Female business leaders from across the world gathered in Beijing Sunday for this year's Global Women Entrepreneurship and Innovation Summit and their message was all the more clear: women are equally important and competent as men in innovative industries. 

Former Chinese leader Mao Zedong famously said: "Women hold up half the sky." When it comes to socio-economic contributions to China's development, men and women are equally important. 

But whatever efforts have been made to balance gender differences in the workplace, a gap in incomes does exist between men and women, in China as well as in many other countries  – a result of what experts call an "invisible glass ceiling" for women in certain industries. 

In 2017, 340 million Chinese women were in employment, which is double the figure 20 years ago, according to a white paper by the National Bureau of Statistics. This accounted for almost 44 percent of China's entire workforce. But fewer women than men have made their way to top management levels such as company CEOs.  

"Men still dominate sectors like commercial banks, finance and real estate. So their incomes can be higher than women's," said Gao Kun, editor-in-chief of TOP HER, a business outlet for women. 

Gao, who is the initiator of the innovation summit, said this might change with the expansion of emerging industries.  

"More female entrepreneurship has been seen in industries such as entertainment, life services, consumer goods for women and creative designing. And there is an increasing number of females in the tech sector. Thirty-five percent of China's IT personnel are women. The ratio is very high," elaborated Gao. 

According to the white paper, 55 percent of start-up owners in China's internet sector were women. Professor Meng Man from the Minzu University of China believes future industries will require comprehensive abilities of wit and communication skills – more brains than brawn, and these might just be the ticket to more success for Chinese women in the digital era.  

"If women can take positions in advanced industries, their strength and equality will rise in all aspects. In fact, the proportion of Chinese females who had higher education or technical expertise ranks high in the world. I think these are the most important indicators for the future," Meng said.  

The professor added that there is no reason to believe that a woman is not equal to a man in all these aspects. And she expects a promising future for the female workforce in China.