Propping Up Juridical Umbrella for Chinese Women

　　April 3, 2002 marked the 10th anniversary of the issuance of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, the first basic law about women's rights and interests. For a decade this law has become a strong legal weapon for increasing Chinese women's social status and safeguarding their basic rights and interests.
　　In the last 10 years after the issuance of the law, our legislative organizations and government, according to the law, established and promulgated a series of laws, statutes and policies, which are large in number, rich in content and great in influence.
　　According to the law, our government successively constituted the Law on Maternal and Infant Health Care and the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of the Elderly. The execution of the amendments to the criminal, marriage, and labor laws were strengthened in terms of the protection of women's rights and interests. The judicial departments concerned gave judicial explanations according to certain stipulations of the law. Based on the Constitution and this law, China has already formed a full legal system protecting women's rights and promoting the development of women.
　　After this law was issued, the law-enforcement examination team of the judicial committee of the NPC, united with other departments, organized the examinations three times for examining the spread and enforcement of the law. Soon they will again inspect local departments.
　　The implementation of the law ensured that the general development of Chinese women ranked high among the developing countries. The proportion of women's participation in politics increased, the employment percentage had reached the level in developed countries; women's education and health had been improved remarkably; women's influence and power of decision-making in the important family affairs was enhanced significantly.
　　The proportion of women participating in politics through power organs and administrative institutions has increased steadily.
　　--The percentage of female deputies of the Ninth NPC was maintained at over 20 percent. This year the election of the deputies of the 10th NPC will be held and the percentage of female deputies will not be lower than the present one. The percentage of the female members of the Ninth National Committee of the CPPCC was 15.5 percent, two percent higher than the last committee.
　　--Up to 2002, the percentage of the female leaders in the power organs at the provincial level increased from six percent in 1995 to 7.8 percent. The percentage of the female leaders in state organs at the provincial ministerial level increased to 7.7 percent. The percentage of female public servants increased to 36.2 percent in 2000 from 33.3 percent in 1995. The percentage of female leaders at the middle level of the leading position was 14.8 percent and the increase rate surpassed the average increase rate of the female public servants.
The steady increases in the number of women participating in politics allowed women more opportunities to influence State politics, economic life, and legislative and State affairs. Women have made great contributions to China's development.
　　As of the year 2000, the percentage of employed Chinese women reached 46.5 percent; the percentage of unemployed women registered in the towns decreased to 49 percent. The rate of illiteracy for females fell by 2.5 percent and the enrollment rate of girl students was 99 percent; the death rate of pregnant and lying-in women was 53 per 100,000, 8.9 per 100,000 lower than that of 1995.
　　For 10 years the State Council promulgated and implemented the program for Chinese women's development for 1995--2000 and 2001--2010, requiring the government at various levels to fully realize the targets in the program. As of early 2001, 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, 385 cities and prefectures, and over 2000 counties established special institutions on women and children. The courts and judicial departments at various levels worked with the local women's federations to establish the court to protect women and children's rights and interests and the legal aid center. The Ministry of Public Safety carried out the campaign against the abduction of women and children and the NPC Standing Committee approved the amendment to the marriage law, strengthening the punishment of domestic violence and paying attention to women and children's rights during the division of domestic property.
　　However, there is still a long way to go to protect women's rights and interests. The enforcement of the laws still needs to be strengthened and the legal guarantee system is still far from meeting the demand of society. The whole of society should work together for greater achievements.

Attention: Fringe Groups of the Urban Areas
　　China is a big agricultural country with the rural population accounting for over 63 percent of the total. With the rapid development of the social economy, a large number of rural laborers have poured into the cities and towns, forming a new class containing many women. The Nanjing Women's Federation of Jiangsu Province conducted a special survey of rural women working in Nanjing City to further help this newly rising group of women in the urban areas.
　　By making use of the network of the women's federation, 32,800 rural women under 40 years old were surveyed. The results are as follows:
　　Rural women working in the urban areas are stimulated to have the inner awareness of self-value and self-dependence. After going into the urban areas to make a living, rural women are subtly influenced by the advanced ideas, culture, and civilization of the city. They realize their potential and ceaselessly develop their own social worth, gradually incorporating themselves into the mainstream of urban society. Such influence not only affects women themselves, but also affects their children and other family members.
　　Their ideas on marriage and raising children are being upgraded. At the discussion meeting organized by the survey, few married rural women working in the city, who participated in the discussion, had two children. Most of the married women have one child, and girls account for a larger number than boys. Most of them hold the idea that females and males are the same and there is no big difference for them to have a girl or a boy. As to marriage, most of the rural women surveyed realized that only by making an effort to raise their own economic status can they find a place in the city, and one cannot count on marriage to change one's status.
　　Rural women working in the city promote the development of service trades. Rural women in the urban areas mainly work in the field of service trades. They greatly promote the development of service trades of the city because they have strong awareness of making a living by carefully and responsibly working hard and have a pioneering and struggling spirit. They also stimulate the competitive awareness of the urban employed and the urban labor market.
　　The survey shows that rural women working in the urban areas bring themselves a series of changes, however at the same time there are a lot of problems.
　　Some personal rights and interests are not guaranteed. Because an effective system of managing the migrant workers has not been formed and many rural women do not have strong awareness of self-protection, a part of them have not gained the effective guarantees in terms of employment, wages, and medical insurance. When hiring women from rural areas, some employers do not sign formal contracts with employees. Some do not pay for social insurance for their employees and medical payments for injuries caused by industrial accidents. Some prolong the working time, deduct wages, and fire employees at will, seriously infringing on rural women's rights and interests.
　　Some migrant women workers lead a poor quality life. Female workers from rural areas usually work in labor-intensive industries. The work in the field of labor-intensive industries does not require high education and usually involves simple repetitive tasks. For rural women, this kind of job is not stable and the wage is limited. Therefore many women have poor housing conditions and lead a poor quality life. Their situation also influences the education and cultivation of the next generation.
　　Health care for rural women working in the urban areas still needs attention. Because of the financial difficulty and the lack of knowledge about health care, rural women working in urban areas do not pay much attention to their own health. They will not go to see a doctor or receive the regular physical examination till they are forced to do so.
　　As an important human resource, rural women add vigor to the construction and the development of the city. How to make good use of this resource and effectively manage them are the problems the administrators of cities need to pay attention to. The Nanjing Women's Federation proposed several suggestions according to the results of the survey.
　　--The polices or regulations made by the government should fully reflect the interests of the rural women working in the cities, eliminating all discrimination so as to allow them to participate in society on an equal footing with the same opportunities urban citizens have. The social security system should be further perfected, and rural women working in cities should be involved in the social security system so as to protect their lawful rights and interests to a greater extent.
　　--Establishing and perfecting the system of managing migrant workers. The government should pay more attention to rural women, a disadvantaged group, and ensure that their rights to employment, procreation, and marriage are protected.
　　--Giving full play to the advantage of the women's federations. The fringe women groups in the urban areas need attention and help from the whole of society. As the representative of Chinese women, women's federations have the duty for protecting rural women's legal rights and interests. Women's federations at various levels should cooperate actively with the governmental departments, paying attention to the problems the fringe women groups are faced with and solving their difficulties. They are also responsible for improving the overall quality of women's lives and helping them adapt to life in the cities as soon as possible.

Hunan Province Cultivates Female Cadres
　　In recent years, Hunan Province has endeavored to cultivate and promote female cadres. In Zixing, Loudi, Anhua and Jingzhou, the cultivation of female cadres has been put on the agenda.
　　In order to help female cadres to become more capable at work, Zixing City has set up a club for female cadres and founded a reserve force of women talents. Every year, 50 female cadres are chosen to participate in various training classes. In the last three years, more than 120 women participated in the trainings, and 10 outstanding young female cadres have had advanced study in universities and colleges to improve their cultural and ideological caliber. Female cadres have gone to work in the countryside to participate in helping the poor, to higher-level departments without changing their original positions, or to different departments of the same level. They accumulated work experience in different fields and became more capable. Currently, the city has 135 female cadres, 28 of them are at the middle level and 16 are chief leaders of departments.
　　In cooperation with the women's federation in Louxing District of Loudi City, the Organizational Department of Louxing District initiated an examination for choosing female cadres at grassroots. One hundred and forty-eight women under 35 entered their names for the examination. After a strict paper test and an oral quiz, 15 women became the first group of reserved young female cadres.
　　To raise the proportion of female cadres, Anhua County has made efforts to enable great number of female cadres to show their talents off. In the annual selection of cadres from college and technical specialized school graduates, a set ratio for female cadres was established. When adjusting the township and county leading bodies, a defined ratio for female cadres was also set. When there is a vacancy in the leading body or men and women are equal, women are chosen. While at the same time, female cadres with potential are to be promoted. Currently among 1,240 cadres at the grassroots level, 364 are women, making up 29 percent. Among the 248 of the reserved middle level force, 47 are women, making up 19 percent.
　　To cultivate female cadres, Jingzhou Miao and Dong Autonomous County has chosen 17 capable women from outstanding village cadres, college and technical specialized school graduates, and staff members working in enterprises or institutions, so as to strengthen the leading body. It has established a reserved force of 50 women for township leaders, and made it a rule that the number of women participating in cadre training classes should not be less than 35 percent. At present, the county has 1,758 female cadres in all, 34 percent of the total. Among them, 88 are at the middle level, making up 11 percent of the total.

Jiangsu Women's Employment Structure Has Changed Significantly
　　The report of the Fifth National Population Census issued by the Jiangsu Statistics Bureau shows that the women's employment structure in the province has changed significantly since the Fourth National Population Census was taken.
　　Currently, the ratio of women in charge of organizations directly under the provincial government, enterprises, and institutions has risen from 10.7 percent 10 years ago to 14.6 percent; the ratio of female technicians in different fields has risen from 43.2 percent to 50.7 percent.
　　The ratio of women engaged in service trades has risen by a big margin. Compared to 1990, the ratio of women engaged in agriculture in Jiangsu has dropped from 68.5 percent to 59.6 percent, those in industry has risen 1.3 percent and those in service trades has risen from 9.2 percent to 16.8 percent.
　　These new changes appearing in the work place can not be separated from the efforts of bringing up and promoting female cadres as well as upgrading women's own cultural and educational caliber. Since Jiangsu's development plan for women was carried out in 1996, the number of female cadres and leading female cadres has been increasing continuously.
　　In education, the number of women in Jiangsu receiving various forms of education has increased in the last 10 years. A survey conducted by the provincial statistics bureau shows 86 percent of women above six years old have received an education, an increase of 16 percent since 1990. Among them, 3 percent have received an education above the college level, an increase of 2 percent since 1990. A new survey shows the number of female students at colleges and universities has reached 245,500. The growth of women receiving higher education has brought along the general upgrade of the quality of women in Jiangsu Province.

Shaanxi Women's Federation Send Science and Technology to the Countryside
　　On March 8, the joint activity of the Shaanxi Rural Women's Science and Technology Caravan formally started. At the initiation ceremony, Zheng Jie, vice president of the Shaanxi Women's Federation, on behalf of the provincial leader in charge of the campaign, signed the rural women's science and technology caravan administrative duty contract along with the leaders in charge of the "Learning and Competing" campaign from 10 cities. The chief provincial leaders for the campaign and the leaders of the member-units presented the deputies from the 10 cities with caravan's keys, which can open the door for farmers to earn money. They also presented banners and scientific and technological books to the 10 cities' service teams.
　　On March 9, Zheng Jie, on behalf of the provincial leading group for the campaign of Learning and Competing, presented the name board for the women's school in Chihe Township, which is the first provincial level school for rural women in Shaanxi Province. She also presented the school TV sets, VCD players, and other teaching equipment, as well as scientific and technological books.
　　From March 9 to 12, seven experts with the Shaanxi Learning and Competing Scientific and Technological 　　Service Teams went to Chihe, Yingfeng and Yinlong Townships to give training in scientific knowledge and skills. The training topics included: green food, green consumer and production without pollution; technology for high yield and good quality of silkworm cocoons; scientific breeding of pigs; development and utilization of methane; structure adjustment and marketing; and health care for women. They trained in total more than 1,000 villagers and presented more than 1,500 scientific and technological books. The experts went to the fields to give farmers guidance. They also combined the training with the local conditions and made the training more practical.
This year, Shaanxi Province will organize 100 scientific and technological service teams with 1,000 volunteers to propagate science and technology in 2,000 administrative villages.

Women's Organizations Sponsor Activities to Help the Poor
　　Since 2002, women's organizations across the country have carried out a series of activities to "send warmness" to women living in difficult circumstance.
　　Women's federations in Hebei Province have carried out a variety of activities. They went to the grassroots levels to find out the real situation of laid-off women workers, poor rural women, and other women's groups with financial difficulties in their life, and helped them overcome their difficulties. Women's federations at the city and county levels actively managed to collect funds and materials and sent them to women in need.
　　The Shaanxi Women's Federation urgently collected donations for the people living in difficult circumstances totaling 7,990 yuan. While at the same time, leaders of the Shaanxi Women's Federation went to visit women workers living in poor conditions to give them money and goods.
　　The Hunan Women's Federation, the Provincial Working Committee on Children and Women, and the Provincial Public Health Bureau started a joint activity of sending knowledge about medical care to the countryside. They organized 23 experts to go to poverty-stricken counties to publicize knowledge about law, medical health, and popular science. These experts were from the Provincial Maternal and Children's Hospital, the Provincial Children's Hospital and the Provincial Women and Children's Legal Support Center. They distributed more than 5,000 copies of material worth over 10,000 yuan, offered health checks to prevent cancer to more than 50 women, and gave medical advice to more than 300 villagers as well as distributing free medicines worth about 5,000 yuan. 　　The Hunan Women's Federation also sent 32,900 yuan and more than 300 books about science and technology to the laid-off female workers who have special physical difficulties. They encouraged these women to study hard and obtain a marketable skill, so as to find a work in service trades that need a large number of female workers.
　　The Shanghai Women's Federation, together with the Shanghai municipal agricultural and public health bureaus, charity funds, and the Shanghai Broadcasting and Television Group Company sent three sets of distance-education equipment to women in Chongming, Changxing, and Hengsha counties. They also offered gynecological check-ups to 373 women from destitute families, provided stipends to 40 students who come from families with financial difficulties, and various daily necessities worth about 40,000 yuan to 200 families in need.
　　The Shanghai Children's Fund aided 350 students from poor families last year, and it helped an additional 150 more students this year, with a total of 500,000 yuan. Women's federations in the Pudong New District, Nanhui District, Fengxian District and other units also sent clothes, books, and stipends to children from families in need. Women's federations at all levels start from the needs of women with special material difficulties to do substantial things for them and stress the results, so as to push forward the work of helping the poor effectively and in a down-to-earth way.
　　The Yunnan Women's Federation initiated the "March 8th Heart-Link" activity across the province and raised more than 100,000 yuan to help laid-off women workers in cities and townships, poor rural women, old widows, disabled women, and orphans. On February 8, the Women's Federation organized people to visit Wang Xiuhua, Luo Qiongfen, Yu Yuelan and other laid-off women workers in Kunming, who have special physical difficulties. To extend their regards, they brought them rice, cooking oil, and money to help them have a good International Women's Day. When hearing the news that Hu Qiong, a teacher with at the Changba Township Central Primary School in Zhengxiong County, Zhaotong, had cancer and lived a very difficult life, some people from the women's federation went to visit her. They expressed their regards and offered her 5,000 yuan for her to temporarily overcome the financial hardship. According to incomplete statistics, women's federations across Yunnan Province have sent people to convey sympathy and solicitude to over 10,000 women living in straitened circumstances and have offered them several hundred thousand yuan.
　　Leaders of the Jilin Women's Federation visited poor women in Xinglongshan Township, Tongyu County, which was stricken by a severe drought this year, and sent them 5, 000 kilograms of rice, 3,000 kilograms of maize and 500 kilograms of pork.
　　The Changchun Women's Federation helped laid-off female workers solve concrete problems in their life. It sent rice, flour, and cooking oil worth 55,000 yuan in total to families with special financial difficulties, helped laid-off women with certain skills find jobs again, offered services to old widows, and presented women scientific and technological books. Recently, the Changchun Women's Federation has helped 220 laid-off female workers with special financial difficulties get new jobs. In the activity of foster mothers, the federation also visited foster families and sent them food and money.
　　The Baicheng Women's Federation carried out an activity called "Hand-in-Hand Supporting the Poor," and altogether more than 2,000 mutual-help pairs were formed in the city. Before this year's Spring Festival, women's federations at all levels in Baicheng City visited all the poor families they are responsible to help and gave them food and money, as well as sent study materials and daily necessities to the Spring Bud girls.
The Liaoyuan Women's Federation contacted relevant provincial and city scientific and technological units to invite experts to send rural women scientific and technological knowledge and information to become rich. During the New Year and the Spring Festival, the federation ran 179 training classes on science and technology for women, with 21,083 women participating in the training.
　　The Baishan Women's Federation has donated 9,700 yuan and more than 100 pieces of clothes to poor women.
　　Women's federations at all levels in Shongyuan City have donated money to help 72 poor families.
The Guizhou Women's Federation has carried out a variety of activities to extend sympathy and solicitude to destitute people. Leaders from the provincial women's federation went to visit poor women in Maga Village in Shuicheng County, offering 4,800 yuan in cash and more than 100 sets of clothes. The federation also furnished 3,500 yuan to jointly set up a school, with the women's federation in Shuicheng County, in Maga Village for village women to learn farm skills and presented the school more than 200 copies of cultural and scientific books. In Panjiang Town, Guiding County, the federation presented local people many books for children, teaching materials for literacy, and books about the law and agricultural practical skills, and distributed the marriage law and the law on the protection of women's rights and interests. It also sent some clothing and other goods to 10 destitute families in Longtan Village and Tishipu Village in Panjiang, and extended regards to destitute laid-off women's families and old widows with money and food, worth about 5,000 yuan.
　　The Shenzhen Women's Federation went deep in urban communities and rural areas to extend their regards to women with financial difficulties. District and township women's federations took the same action. In total, they have visited more than 200 poor families and sent them about 300,000 yuan. For years, the Shenzhen Women's Federation has performed to investigations at the grassroots level to find out the difficulties of women and offer help in time. When it conducted an investigation in Kengzi Town, Longgang District in 2001, it found out many women had difficulties finding a job. It joined hands with the district and town women's federations to raise more than 100,000 yuan to create a "shopping street for supporting poor women," where more than 100 shops were set up to provide more than 100 women jobs. In 2000, the Shenzhen Women's Federation established the "destitute women's and children's supporting fund." Women with financial difficulties can apply to it for help. After women's federation at the grassroots levels checked the situation of the applicants, each can get as much as 2,000 yuan. Since the fund was set up, more than 100 women have obtained support.

Project Funds Introduced to Rural Women in Guangxi
　　For the past five years, women's federations in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have introduced 40 large aid projects using funds totaling RMB 11.31 million yuan from UNICEF as well as Canadian, Australian, German, and Chinese governmental departments in 49 counties, 397 townships and 1,048 villages; beneficiaries of these projects reaching to about 200,000 persons.
　　These projects included stimulating social mobilization, women's participation in development, and women's self-reliance through production. They also implemented women's and children's programs, taught mother and infant safety methods, explained midwife training, held the "March 8" green engineering project, fostered the ability of female mayors, town heads, and managers, created water cellars for mothers, maintained women's rights, and taught recovery from disaster.
　　Women's federations in Guangxi paid close attention to two points when they implemented these projects:
　　1. Standardized the operation. They set up working organs, set duties, worked out project documents, unified standards and demands, strengthened supervision, and emphasized practical results.
　　2. Aroused rural women's enthusiasm. They went to villages to mobilize the masses, formed various self-support groups among women, and gave women technical and financial help.
During the five years, 70 percent of the project funds were used to raise women's personal caliber, 30 percent were used to develop production and increase family income. In project areas, women's per capita income increased 200 yuan each year; the per capita income in 50 percent of families has increased 300--1,000 yuan each year.

Establishing and Perfecting the Network to Promote the Protection of Rights
　　In recent years, the Kunming Women's Federation has strengthened the construction of a service network and promoted the protection of women's rights to be carried out smoothly.
　　1. Perfecting the institutions protecting of rights. After putting into practice a system of regular consultations by lawyers and opening a hot-line service for the protection of women's rights, the federation has further increased their cooperation with the city's legal aid center and set up at the end of the year 2000 the Contact Center of Legal Aid for Women, providing legal consultation for disadvantageous women, writing legal papers for them, and suing and responding to charges on behalf of them. At the same time, in coordination with judicial organs at various levels, women's federations in all counties, cities, and districts have established liaison stations for women's legal aid and arranged liaisons in towns and townships. City-level departments concerned pay attention to provide more instruction to these organizations.
　　Up to now, the women's federations in the 14 counties, cities, and districts within Kunming City have established liaison stations of legal aid for women, committees for protection of women's rights, and special courts for women. Since these legal aid services started, the municipal women's federation has received and provided consultations for 456 people and taken up four cases, two of which have already been closed.
　　2. Creating new work methods for protection of rights. On December 26, 2001, the Kunming City's Appraisal Center for Injuries of Domestic Violence came into being, with the aim of providing effective legal aid for women and handle in time cases of domestic violence caused by family disputes, so as to build up and protect an equal, harmonious and civilized marital and family relationship.
　　To enhance the social benefit of the center, they have signed an agreement with the medico legal expertise center of the city's court and worked out specific regulations as well. The center carries out its work under the leadership of the city's court and women's federation. The center is fully responsible for its own management and specific work, with a liaison sent for by the federation. The center's work is limited to medico legal expertise on the injuries and disabilities resulted in domestic violence. Its charges are in accordance with the center's relative stipulations. Concerning domestic violence victims who indeed have financial difficulty but need urgent legal aid, the center would reduce the fee for medico legal expertise accordingly after their economic situation is checked and a reference written by the municipal women's legal aid liaison center is shown.
　　3. Extending the network of rights protection down to the grassroots level. The Wuhua District Women's Federation set up the post of the protection of women's rights in the Sanheying Community on January 8, 2002 to provide more effective service for women.

Joint Conference on Maintaining Rights Held in Jiangsu
　　On January 14, the Jiangsu Provincial Joint Conference on Protection of Women and Children's Rights and Interests was held in Nanjing, marking the formal establishment of the province's joint meeting system on protection of women's and children's rights and interests. Leaders of each member work units and relative departments attended the meeting, at which the director of the provincial women's federation introduced the work done on protecting women's and children's rights and interests in Jiangsu Province in recent years.
　　This joint meeting is a high level institution for coordination and discussion on the work of protection of women's and children's rights and interests all over the province. The meeting is led by the provincial political and legal committee and consisted of 15 departments including the provincial educational department, provincial federation of trade unions, and the provincial women's federation. Its responsibilities are to coordinate and resolve the difficult problems appearing in the protection of women's and children's rights and interests and superintend the handling of typical cases in which their rights and interests are infringed upon. It is also responsible for pushing forward the establishment and perfecting of the laws, regulations, policies and measures on the protection of women's and children's rights and interests and reporting timely the situation of the work on the protection of rights. The establishment of this system is another important measure after the setup of the legal aid and liaison systems. It is also a specific reflection of the legalization of the work on the protection of women and children's rights and interests.
　　In light of the circumstances that unlawful practices and crimes caused by domestic violence have been rising continuously in Jiangsu Province, the joint meeting issued the Opinions of Jiangsu Province on the Prevention of Domestic Violence, clarifying the essential responsibilities of the public security organs, judicial organs, and people's courts. It also requests all relative departments to further efficiently handle cases of domestic violence and implement a system in which the person who is the first to accept the complaints concerning domestic violence should take the full responsibility. No organizations or individuals are allowed to use the excuse of "family disputes."

Monitoring and Evaluation of the Development Program Started in Chongqing
　　On March 25, the office of the Chongqing Municipal Working Committee on Children and Women held a meeting among the liaisons in its member work units. The meeting carried out a special study on the monitoring statistics and evaluation requirements of the program for the development of Chinese women and children and worked out a system of norms for monitoring and evaluating the plan for development of women and children in Chongqing City.
　　The liaisons from over 30 member work units relating to education, public health, labor, public security, etc., analyzed one by one the more than 100 norms worked out by the State Statistical Bureau. All the participants held unanimously that the new plan's system of norms must be in conformity with the requirements of the new-plan's monitoring targets. The key monitoring norm should be able to reflect the realistic situation of the development of women and children in Chongqing City. The plan for evaluation, especially for the norms, should be scientific, viable and effective, and continuous exploration and summaries must be made also.
After discussions, the members of the meeting decided to complete the creation of the norm system for monitoring and evaluation by the beginning of April and start the training for monitoring and gathering of statistics in the middle of April.

Proposal Concerning Unexpected Accidents for Children Submitted in Jiangsu
　　An investigation on unexpected accidents among children carried out recently by the Jiangsu Women's Federation has revealed an significant decrease in the death rate of infectious diseases among children and a significant rise in mortality due to unexpected accidents. Drowning, suffocation, traffic accidents, and burns have gradually become the main dangers threatening children's quality of life in the province.
　　In light of these main reasons for unexpected fatalities, the Jiangsu Women's Federation has submitted a proposal on the prevention of unexpected accidents among children to the provincial political consultative conference to suggest that departments concerned adopt relative measures and strengthen publicity work and management. In the proposal, the federation put forward that departments and media concerned should publicize relative knowledge about safety to the majority of parents and educate young parents to shoulder the responsibilities of guardianship. Educational departments, kindergartens and schools should strengthen safety education for children and students, helping them to have the awareness of prevention of unexpected accidents and learn the methods to prevent unexpected accidents. Medical and public health departments should strengthen the publicity of the knowledge about bringing up children in a scientific way. Communication departments should adopt relative safety measures such as building up guardrails and banning young children from riding bikes in streets.

Women of Shui Nationality Have Walked Out of Home
　　Yanghe Township, Duyun City in Guizhou Province, is a place where one Chinese minority, the Shui Nationality, lives. Seriously influenced by the feudal idea "men are superior to women," the rate of Shui girls who attend school is comparatively low. Some also have to drop out after only one or two years' study in school, resulting a high rate of illiteracy among Shui women.
　　To change this situation, with the government's support, the local women's federation has opened a night literacy class for women. The contents of these classes include general knowledge, knowledge about agricultural sciences and technologies, knowledge about marriage and childbirth, and knowledge about the law. In all, 308 Shui women from all over the township, between the ages of 45 and 17 and with an average age of 30 years old, have attended the class.
　　The students of this class insist on studying two hours every night. Many even give up the opportunities to work in other places and earn money, but take a positive part in the class.
Through participating in this class, a majority of the women have eliminated illiteracy, learned the skills of growing fruit trees, rice and maize, and learned how to use laws and regulations to protect their own legal rights and interests.
　　In the recent election for a new villagers' committee in Xinmin Village, over 85 percent of Shui women showed enthusiasm in using their legal right to vote, which has rewritten the history that husbands voted on behalf of them. Two of the women have been elected as members to the villagers' committee and begun to handle the committee's affairs.