Premier Wen
Jiabao urged government departments this week to protect the
rights and interests of women and children and further improve
their situation, advancement?which he said should be seen as a
measure of social progress.
"Although China has made tremendous progress in
this area since it began its reform and opening up policy, it still
has much to do in protecting the rights and interests of women and
children and in truly realizing the equality of men and women," Wen
said at a national meeting on women and children held in Beijing on
Monday and Tuesday.
According to the Ministry of Health, medical
facilities for children and women in rural areas are inadequate. Of
rural children who died of illness, half did not receive medical
treatment or only received treatment in clinics.
Wen ordered all levels of government to give
priority to the
issue and solve outstanding shortcomings, including in women’s
employment, educational opportunities for all children and the
abduction and trafficking of women and children.
He said women and children’s situations should be
made an important index of economic and social development and
government work, and development in this area should be included in
the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).
Wen said trade unions and other non-governmental
organizations should be mobilized to make joint progress in this
field.
Conditions should be created to facilitate women’s
participation in economic, political and cultural affairs, he said,
and support for rural women and children’s development
increased.
Vice-Premier Wu Yi,
who is also chairperson of the State Council’s National Working
Committee on Children and Women, chaired the meeting.
(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2005)