March 8 is International Women's Day and officials from the All China Federation of Trade Unions, led by Sun Chunlan, secretary general of ACFTU's Secretarial Department, have visited female employees and female migrant workers to give their support.
The entourage visited Beijing Postal Administration Jianguomen Branch, Beijing Topnew Knitting Group Company and the subsidiary of Beijing Ba Fang Da Bus Company in Tongzhou district. ACFTU officials checked the working and living conditions of the women workers in those factories and units, expressed their thanks to them and congratulated them doing good work.
Sun Chunlan said women workers are the backbone of China's industry and they have made great contributions to elevate their positions in society. She also said that the government's work report delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao at the National People's Congress shows the care the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have taken in realizing the political status, democratic rights and economic benefits for women in China.
Sun expressed her expectations for all the workers, especially women workers, to further strengthen their sense of responsibility, continue studying and work hard to make greater achievements and contribute to the realization of China's objective to build a rich society in all ways.
There are 19 staff at the letter sorting center of Beijing Postal Administration Jianguomen Branch, all of whom are female workers. Beijing Topnew Knitting Group has more than 800 migrant workers, and most of them are female. Nearly half of the 12000 migrant workers in Ba Fang Da Bus Company are women.
Following a decision agreed upon in 1910 at a Socialist International meeting in Copenhagen, International Women's Day was honored for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19, 1911. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. In 1977, the United Nations invited all member states to formally designate March 15 as International Women's Day.
