"Public and Private Dialogue on Women and the Economy" Conference Held in APEC

The 2014 Women and the Economy Forum opened in Beijing on May 22. The first conference "Public and Private Dialogue on Women and the Economy" was held in the afternoon, with Dr. Monthip Sriratana from the National Women Council of Thailand hosting the conference.[Women of China/Fan Wenjun]

The 2014 Women and the Economy Forum opened in Beijing on May 22. The first conference "Public and Private Dialogue on Women and the Economy" was held in the afternoon, with Dr. Monthip Sriratana from the National Women Council of Thailand hosting the conference.

As a sponsor of the conference and the only male spokesperson, Eric Sun, Government Affairs Director of Mary Kay (China) said he was deeply honored to be able to attend the meeting. He introduced Mary Kay's ongoing ethnic culture industry projects in China. Sun said: "Three years ago, we came to Yunnan Chuxiong, Yi ethnic region, where local women were not only poor, but also bore the brunt of heavy domestic work. Although they are very skilled in craftwork, they did not know how to use these skills to make money. Mary Kay and China worked together to plan the project, hoping to help women trained in embroidery to realize their dreams: Firstly, through this project, culture can be preserved. Then minority women also hope to find community-based organizations, so even after the withdrawal of the project  they can rely on grassroots community organizations. Thirdly we aimed to achieve women's economic empowerment."

Asia Wal-Mart's Senior Vice President Erica Chan said: "Wal-Mart is very concerned about the development of women, that women around the world in the coming decades can make significant contributions to our economic initiatives and green development. We want to help 1 million females find employment. Wal-Mart has trained a total of 26,000 women, many women were trained internally,and we encourage women to have more leadership, this is also one of our goals."

Yunkeum Chang, director of the Asia-Pacific Women's Information Network Center in South Korea, said: "Since the Asia-Pacific Women's Information Center was established in 1996, we have been providing training services to women in 40 countries. Green development is a key issue and concern for us. We are committed to the empowerment of rural women in Africa. For example, in Uganda, there are many women who spent their time doing housework, but it does not generate revenue, so reducing housework time is necessary in order to bring more women to participate in income-generating activities, and training activities are very important. We designed a special stove, which can greatly improve cooking efficiency. Initially, cooking took a long time, and used a lot of firewood, excessive use of firewood causes environmental degradation, and desertification and reduction of forests, our new stove can solve it all."
 
(Women of China)