The first atlas on gender equality and women's development in China was released by the SinoMaps Press on Monday.

The book, "Atlas of Gender Equality and Women's Development in China," maps the state of gender equality and women's development in areas including participation in political affairs, employment, education, marriage, reproductive health and law, said Yu Dongmei, chief editor of the book.

The book also reveals the geographical differences among Chinese women in such domains as employment, health and diseases, Yu added.

The multi-disciplinary atlas contains more than 70 maps and about 100 statistical tables. They were complemented by some 60,000 words of explanation, said Xu Gengcai, editor-in-chief of the press.

The captions are available in Chinese only but the book has English contents and introduction, Yu said.

The book has been jointly worked out by Wuhan University and Qingdao University since 2007 with assistance from the American Ford Foundation.