Beijing, China / TimesNewswire / June 30, 2023 – Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping and UNESCO Special Envoy for the Advancement of Girls’ and Women’s Education, called for the promotion of women’s full development on Thursday in a video address to the China-Africa Women’s Forum.
The forum, jointly held by the All-China Women’s Federation and the government of Hunan Province, opened Thursday in Changsha, capital of central China’s Hunan Province.
Women contribute to China-Africa friendship
China and Africa are a community with a shared future, and women are important members of the China-Africa family, Peng said.
In different parts of Africa, women from China are actively working in medical teams, on peacekeeping missions, at infrastructure construction sites, and in technical training programs, she said.
The ongoing third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo is holding the first China-Africa Women’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Exhibition, showing the new achievements of women from both sides in poverty alleviation, charity, economy and trade, culture and education and other areas of cooperation.
Tu Youyou, the Chinese scientist who won the 2015 Nobel Prize of Physiology or Medicine, discovered artemisinin, which significantly reduced malaria mortality in Africa.
Since the World Health Organization has been recommending artemisinin-based combination therapies as the first-line treatment for malaria, these combination treatments have saved millions of lives, reducing malaria mortality in Africa by 66 percent, and by 71 percent among children under five years of age.
China highly values women’s causes
Noting that women’s development marks the progress of human civilization, Peng said China places high importance on advancing women’s causes.
China has taken measures to strengthen the legal system in protecting women’s rights and interests, empowering women with better education, supporting women’s entrepreneurship and innovation, and delivering better healthcare services to women and children, she said.
According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 released by World Economic Forum, China ranked the first among 146 countries in enrollment in tertiary education with the score of 1.00 which indicates no gender gap.
China has put in place a legal system of more than 100 laws and regulations that comprehensively protects the rights and interests of women and children, according to a white paper on the practice of the Communist Party of China in respecting and protecting human rights.
A newly-revised Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women came into force on January 1, 2023.
The law stipulates that the state shall take necessary measures to promote gender equality, eliminate discrimination of all forms against women and prohibit exclusion or restriction of women’s legitimate rights and interests.
It requires local governments at all levels to place more emphasis on strengthening their work in the relevant areas.
In Africa, countries are also working hard to improve women’s working and living conditions, help them get rid of poverty, and encourage women’s participation in the management of the country and society, Peng added.
Peng also called for solidarity and cooperation as women’s development still faces challenges.
She vowed to carry forward the spirit of the Beijing World Conference on Women and the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, pull strengths from all sides to promote women’s full development and contribute to the building of a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era.
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