Women E-entrepreneurs Account for 55% in China

About 55 percent of Internet entrepreneurs in China are women, who also make up 25 percent of Chinese entrepreneurs overall, according to the White Paper, Gender Equality and Women's Development in China, released on September 22 in Beijing.

The report announced that a total of 346.4 million women were in employment nationwide in 2013, occupying 45 percent of the whole Chinese employed population.

An increasing number of Chinese women have begun to embark on online startups with the rise of "She-commerce". They are much younger and full of vigor and creative ideas, according to analysts.

They have moved away from the industries traditionally associated with women and even stepped into some sectors dominated by men.

Typically, they have diversified from fields focusing on garments and beauty products into other male-controlled sectors, such as, digital products and furniture.

"Almost 30 percent of entrepreneurs I have cooperated with are women, and the proportion has been growing momentum in the recent year," said Xi Zijian, a Shanghai-based "angel investor" and co-founder of the Bund CEO Group, after reading the report.

A latest survey on Chinese women's social status revealed that women who are engaged in secondary and tertiary industries went up by 25 percentage points dwarfing that of a decade ago.

Furthermore, female heads of various departments, professionals and technical personnel, and clerical and related personnel increased by 13 percent in comparison with 10 years ago, said the survey.

Correspondingly, the report said that the number of middle and senior female technicians reached 6.61 million, accounting for 44.1 percent of the category in China and an increase of 9 percentage points from that of 2000.

To further improve rural women's conditions, the Chinese government has granted small-sum, guaranteed loans for poverty alleviation in 593 areas in 2009, which have added up to as much as 222 billion yuan (U.S. $34.8 billion) in total.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, the Chinese government has initiated an action plan to promote entrepreneurship and innovation among all women. Moreover, women are encouraged to seek self-employment in emerging industries.

(Source: Xinhua/Translated and edited by Women of China)