Shilin UNESCO Global Geopark is dedicated to contribute to promoting gender equality and women’s rights for a long time, which is one of the Sustainable Development Goals of UNESCO. During these years, we focus on the rights and interests of women in Shilin, especially under the development of geotourism. We have made much more efforts to empower women, which aims not only to enhance their personal and economic well-being, but also to cultivate an environment in which their critical roles are recognized in various domains.

We provided different chances and help for women in Shilin. Some women who are more familiar with local culture, customs and good at mandarin could be trained as tour guides. According to the change of tourists’ demands, we also regularly organize some training courses and competitions to improve their skills.

As for the managerial staff of Shilin UGGp, we adhere to gender equality and have hired hundreds of female staff through various recruitment. In the light of their majors and qualifications, they are employed by different departments and take on different responsibilities, for example, some female staff who study English are responsible for UNESCO World Heritage application or translation work, some women’s major is geology and they focus on science popularization.

Additionally, there are some local women of Yi nationality. People call them Ashima who are skilled in dancing, singing, folk musical instruments and embroidery. Some of them are hired as performers in the Shilin UGGp and they always put on some ethnic performances during traditional festivals. Others are recognized as intangible cultural heritage inheritors working in traditional cultural learning workshop.

We know that we still have a lot of work to do to achieve women equality. So we continue to focus on women's empowerment as well as gain more attention over women’s rights and interests. We hope we can help more women fully develop themselves and build their career successfully.