Boosting well-rounded development of women as China's national campaign: white paper

BEIJING -- A white paper released Friday by the State Council Information Office emphasized boosting the well-rounded development of women as a national campaign for China.

China has continued to strengthen institutional support and safeguards to advance women's cause, which is an integral part of state governance, fostering the necessary conditions and environment for the comprehensive development of women, according to the white paper, titled "China's Achievements in Women's Well-Rounded Development in the New Era."

The white paper highlighted China's establishment of a mechanism for the work related to women, under which the Communist Party of China committees exercise leadership, governments assume primary responsibility, working committees on children and women play a coordinating role, women's federations work in collaboration, relevant departments provide support, and the whole of society participates.

"These concerted efforts have ensured that gender equality is upheld in all areas of economic and social development and all aspects of social life," noted the document.

The people's congresses have strengthened legislation and supervision on women's development. The government has formulated and organized the implementation of outlines for the women's cause, and convened meetings on related work. It has established a gender statistics monitoring system covering over 2,400 indicators. Furthermore, gender has been incorporated as a key metric into national censuses and time-use surveys.

The white paper said that China's national development plans have clarified the strategic tasks for women's development, and that the outlines for women's development have laid out phased targets.

China has established a legal system anchored in the Constitution and centered on the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, covering over 100 laws and regulations. China has also taken resolute actions to combat criminal and illegal acts that infringe upon women's and girls' personal rights, said the white paper.

China has been devoted to carrying out targeted public education on gender equality across multiple dimensions and through multiple channels, strengthening the awareness of gender equality in the media, and creating a clean cyberspace, it added.