Tibetan Women's Rights Well Protected

Xinhua, 26 November 2001

LHASA, November 26 (Xinhua)—The rights of Tibetan women in all walks of life have well protected over the past five years.

Statistics from the Tibetan Women Federation show that some 32. 82 percent of cadres in the Tibet Autonomous Region are women at the end of 2000.

Illiteracy rate of Tibetan women in 2000 was 22.2 percentage points lower than that in 1995, as the strategy of revitalizing China through science and technology is implemented in Tibet.

With the help of Project Hope and Spring Bud Program, 85.6 percent of school-aged girls had entered school, 18.2 percentage points higher than 1990.

Proportions of female students in schools in the region have witnessed a steady increase. In average institutes of higher learning, the proportion stood at 44 percent; vocational technical schools, 51.5 percent; average high schools, 47 percent; specialized middle schools, 50 percent; primary schools, 46.1 percent; and schools for adults, 50 percent.

There were 15,200 female specialized technical personnel in Tibet at the end of last year, up 22.6 percent over 1995.

At the end of 2000, some 46.8 percent of jobholders in Tibet were women, with the number totaling 581,700, among whom 81,400 live in town, 14.17 percentage points higher than 1995, and some 500,300 live in rural areas.

Females working in the industries of manufacture, social services and medical care accounted for 47.58 percent of the industries' total.

With the constant improvement in medical care, some 48 maternal and child hygiene centers had been established in Tibet, which had benefited nearly 545,000 mothers and children.

Some 20.1 percent of women delivered their children at hospitals in Tibet, 16.5 percentage points higher than 1990.