The male-dominated army of government officials in east China's Zhejiang Province will see a change in the gender imbalance as the province prepares to enlist more women with university degrees.
The first group of 15 cadres who were publicly recruited, 12 of whom are women, have recently finished their training and started their new posts as senior officials in the provincial government organs.
According to the Provincial Organization Department, eight of the 12 newly appointed female officials hold a master's degree.
The personnel reform is also significant as the group of young new recruits has an average age of 41.3 and five of them are not members of Communist Party of China, said Si Xinliang, director of the department.
Early this September, the provincial government publicly invited women only to apply for 10 vice-director's posts in departments including education, judicial and personnel.
Several rounds of written tests, interviews and public voting have so far been conducted.
(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2002)
