(Yicai) Sept. 11 -- Almost 29 percent of research and development staff working in Shanghai last year were women, placing the city second only to Beijing, according to a new report.

The number of women researchers in Shanghai reached 98,300 in 2021, said the report released at a women scientists summit organized for the Pujiang Innovation Forum in Shanghai.

Some 9,929 women worked in engineering, science, and technology, the most of any Chinese city. The medical sciences sector led with the highest share of women R&D staff at 61 percent, followed by the social and human sciences sector at 55 percent.

Shanghai is home to many top-flight women in the fields of science and technology. As of July, they accounted for about 11 percent of the members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, higher than the national average.

The number of newly-inducted Shanghai-based women in the two academies last year was close to a fifth of the total of Chinese women who joined last year. Over the past three years, the proportion of Shanghai-based women who have been recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars has remained at 15 percent to 20 percent of all female winners. 

In the report, women research and development staff mainly refers to those engaged in three types of workplace activities: basic research, applied research, and trials and development. 

Shanghai is accelerating its development into a science and technology hub with a global influence, Wu Qing, deputy secretary of the city’s party committee, said yesterday. It will continue to emphasize the cultivation and employment of talented women in the field, Wu added.

The city will also create conditions for their professional development and progress through a more open incubator platform, a more inclusive institutional environment, and higher quality service guarantees, Wu said.

The three-day Pujiang Innovation Forum ends today.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Martin Kadiev