Shanghai will create a friendlier social environment for women and children and vows to better protect their rights, Mayor Han Zheng said at a meeting with a delegation sent by the central government yesterday.

The delegation, headed by Zhou Hepin, the vice minister of the Ministry of Culture and Peng Yu, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was appointed to assess Shanghai's improvements on women and children's lives for the past five years.

In 2005, 42 percent of the jobs in Shanghai were filled by women and 42.6 percent of all the municipal government officials are women, which is a result of the city's efforts to improve their working environment, Han said while addressing the delegation.

As a symbol of a more civilized society, the lives of women and children in Shanghai are already up to the level of mid-sized developed countries, with compulsory education rates at 99.99 percent and almost every child can go to high school, Han said.

To make a harmonious society for every one, especially for women and children, Han said, Shanghai will further its protection of women and children's legal rights and encourage more females to participate in political activities.                                                                                                                                            

The delegation, which was sent by the National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council, is due to visit the Shanghai Institute of Children's Welfare and the city's Disease Prevention and Control Center, as well as some service centers for migrant workers around the city in the next two days.