Interview: China to champion women's rights globally -- UN official

China is taking its engagement in gender equality and women's empowerment to a whole new level by championing the issue globally, said a senior UN official on women affairs.

By hosting a Global Leaders' Meeting on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment at the UN headquarters on Sept. 27, China is going to champion the issue globally, and it has "an unparalleled opportunity" to do so, said Lakshmi Puri, deputy executive director of UN Women, a UN body.

At the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the international community to protect women's rights and interests by laws and regulations and integrate them into national and social norms, and to jointly build harmonious and inclusive societies where there is less discrimination or prejudice against women.

"I am so happy that President Xi highlighted the issue of changing social norms and dismissing outdated mentalities and customs inhibiting women's development, and this is a very important point," Puri told Xinhua.

"It (The summit) signals that an emerging developing country like China is owning the agenda of gender equality and women's empowerment, and this is also part of what UN Women has been trying to do."

Adding to the previous UN Women campaigns of "He for She" and "UNiTE to End Violence Against Women," the China-led summit has resulted in a third campaign called "Planet 50-50 by 2030," which has already seen 89 countries committed to stepping up for gender equality and envisaging a world of gender equality by 2030.

"These campaigns are about changing the mindset and changing the social norms ... because now politically everybody is activated and we want to push forward," said Puri.

When addressing the Sept. 27 summit, Xi pledged that China will host 30,000 women from developing countries for training programs in China and provide 100,000 skills training opportunities in local communities of other developing countries.

Lauding China's commitment as a concrete step in its support for women and girls' empowerment in developing countries, Puri said her agency is willing to work with China not only in selecting the 30,000 women, but also in providing the gender equality and women's empowerment element to all of the skill-building efforts.

"It's one thing to build skills in a technical sense, but the woman also must be empowered in her confidence," she said.

Existing cooperation between China and UN Women has covered legislation in ending violence against women, women's political participation and leadership, economic empowerment for women, gender and HIV/AIDS, and women in media professions, among others, said Puri.

In addition, UN Women also want to work with China to boost development cooperation in developing countries by using its 90 offices worldwide, the official said. Endi