Qingdao, a coastal city in East China's Shandong Province, is striving hard to provide a pleasant and caring environment for women and children in need.

　　Since the release of the Programme for the Development of Chinese Women (2001-10) and the National Programme of Action for Child Development (2001-10) by the State Council in 2001, the city government has been paying more attention to these sections of society.

New employment

　　In the mid 1990s, during the economic reform of State-owned enterprises, a number of Chinese workers were laid off and had to seek a new start in life.

　　Zhang Xiufang, then 43 years old, was one such worker.

　　Perplexed and frustrated, she felt lost about her seemingly dark future. Unable to fi nd employment because of her age and lack of expertise, she tried to make ends meet by doing various odd jobs.

　　This rough patch ended in 1997 when she joined the Caring Sister Service, an intermediary organization sponsored by the Women Federation in Qingdao.

　　A housekeeping service provider, the Caring Sister Service is targeted on laid-off women like Zhang, who are less competitive in age, skill and education background.

　　It offers pre-employment training lessons and professional consultation to help them work as good housekeepers. To advertise its housekeeping services, the organization opened a service hot line and set up a website.

　　Now its advertising slogan and jingle have penetrated every corner of the city. The Caring Sister Service has even established branches in some residential communities that have high demand for its services.

　　It has a widespread distribution network of 15 branches and 110 linking offi ces, providing more than 60,000 residents with satisfactory services.

　　Local authorities have helped the organization with financial support.

　　According to governmental statistics, since 1999, the authorities have raised more than 3.6 million yuan (US $443,800) towards purchase of real estate for the organization. The Caring Sister Service has so far grown into the largest housekeeping service provider in Qingdao, accommodating 16,000 laid-off women as employees.

　　In July 2002, the authorities also set up a consulting centre to help women begin small businesses. The services provided include training lessons, consultant advice, project introduction and small loans.

　　It is seen as yet another move by the government to encourage unemployed women to seek new jobs. Since the centre began its operations, 324 out of 540 trainees have found new jobs and 145 trainees have established their own businesses.

　　To help these fi rst-time entrepreneurs, authorities collected 300,000 yuan (US$36, 991) and entrusted fi nancial institutes with this sum to provide interest-free loans.

　　So far, the fi rst lot of loans have been returned without delay. Qingdao's government also launched an interest-free small loan project for women starting their own businesses, utilizing social funds for this purpose.

　　With the help of the warm-hearted, the funds have so far risen to 500,000 yuan (US$61,652).

　　To promote women's employment, the city's Women Federation and Qingdao Evening News jointly held regular employment promotional events where all the positions were targeted on women job-hunters. Qingdao's Labour and Social Security Bureau has also adopted favourable policies to encourage employment of women aged 40 and above who desire to work.

　　By the end of last year, 32,000 women found jobs in the social service sector.

Home for non-residential women workers

　　With Qingdao's rapid development, nearly 500,000 women from other regions have moved to the city for employment.

　　According to a study conducted at the beginning of last year, 54.5 per cent of them seldom took part in residential community activities.

　　To foster a sense of belonging in them, seven governmental departments, including the city's Women Federation, took immediate action, with concerns on their life, health, growth and interest.

　　Accordingly, nearly 20 blocks of fl ats have been built in the suburbs since 2001, and more than 40,000 non-residential women workers have made their homes there. The women workers have also formed organizations to speak for them.

　　In addition, local authorities have held a wide range of activities to enrich the lives of these women.

　　Besides lectures on law, health and labour skills, skill training was also offered free of charge.

　　A mass book-donation campaign was also launched which received an enthusiastic response.

　　72-year-old Tan Zhixin donated his collection of more than 300 books; Wang Yongyu, another citizen, gave away nearly 1,000 books. The staff of the city's Public Security Bureau contributed at least 3,000 books.

　　So far the organizers have received nearly 40,000 books from warmhearted citizens and various social circles. Also, 60 bookstores were set up in the areas where the women workers lived and worked.

　　The city's Women Federation recently held an essay competition, with the theme, "Growing in the Company of Good Books", for the non-residential women workers.

　　The authorities have also opened a hot line to help protect the women workers' rights. Experts in the judicial system regularly answer the hot line calls. By the fi rst half of this year, 2,333 people have called the hot line. As for the serious infringement of rights, the related organizations offered legal aid to assist the injured in getting their delayed pay and compo and receiving occupation disease treatment.

　　The top ten non-residential women, elected through public appraisal last August, have become stars of the city.

Spring Bud Girls

　　Wang Yueyue, a third-year secondary school student, was honoured as Mary Kay Spring Bud Girl in a national activity jointly sponsored by the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF) and the Mary Kay (China) Cosmetics Co Ltd in 2004.

　　This was the result of Qingdao's efforts in implementing the Spring Bud Project, a charity project initiated by CCTF in 1989. The project aims to bring girls from povertystricken regions back to school. Every September, before school begins, Qingdao's government offi - cials visit the girls' families, bringing them much needed classroom items. Locals have actively extended their support to these girls.

　　So far, a total amount of 2.61 million yuan (US$322,515) has been collected towards providing fi nancial aid to 8,313 poor girls in the city.

　　Inspired by the community's generosity, the girls have made substantial progress at school and grown more optimistic about the future. （By Xiao Xin）

Once laid off, these women are now employees of the Qingdao Fangzi Professional Beauty Centre Co Ltd. Here they are seen receiving training from experts.		Top 10 women from outside the city, elected through public appraisal in Qingdao of North China's Shandong Province in 2004 August, become stars of the city. The local government has launched various activities to help non-residential women work in the city.

　CHINA DAILY 2005.10
《中国日报》2005年10月