Project to train domestic helpers

The All China Women's Federation signed an agreement on Friday to help at least 4,000 women each year from underprivileged rural areas in western China receive free professional trainings in domestic services and land a job in the industry.

The joint project between the federation's Huaying Adventure Center and Beijing Happy Family Domestic Services Co, reportedly the largest such business on the mainland with a registered capital of 110 million yuan ($17.2 million), seeks to help more western women land decent-paying home-service jobs in big cities like Beijing via tailor-made and high-quality skill training, said Yun Pengju, who heads the center.

After the huge economic development of the past decades, a growing number of affluent urban families began hiring domestic helpers. In Beijing alone, nearly 800,000 out of the 6 million families need such services, which require more than 1 million workers.