ACWF's Group Members Show Their Strengths in Fight Against COVID-19

The group members of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) have taken up their responsibilities in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), caring for frontline medical workers and their families as well as sticking to their post.

China Association of Women Judges

"Facing the epidemic, the China Association of Women Judges (CAWJ) and female judges across the country actively participated in the fight against the COVID-19," said Song Yushui, President the CAWJ.

The CAWJ required the women judges of the associations of women judges at all levels in the country to play their role and take responsibility in the epidemic prevention and control efforts. 

During this period, women judges carried out online court work so that criminal cases of disrupting epidemic prevention and control could be heard in a timely manner.

China Association of Women Prosecutors 

Liu Hua (L), President of the China Association of Women Prosecutors and chief procurator of the People's Protectorate of Jiangsu Province, works at a community for epidemic prevention [China Women's News]

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Liu Hua, President of the China Association of Women Prosecutors and chief procurator of the People's Protectorate of Jiangsu Province, led procurators in Jiangsu and members of the associations of women procurators at all levels in the country to participate in the COVID-19 prevention and control work. 

The female procurators of Wuhan, Ezhou and Huanggang branches of the Hubei Provincial Association of Women Prosecutors have been on duty in communities and helped deliver epidemic prevention materials. 

The Fujian Provincial Association of Women Prosecutors donated 500 facial masks to poverty-stricken villages. 

The Hebei Provincial Association of Women Prosecutors popularized legal knowledge related to epidemic prevention through photos and videos. 

The Shanghai Municipal Association of Women Prosecutors donated masks to hospitals in need. Guo Yanning, a senior procurator of the People's Protectorate of Hunan Province, mobilized young volunteers of procuratorial organs to distribute materials for epidemic prevention and control, and screen people in epidemic-hit areas. 

Women prosecutors of the People's Protectorate of Jiangbei District in Chongqing Municipality used online video system to question suspects and carried out follow-up work to help the juveniles by phone and WeChat. 

Women Lawyers Association of All China Lawyers Association 

The Women Lawyers Association of the Lawyers Association of Heilongjiang Province donates face masks to workers on the front line of the fight against the epidemic. [China Women's News]

After the outbreak of the epidemic, the Women Lawyers Association of the All China Lawyers Association led women lawyers working committees of the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to organize donation activities, participate in volunteers' teams, provide legal consultations, offer legal services to governments at all levels and the public. 

Female lawyers set up legal service groups to provide legal consulting services via the hotline "12348," carried out online consulting service and law popularization activities through Twitter-like Weibo, WeChat, instant messaging app, and Douyin, known as TikTok overseas, and took responsibility for compiling laws and regulations on the prevention and control of the COVID-19. 

Women Workers' Committee of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions

The Federation of Trade Unions of Xiaogan City, Hubei Province, donates sanitary products to the Central Hospital of Xiaogan City and the People's Hospital of Yunmeng County on February 24. [China Women's News]

The Women Workers' Committee of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) suggested that employers should arrange female workers during gestation and lactation periods to work at home and to have flexible work times according to their conditions. 

The Women Workers' Committee of the ACFTU coordinated with the China Workers' Development Foundation (CWDF) to specify procurement of sanitary products for frontline female medical workers in its donation of five million yuan (U.S. $ 724,637.7) to the Hubei Federation of Trade Unions (HFTU). The specification was meant as a timely response to the workers' actual needs in the battle against the COVID-19.

The HFTU instructed the federations of trade unions at municipal level to purchase sanitary products and distribute them among frontline female medical workers after receiving the special fund from the CWDF.

Meanwhile, the women workers' committees of the federations of trade unions in Shanghai and Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi and Qinghai provinces have also set up funds to purchase sanitary products and collected donations from the public to aid female medical workers at the front line in Hubei Province.

Women City Planners' Committee of the China Association of City Planning 

The Women City Planners' Committee of the China Association of City Planning (CACP) said in a public letter to its members nationwide that they will pay close attention to the development of COVID-19, sum up their working experience and practices, reflect on the planning, construction and management of cities from a professional perspective, explore applicable approaches to create healthy, safe and sustainable living environment, and popularize relevant scientific knowledge.

Wu Jie, Vice-President of the Wuhan Planning and Design Institute, and Wang Yun, director of the General Planning Office, conduct a survey of temporary hospital site selection in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province. [China Women's News]

Wu Jie, Vice-President of the Wuhan Planning and Design Institute, and Wang Yun, director of the Institute's General Planning Office, signed up for the mission to select suitable places for the building of temporary hospitals in the hardest-hit city in China.

Zhou Lan, Deputy Director of the Women City Planners' Committee of the CACP and head of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-rural Development, organized an academic research over the renovation of existing buildings into emergency treatment centers, and compiled a guideline on the renovation of sports stadiums into makeshift medical institutes against the outbreak of public health incidents. The guideline results from expert discussion, provides theoretical guidance on initiation of emergency response and speedy construction of relevant facilities in special conditions, and further raises the country's ability to respond to major public health emergencies.

Moreover, other members of the Women City Planners' Committee of the CACP have also held discussions and studies of existing problems found in the process of urban and rural construction amid the COVID-19 outbreak. For instance, Ye Yumin, a professor with Renmin University of China, and Wang Lan and Yu Yifan, professors with Tongji University, published their academic papers on building a people-centered urban administration mechanism, the interrelation between health and urban planning, and the integration of health with policy-making and space planning and urban-rural management in response to the outbreak of public health incidents, which have together received high praise from other industry insiders.

China Association of Women Photographers 

Members of the China Association of Women Photographers (CAWP) used photos to record stories of the frontline workers fighting against the epidemic, spreading positive energy to society. 

The CAWP has closely acted on the policies and decisions made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on prevention and control of the COVID-19, followed an urgent appeal by the ACWF to women from all sectors of society, and urged its members to take part in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 and contribute their own efforts to the victory of the battle since the onset of the outbreak.

Members of the CAWP, some of whom are frontline female medical workers, have taken their cameras to capture touching moments and scenes around them in the battle against the COVID-19. For instance, Jiang Yuanxin, council member of the CAWP and president of the Wuhan Association of Women Photographers, took photos on behalf of all frontline medical workers from Qingdao City, in East China's Shandong Province, to aid the fight against the contagious disease on February 24-27.

Many female photographers also volunteered to donate money and materials, showing their sense of mission and social responsibility. 

China Female Artists Association

On January 27, the China Female Artists Association (CFAA) called on more than 1,200 members to participate in the epidemic prevention work, and cancelled art exhibitions and other gathering activities. 

The association called on women painters to create paintings relevant to the fight against the COVID-19 in a bid to spread knowledge on virus prevention and control and salute the frontline workers. So far, the association has published more than 900 paintings on its official website and WeChat account. 

The CFAA also came up with a proposal to collect counter-epidemic paintings by children from across the country. So far, a total of 14 issues comprised of selected artistic creations by teenage contestants have been published through WeChat.

On February 3, the China Women's Development Foundation together with the CFAA set up a special fund for COVID-19 prevention and control. So far, it has received donations of 400,000 yuan (US $57,461) from the association members and women painters, as well as 300 paintings from female painters across the country. The donated paintings will be sold and the money will go to the COVID-19 prevention and control work.

China Women Tourism Committee of the China Tourism Association

Members of the China Women Tourism Committee (CWTC) of the China Tourism Association (CTA) have stood with their companies amid the COVID-19 outbreak. All travel agencies and tourist hotels have temporarily stopped their businesses, while the home-stay industry has sent a public letter to all operators urging them to contribute their efforts to further preventing the spread of the COVID-19.

The CWTC of the CTA called on member units to actively care for the female medical staff on the front line of fighting against the virus. The association donated 10,000 pairs of medical gloves to Wuhan. 

China Women's Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce

The epidemic prevention and control has become the most important work of the China Women's Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. The chamber mobilized all members to make full use of their resources to aid the work of epidemic prevention and control, donate money and articles, build online mutual assistance platforms and help enterprises resume work and production. 

So far, the member enterprises of the chamber have donated money and materials that are worth 1.2 billion yuan (US $17.2 million), and more than 2,800 women entrepreneurs have contributed to the fight against the epidemic. 

The chamber also invited professional institutions to interpret the government's preferential policies for enterprises on the Internet and it helped member enterprises in different industries and regions resume work and production steadily.

China Association of Women Entrepreneurs

Xia Hua (1st, R), Vice-President of the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs and President of Eve Group, introduces the conversion of six production lines into protective and isolation clothing production. [China Women's News]

As of February 28, the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs has led heads of the women entrepreneurs' associations at all levels, Party members and women entrepreneurs to donate nearly 890 million yuan (US $128 million) to the COVID-19 prevention and control work. The association mobilized women entrepreneurs to purchase medical supplies for epidemic-stricken areas. Some clothing processing enterprises shifted production lines to produce protective clothes. The association also launched online courses related to finance in companies, laws as well as work and production resumption. 

National Council of Young Women's Christian Associations of China

The National Council of Young Women's Christian Associations of China (YWCAC) urged its regional branches to organize social services activities in connection with the prevention and control of COVID-19 while strengthening self-protection in the battle in a circular issued on January 23.

The regional councils of the YWCAC have disseminated information about the prevention and control of COVID-19, and promoted the formation of positive social energy.

For instance, the municipal branches of the YWCAC in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai municipalities and Hangzhou City have organized their members to work with volunteers in the battle against the COVID-19 in local residential communities. In addition, the Wuhan Council of the YWCAC has kept in contact with its counterparts from other places around the country regarding distribution and delivery of donated goods and materials to frontline hospitals and residential communities.

So far, the National Council of the YWCAC has provided services for several thousand people, including participating in the epidemic prevention work in communities, publicizing the information on epidemic prevention and control work, disinfecting offices and public areas and carrying out online activities. 

The association has also mobilized overseas young women to provide support and resources and tell the stories of the Chinese people's fight against the epidemic under the leadership of the Party and government to the world. 

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