China has 500 women mayors
( 2003-08-22 09:55) (Agencies)
China's 661 cities currently have nearly 500 women in the office of mayor or
vice-mayor, the largestnumber for any country in the world.
Liu Bohong, director of the Women Research Institute of the All-China Women's
Federation (ACWF), said Thursday at the ongoing international women leaders
seminar.
Liu said the number of Chinese women mayors has grown rapidly since China's
reform and opening-up, and these women are playing an important role in urban
construction and in politics.
In the late 1980s, there were only 150 women mayors or vice-mayors in China,
said Zhang Xuebin, secretary-general of the female mayors' branch of the Chinese
Association of Mayors.
In spite of the rapid growth in the number of Chinese female mayors, nine
tenths of the mayors are male. There are 5,000 male mayors or vice-mayors in the
country.
The Chinese government stated in the Program for the Development of Chinese
Women (2001-2010) that more efforts should be made to improve women's capacity
in management and decision-making in state and social affairs, and increase the
proportion ofwomen leaders.
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