Sleekly dressed in dark green camouflage uniforms, the all-woman village patrol team grabs attention from every passerby. They are different in age and ethnicity but they have one thing in common: they are housewives from Hebukesaier's Mongol autonomous county.

Members of the all-woman village patrol team patrol around their village.

The patrol team first came into existence in 2005, when someone mobilized the housewives to do something instead of staying home all day long. In many villages, husbands go out of town to seek job opportunities and fortune, leaving behind the women, children and elderly.

The patrol first began in one village and soon spread to all eight villages in the county. The team has a total number of 160 people so far, and they carry out regular patrol operations twice a day.

Each team differs in number from one village to the next as each village has varying population levels.

Although they are considered a patrol team, they are still advised not to confront criminals face to face, said Dong Mei, an official from Hebukesaier county.

Most team members are Han, Mongolian and Kazak women, aged from 20 to 55 years of age. Their mission covers a large range of subjects, such as raising people's awareness of self protection, mediating villager disagreements, and helping the underprivileged or families with handicapped people.

"For the 3,340 people in the eight villages, the all-woman village patrol team is becoming more and more reliable," said Dong. He is excited that the number of patrol team participants will soon rise as more and more housewives realize that they too can help others, and themselves, by contributing to the stability of their own villages.