The national women's domestic service vocational skills competition was held from November 4 to 6, 2024, in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province. Chinese State Councilor Shen Yiqin, also President of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), attended the opening ceremony held on November 4 and declared the competition open.

Organizing the competition was a concrete measure to implement the guiding principles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping's important instructions, and an important part of the campaign to encourage women to make greater achievements. To promote high-quality development, efforts should be made to better support women, promote employment, serve families, and improve people's well-being, Shen stressed. She called for cultivating more capable women domestic-service workers and brands, and promoting the high-quality development of the domestic-service sector.

Liang Yanshun, Secretary of the CPC Anhui Provincial Committee, Huang Xiaowei, Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of ACWF, Wu Xiuzhang, Vice-Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, Li Yongsha, deputy international trade negotiator of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), and Zhang Shixin, Deputy Secretary General of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), delivered speeches during the opening ceremony.

Huang noted General Secretary Xi has attached great attention and care to domestic services, and he has stressed the need for ensuring this work, which is beneficial to all, be done well. She added women's federations at all levels should act in accordance with Shen's requirements to upgrade women's domestic services and make them more accessible, to benefit more women, children and families. "This competition is of high value, and it covers many types of services. We should take this competition as an opportunity to enhance the competence of women working in the domestic-service sector, and guide them to make greater contributions to promoting high-quality development and creating better lives," Huang added.

The competition was designed to select the best eldercare workers, maternal-child nursing workers, housekeepers, and professional organizers, and to provide a stage for domestic-service trainers and domestic-service managers to showcase their skills. More than 14,000 competitors, from 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, participated in local preliminary contests. Of those competitors, 192 advanced to the national finals.

The competition concluded on November 6. Huang presented awards to the winners, and she declared the competition closed. Of the 192 finalists, 54 received awards, including six first prizes, 18 second prizes and 30 third prizes, and 42 were awarded for excellence. Moreover, 10 local women's federations won awards for outstanding organization, and five agencies for making a special contribution.

The competition, hosted by ACWF, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, NDRC, MOFCOM, and All-China Federation of Trade Unions, was listed as a national, first-class competition for the first time, and that listing indicated development of the domestic-service sector had advanced to a new level.

In recent years, women's federations at all levels have promoted women's domestic services, to expand women's employment and increase their incomes, to provide services to the elderly and children, and to help families solve difficulties. The federations have supported a combined 6,250 enterprises (agencies) in the sector, ensured more than one million workers have received training annually, helped more than 900,000 women find jobs in the sector, and established around 14,000 women's domestic-service stations in communities.

Photos from Yang Rui

(Source: Women Voice)

Editor: Cui Rui