Ten years ago, Jia Junqiao won an election to become the first woman to serve as head of the Longju village committee.
In the decade since Jia took the helm in the Hebei Province village, its first road has been built, wells have been dug and the local primary school has been repaired, a job put off for years by her male predecessors.
Jia, 50, shared her experience last week at a forum in Beijing for Chinese women who have won prizes for creativity in rural life from the Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF).
Since the prize was created in 1994, a total of 34 Chinese women have been honored for their efforts in improving the lives of people in rural China.
"Women have made great contributions to economic development," said Zhang Hongman, of the UN Development Fund for Women in China.
The role of women in the countryside has come to the fore in recent years as many young and middle-aged rural men have gone to cities for work. The women who remain behind tend the farms and take care of the children and elderly.
Rural women have become the backbone of agricultural production and family life in rural areas, Zhang said.
In the past, women often simply voted as their husbands did during elections for the village chiefs, Jia said. Now they make their own decisions, and even become candidates for leading roles in the villages.
"Rural women are an untapped source. The world would be totally different if all their potential was exploited," said Xie Lihua, editor-in-chief of Beijing's Rural Women, formerly Rural Women Knowing All, the only monthly magazine for rural women in the country.
The WWSF is an international nongovernmental organization with UN consultative status. Founded on March 8, 1991 -- International Women's Day -- its goal is to create new development models for women and children.
The prize for women's creativity in rural life has been awarded annually since 1994 to women and women's groups for their work to improve the quality of life in rural communities.
(China Daily, China.org.cn December 27, 2004)
