OPINION> Commentary
Listen to women's voices
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-29 07:50

More than 1,400 Chinese women began to convene their 10th national congress yesterday in Beijing to chart the course of women's development in China in the next five years.

Few should ignore the proposals they will put forward in the next few days, in addition to electing the new leadership of All China Women's Federation and amending the federation's charter.

By and large, they are representatives of half of the country's 1.3 billion people. They also shoulder a larger part of the responsibility in bringing up some 256.6 million under the age of 14.

Among them, Lu Ye, chief designer for comprehensive system tests of Shenzhou VII space module, led her team to ensure Shenzhou VII's successful launch.

Yan Jinfeng, once a migrant worker, now heads an artificial flower/plants company that has provided jobs for about 50,000 villagers and helped about 3,500 rural households out of poverty.

Chen Xiaomin, an architect, was the key player in the design of the Olympic Green.

And from her research into population and development, Zhu Chuzhu, professor of Xi'an Jiaotong University, has made a series of proposals to help unravel key problems in family planning.

The names here are just a few from the roster. But coming from all sectors of the society, they have stood head and shoulders above both women and men for their diligence and contribution.

More importantly, they have made their achievements the harder way, by overcoming the imbalances in social and resource distribution and centuries' old gender discrimination.

In 1968, the late Chairman Mao Zedong said: Women hold half the sky.

The women still do hold half the sky four decades later. That much was made very clear by politburo member He Guoqiang yesterday at the congress' opening. On behalf of the country's leadership, he pointed out that women play an irreplaceable role in pushing for further reforms and development in China.

Their voices should be heeded.

And their achievements as well as their experiences should also be turned into valuable assets to help further transform the social environment to one that respects equality between women and men and empowers women to work side by side with men for the goal of social harmony and progress.

(China Daily 10/29/2008 page8)