The proportion of female deputies to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was also up two percentage points, said Huang, adding "women have become an important force pushing forward political development".

The Tenth National Women's Congress which is expected to draw a blueprint for the development of Chinese women in the coming five years, began in Beijing on Tuesday morning.

She said the education gap between men and women has narrowed as proportions of women receiving various levels of education have increased steadily, with their mind continuing to be emancipated and concept updated and employment improved.

China's maternal mortality rate has reduced to 36.6 per 100,000 from 51.3 per 100,000 in 2003, and the infant mortality rate has dropped to 15.3 per 1,000 from 25.5 per 1,000 in 2003, according to Huang.

She said more and more women bought various social securities and women's life expectancy reached 75.25 years.

Statistics show more than 27,000 women and children rights protection agencies had been set up to handle cases involving rights infringement.

Women of ethnic minority groups and those who were religious believers were also greatly motivated to contribute to the social development, Huang said, adding mainland women groups had conduced to various exchanges with their counterparts in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

International exchanges such as bilateral and multilateral visits were well under way, with the ACWF having established friendship with 697 women and children groups in 164 countries and regions.

The five-day congress will hear and discuss a work report by the Nineth Executive Committee of the ACWF, deliberate and adopt amendments to the federation's constitution, and elect the 10th ACWF Executive Committee.

ACWF Chairwoman Gu Xiulian said 1,407 delegates from across the country were present at the once-every-five-year congress. Among the 1,280 elected delegates, 1,020 of them are newly elected. Each of China's 55 ethnic minorities has at least one delegate to the congress.

Officials in charge of women affairs from Beijing and other provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, ACWF former leaders and representatives from Hong Kong and Macao, also attended the congress.