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Chinese President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women in Beijing on Monday reaffirmed China's commitment to advancing gender equality and women's development, both domestically and internationally.

As Xi emphasized, women play a critical role in creating, promoting, and carrying forward civilization. China's role in advancing women's cause is multi-dimensional, built on decades of transformative policies, social innovations, and international collaboration to empower women and promote their well-rounded development.

Since 2012, Chinese women have accounted for around 43 percent of the employed workforce, making up 45.8 percent of scientific and technical personnel, and about 30 percent of workers in new forms of employment, according to a white paper titled "China's Achievements in Women's Well-Rounded Development in the New Era."

Furthermore, maternal mortality, as Xi said in his speech, has dropped nearly 80 percent, from 61.9 per 100,000 in 1995 to 14.3 per 100,000 in 2024. China's victory in the anti-poverty campaign has led all of its 690 million women to share in the fruits of a moderately prosperous society, achieving the first of the 17 UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals – “No poverty” -- ahead of schedule.

However, women's all-round development still faces challenges globally, with over 600 million women and girls mired in military conflicts. Gender equality is still an arduous task.

Therefore, Xi called for joint efforts to nurture an enabling environment for women's growth and development, cultivate robust drivers for their high-quality advancement, develop governance frameworks to protect their rights and interests, and advance global women's cooperation.

Over the past decade, China has donated $20 million to UN Women and has established the UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education in cooperation with UNESCO, which has supported organizations across 18 countries to enhance women's access to education worldwide. Over 100 maternal and child health initiatives and "Happy School" programs have been implemented in developing countries, improving the wellbeing of women and children in need.

Through the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, China has invested $40 million in women-centered projects across more than 20 countries. Training and capacity-building efforts have empowered over 200,000 female professionals from 180 countries, reflecting China's commitment to sharing its development experience and fostering global solidarity.

The Global Exchange and Cooperation Center for Digital Empowerment of Women is a new institutional platform to advance digital literacy and economic opportunities for women internationally.

Xi also announced further measures to support the global women's cause, pledging to donate an additional $10 million to UN Women and earmarking $100 million from the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund for collaborations with international bodies on projects to advance women's and girls' development.

China's participation in global governance on gender equality carries a clear message: Achieving gender equality requires sustained collective action, innovative policies, and inclusive dialogue among all nations.

As Xi stressed, "the international community has a shared responsibility to advance the cause of women." With global leaders gathering to renew the spirit of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, China's contributions are a reminder that empowering women is not a mere gesture, it is an indispensable driver of inclusive development, human progress, and building a shared future for humanity.

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