BEIJING - More than 48.6 billion yuan (about $7.7 billion) in small-amount loans with interest subsidies had been provided to women in China by the end of September, up 51 percent from last year, according to a meeting held by the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) on Thursday.

The small-amount loans have directly helped 1.1 million women in both urban and rural areas start businesses and have also helped another 4 million women get jobs, according to the meeting.

Song Xiuyan, vice chairwoman of the ACWF, said at the meeting that more than 2,100 practice bases have been established, providing training for more than 80,000 female students and helping 40,000 female university students with job opportunities.

"The ACWF has carried out a project aimed at providing job opportunities to women in more than 100 Chinese cities," Song said. "So far, we have already provided women with over 3.7 million job posts."

On Thursday, Wang Zhaoguo, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, urged women's federations at all levels to further communication with women and make efforts to safeguard their rights.