China glad to work with East Asia for gender equality

All-China Women's Federation ( ACWF) Vice President Meng Xiaosi said Thursday that Chinese women would be more than happy to join hand with women of East Asia countries to promote gender equality and environmental sustainability.

Meng made the statement during the ongoing fourth meeting of the ASEAN plus Three Committee on Women (ACW+3) held in Lao capital Vientiane.

China is the hometown for one-fifth of the world's women. The promotion of gender equality and women's all-round development, as well as enhancing gender perspectives in environmental sustainability not only have great significance to China's sustainable development and women's cause, but also exert far- reaching implication to the progress the whole human society, she noted.

Meng said as the largest women's organization in China, the ACWF has worked in creating opportunity and conditions for women to promote sustainable development. The ACWF initiated a number of national projects, including promoting women's employment, improving their health, increasing their participation in grassroots governance and promoting environmental sustainability by mobilizing more women to engaging in environmental protection.

Since 2009, free cervical cancer and breast cancer screenings have been conducted for rural poor women in China. By the end of March this year, 13.15 million women had received free cervical cancer screening and 1.46 million women had received free breast cancer screening. The government has decided that annual free cervical cancer screening should be conducted for 10 million rural women and breast cancer screening for 1.2 million from 2012.

Meng said the visions raised 20 years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are still waiting to be realized.

She suggested the governments and organizations in the region work together to enhance women's participation and leadership role at all levels of decision-making for sustainable development, take effective measures to eliminate gender-based discrimination, and boost international and regional cooperation in women affairs.