 Gender issue to get more government attention
By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-01 07:43
Women's development will be incorporated into the government's overall plan for social progress, as it strives to ensure equity for men and women, State Councilor Liu Yandong said on Friday. Speaking at the closing session of the 10th National Women's Congress, Liu made the promise on behalf of the central government. "It is the duty of governments at all levels to enforce the national policy of equity for men and women," said Liu, who is also the chair of the National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council. As well as narrowing the gender gap in employment, public services and resource distribution, the government must take responsibility for the protection of children, especially those of migrant workers in cities, rural children whose parents are working away from home, and delinquents, she said. It must also continue to tackle areas such as lowering the mortality rate of women during pregnancy and in childbirth, slowing down the skewed gender imbalance of newborns, and reducing the incidence and spread of HIV and AIDS, she said. It will still take considerable effort in all of these areas, if China is to achieve its 2010 development goals for women and children that it set 10 years ago, Lu said.
(China Daily 11/01/2008 page2) |
