As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic waned, people from all walks of life in Central China's Hubei Province have gradually resumed work and production.

The women's federations in Hubei Province have paid close attention to women's enterprises, and guided women to play an active role in work and production resumption in a safe manner under strict epidemic prevention and control measures.

The Women's Federation of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture has cooperated with organizations of infant care, housekeeping service and craft making to offer online skills training courses through WeChat, to help women, especially left-behind women whose husbands have migrated to other places for work and impoverished women, improve their professional skills and obtain stable employment. Eight online classes have been organized since March, and have benefited more than 3,000 people.

The women's federations at different levels in Enshi have actively responded to the call of the prefecture's women's federation. The Women's Federation of Jianshi County published six online courses in areas such as child care and psychological counseling.  

The prefecture's women's federation will also organize more online classes until the end of the COVID-19 epidemic. The federation will cooperate with the prefecture's human resources and social security bureau to launch an offline training session on establishing labor brands and fostering more role models to lead locals in getting rid of poverty.

The prefecture's federation helped a local tea company use e-commerce platforms to expand its sales channels. By resuming work and production, the company offered employment opportunities to locals who were not able to migrate to other places for work. More than 600 people got jobs and five collections of tea products were sold to Tianjin Municipality for total revenue of 500,000 yuan (US $70,591).

The Women's Federation of Huangshi City has established a working team to investigate local enterprises, learning about their resumption of work and production and helping women entrepreneurs solve the problem of lack of workers.

Learning the problem of lack of labor, the Qingshan County Women's Federation organized more than 400 women tea-pickers for a tea company, avoiding deterioration in the quality of the tea due to delayed picking time.

"A tea-picker can earn more than 400 yuan if she picks about 10 kilograms of tea," said Dai Qinghui, President of the Women's Federation of Qingshan County. "They are very happy as they can earn income even they have to stay at home because of the epidemic."

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)