Society
'Work widows' suffer in silence
By Hu Yongqi in Pingliang, Gansu, and Peng Yining in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-08 07:38
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Several ambitious projects to help "work widows" in Gansu were launched last November by the provincial women's federation. They plan to open 30 study rooms across in Pingliang by April, where women can meet friends and learn new skills.
Women in Zhuanglang county can now chat with their husbands online using webcams thanks to a project funded by the federation.
Village chiefs in nearby Zaolin, Chongxin county, have built a reading room and recreation room, both 80 square meters, while women are also given legal advice and psychological counseling to help them cope with life without their husbands.
However, local governments and women's federations have been urged by experts to do more to protect this vulnerable section of society.
Residents in Damaigou said women's federation officials have not visited the village once and that their statistics were collected through village heads. An official who gave her surname as Cao with Pingliang Women's Federation admitted the organization did not do the surveys but went on to complain that many villages immediately threw away brochures on agricultural sciences and healthcare as soon as they were handed them during monthly promotions run by the federation.
"Maybe our thinking is outdated but they are too short-sighted because they think our brochures are of no use," said Cao. "Actually, it takes us a lot of work to prepare these learning materials."
Jiang argued that communities should also learn to help themselves - "They could help each other out in the fields at harvest times" - and said the problem could be eased by small bank loans designed to help "work widows" start their own businesses.
"A greater number of kindergartens to help with looking after their children would also help. Usually there are only one or two kindergartens in a county and they are open only to local officials," she said.
Despite the problems that still exist, China has seen slow but major progress in the protection of women's rights, said Jiang.
"Once I suggested to an official to set up more kindergartens to take the burden off women and he said this kind of problem was a 'chick's trifle',"she said. "I don't think you'd hear anyone say that today. Officials have realized that 'trifles' can turn into serious social problems."
(China Daily 03/08/2010 page1)
