The fourth China Survey on the Status of Women (CSSW) was officially initiated on July 1, according to the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF).

By adopting scientific method of collecting and analyzing data information, the survey aims to fully represent the development and changes in gender equality in China and Chinese women's development in different times.

Under the guidance of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on women and women's work, the fourth CSSW will summarize the achievements in the women's cause of the country, understand the overall development of Chinese women in new era and new achievements of the reform of women's federations, analyze new opportunities and challenges confronting the development of women of all ranks and classes living in different regions, and the new changes of women's needs in the social reform.

The survey results are supposed to provide a scientific basis for the government to improve the institutional mechanism of boosting the comprehensive development of women and achieving gender equality. The results will also facilitate women's federations to advance their women's work.

The questionnaires adopt electronic forms which are tailored to two groups — individuals and communities.

The individual questionnaires cover such topics as health, education, finance, social security, political participation, marriage and family, lifestyles, laws and rights, and gender concept and cognition.

The questionnaire designed for communities focuses on investigating the social, economic and cultural environment in which women live, exploring the relationship between the environment and the survival and development of female individuals and group, and learning about the reform of the women's federations and women's work.

A total of 30,000 men and women aged 18-64 across the country are expected to participate in the survey, and nearly 2,000 heads and staff members of village and neighborhood committees will complete community questionnaires.

The CSSW, conducted every 10 years, is a national investigation co-organized by the ACWF and the National Bureau of Statistics. The previous three were carried out in 1990, 2000 and 2010.

(Source: The Fourth CSSW Leading Group Office/Translated and edited by Women of China)