By Ma Yujia

The cause of women's advancement in China is attracting considerable attention as the Tenth National Women's Congress opens. On October 30 Li Yuee, the president of the Women's Federation of Shanxi, was interviewed by China.org.cn. She talked about the current situation of women’s development and its future trends, and about her two-year stint with the Women’s Federation.

Li Yuee, President of the Women's Federation of Shanxi.

In addition, she discussed difficulties and problems facing the cause of women's development, and how to promote women's development. The word "implementation" featured several times in her comments.

Under the leadership of Li Yuee, the Women's Federation of Shanxi has made great progress in clarifying the conditions of women in Shanxi, and in the positive and constructive promotion of the work of women's development.

Li Yuee said that after taking charge of the Shanxi federation, she integrated the planning of women's affairs with the overall work of the government to optimize the environment for the advancement of women. Under this structure, the Shanxi federation conducted research into the issues facing rural women in their rebuilding new rural communities.

Their research indicated that one of the main problems encountered by rural women was a lack of information on advancement. Through the efforts of the Shanxi federation, a program to build an information infrastructure in rural areas (the Rural Network of Cultural Stations) was extended across the whole province.

According to the women's federation, this network of cultural stations is under the management of rural women. The stations not only address employment issues for rural women, but also give villagers access to a large amount of information to help them improve their economic prospects. Awareness of such issues as democracy and protecting their rights has improved significantly among the rural population, as people now have much better access to information about factors such as politics, economy and law.

In the process of establishing the "Rural Network of Cultural Stations", Li mentioned several times that the critical element was implementation and management of the project. Only through rigorous implementation and follow-up can this project make its fullest possible contribution to building new rural communities.

According to Li, the more developed the society, the more opportunities for women to participate in social affairs. Therefore women should continuously enhance their overall skills and knowledge and strive to realize their potential. Several training programs for women were created and ambitious training bases were established in cooperation with colleges and universities.

(China.org.cn October 31, 2008)