Events highlight women's empowerment through technology and innovation

The main Sci-Tech Empowering Rural Transformation: 2025 HER Power, HER Stories Dialogue events have been held in Fenghuang county, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture, Hunan province, recently.

Featuring the theme "Technological Progress Bringing New Opportunities for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment", ways that digital transformation and technological innovation can boost women's economic independence, reduce their labor burdens and elevate their decision-making power in their families and communities have been explored at the dialogue.

The fourth iteration of the annual Sci-Tech Empowering Rural Transformation event series, this year's holds special significance – it coincides with the 80th anniversary of the United Nations and the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women – the most important of the four conferences on women held between 1975 and 1995 – and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – a visionary agenda for the empowerment of women.

Co-hosted by a coalition of Chinese and international organizations, including the China Internet Information Center, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Representation in China, the International Fund for Agricultural Development China Office, the World Food Programe China Office, the Center for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the United Nations Development Programe in China, and the People's Government of Fenghuang County, the event is also supported by the Ant Foundation and the China Foundation for Rural Development.

Around 100 participants – including rural women, scholars, government officials, representatives of international organizations, NGOs and businesses, and members of the media – are engaging either in person or online.

"When we invest in women's access to science and technology in rural communities, the benefits ripple across entire societies," stated Siddharth Chatterjee, UN resident coordinator in China, in a pre-recorded video message that was played during the event's opening ceremony. "China's rural e-commerce villages, women-led agritech cooperatives, and digital literacy campaigns offer models the world can follow".