With an increasing number of them participating, women have become a major force in China's economic development. At present, they contribute to over 40% of the GDP of the country, said Cui Yu, head of the Women Development Department under the All-China Women's Federation.

She made the statement at a Sino-Korean Women Freindly Exchange Forum held to mark the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and North Korea.

Now, there are more job opportunities available for women. By the end of 2004, there were 337 million women working in cities and rural areas, which accounted for 44.8% of the total workforce. Such employment percentage point was also the highest in the world. While most women worked in the tertiary sector at that time, nowadays many women work in high-tech sectors, such as computer, telecommunications, finance, and insurance. They have become an important force in these sectors as well, Cui said.

While women in rural areas have become the main workforce in building a new socialist countryside, female entrepreneurs are playing an active role in the nation's economic construction. Over the past ten years, female entrepreneurs have come into their own quickly. Most of them work in small and medium-sized companies, their number accounting for 20% of the total number of entrepreneurs in China. Among them, 60% have become successful in the past decade. 95% of the companies run by them have been very successful. These companies have created more job opportunities for women as well, since 60% of the working staff in these companies are women, Cui noted.

Although women's situation has improved in economic construction, Zhang Jing, director of the All-China Women's Liberation Working Office, said problems still exist. For example, women generally earn less salary than men and the income gap between men and women is widening. Compared with men, there are still fewer opportunities open to women. Gender discrimination exists in employment and women work in less important positions. In addition, women have low access to labor and social security benefits.
 
Editor: Yan