A total of 551 female delegates have been elected to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to be started on October 18th in Beijing, accounting for 24.1% of the total 2,287 representatives.

The ratio is 1.1 percentage points higher than the figure 5 years ago when the CPC held its 18th National Congress.

The proportion rise came as more and more Chinese females have scored success after engaging in political careers.

Hua Chunying, who has been selected as a delegate in this year’s National Congress, is one of the spokespersons of China’s Foreign Ministry. Zhang Qiyue, Consul General of China in New York, has been elected as a delegate of the 16th,17th and 18th CPC National Congress.

Women’s participation in political affairs is an important index to measure a country’s democratic progress. The changes can be attributed to China’s great efforts in recent years to promote gender equality and protect women’s rights and interests.

The anti-domestic violence law implemented by China starting from March 2016, for instance, has provided the women with a new weapon to protect their personal rights.

By the end of this June, a total of 322.11 billion (about $49 billion) of female-exclusive start-up loans has been granted to about 5.89 million women.

In addition, China has conducted free cervical cancer screening for more than 60 million rural women and free breast cancer screening for over 10 million rural women.

With improved protection over their rights and interests, Chinese women are playing a more important role in national development.

The average life expectancy of Chinese women reached 79.43 years in 2015, increasing by 2.06 when compared with that in 2010. What’s more, maternal mortality rate stood at 20.1/100,000, lowered by nearly 10% when compared with the figure in 2010.

Females accounted for 42.9% of the total employees in China, and 55% of the Internet entrepreneurs were women.

Besides, 66% of the Chinese medalist in Rio 2016 Summer Olympics were female athletes.

The country will make more efforts in the future to solve the existing problems for women in marriage, employment, social security, land rights and interests, as well as personal rights, vowed Shen Yueyue, president of the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF).

By Hou Lulu from People’s Daily/NewsGhana.com.gh