporting the poor demonstrative villages," and 82 reached the standards of a demonstrative village.

　　Their experience of women supporting the poor is summed up as the following:
　　1. Setting up tangible working mechanics, standard regulations and sound service systems. All localities have set up women supporting the poor leading groups headed by the chief leaders of Party committees and governments and composed of major leaders of relevant departments, hence regulating county, township and village leading bodies and providing guaranteed organization of the setting up of demonstrative villages. Women's federations at all levels strictly manage the project funds, exercise a responsibility system of goal management, regulate all links in carrying out the projects, improve service systems, strengthen supporting services and carrying out the activity in a down-to-earth way.

　　2.To pay special attention to establishing models and encouraging women to have confidence in eradicating poverty. A lack of consciousness for self-development is a big obstacle in eradicating poverty in poor areas. Women's federations take establishing models as an important measure for helping the poor. By using models that are easy to learn, they encourage women to have the confidence to change their poor living conditions and to create an environment of "everyone wanting to eradicate poverty and every household striving to become rich."

　　3. Advocating helping the poor and encouraging development through science and technology and strengthening the aftereffect of supporting the poor. Science and technology are the first productive forces. During the "learning and competing campaign," women's federations at all levels adhered to combining regular popular science education with major popular science activities. They made efforts to improve scientific services, to run training classes of different levels, and to organize scientific and technological personnel to help farmers, thus greatly uplifting poor women's knowledge of science and technology and the ability to become rich.

　　4. Making use of resources to set up bases for leading project to promote development. All localities focus on the development of large-scale production and industrialization to strengthen guidance and service. It is encouraged that the women's federation, the base and households work together; the company and households work together; or capable women and households work together. As a result, scattered households' production has been centralized to large-scale production, single and rough management has been turned into intensive farming, as well as combining production with marketing.

　　5. All localities have combined the work of setting up demonstrative villages with various projects and activities, such as the "Women Quality Project," the "Project for Women Becoming Rich Through Science and Technology," the "Project for Family Civilization," the "Spring Bud Project" and family planning. These colorful activities promote the forming of new folk customs. The work of setting up demonstrative villages has therefore become a comprehensive and splendid project for economic development, women's rights' maintenance, cultural and caliber cultivation, distribution of knowledge on science and technology, family planning, as well as the construction of grassroots organizations and cadres' working style.

Educated Parents With Children Under 14 Reach 95.2 Percent in Guangdong
　　On September 25, 2001, the Guangdong Women's Federation held the "Guangdong Family Education Commending Meeting." According to statistics, schools for parents thrived during the 9th Five-Year Plan. The education rate of parents with children aged from 0 to 14 reached 95.2 percent. However, the rate of those in the countryside with children aged 0 to 6 and those in the towns and cities with children aged 0 to 3 were still low. The Guangdong Women's Federation and the Guangdong Education Department conducted a timely survey on family education for children aged 0 to 6 and directed Jiangmen, Lianjiang and another six cities and counties to provide family education on effective way for children who lived scattered throughout the community. By the end of last year, the number of schools for parents increased from 15,851 in 1995 to 44,534. Ninety-five percent of primary and secondary schools as well as nurseries ran schools for parents, thus forming a network that covers school and family education throughout the province, cities, counties and towns.

　　The education of school, family and society are three props of educational work. It is reported that during the 10th Five-Year Plan Guangdong's family education will focus on promoting quality education, perfecting the network for family education and establishing different systems for running schools for parents. Until 2005, there will be 100 provincial level demonstrative schools for parents in Guangdong.

Children Village With Sunshine Love Founded in Liaoning
　　The Liaoning Sunshine Love Project's Children Village is the first organization in Northeastern China for helping children and orphans whose parents have committed crimes because of domestic violence. The village was founded on September 19, 2001. Representatives from the Court, the Working Committee on Women and Children, the Juvenile Protection Committee and the Prison Administrative Bureau in Liaoning participated in the founding ceremony.

　　Located in Qianjin Township, Dongling District, Shenyang, the children village covers an area of 7,000 square meters. Initially, the village took in 24 children, among them the eldest is 16 and the youngest 6. These children come from all over the province and for years have had nobody to take care of them, so they have either lived with neighbors, lived on the streets or shared their lives with their aging grandparents. They belong to an extremely special group, which is also the weakest and most innocent group. In order for them to be able to attend school and live a normal life, the Provincial Legal Education Center, with the support of some enterprises, founded the Research Center for the Sunshine Love Project, which enables the children to live in this village. This project is beneficial in reducing the burden of both the state and society, and even more beneficial for the healthy mental and physical development of the children.