Yang Lan is seen in an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the conference of Women in an Inclusive Economy in New York, the United States, April 19, 2019. Chinese women have been actively engaged in the new economy and it has come to an age for the society to harness the gender revenue from women, said Yang Lan, a Chinese female celebrity. (Xinhua/Guo Peiran)

by Xinhua writer Luo Jingjing

NEW YORK, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese women have been actively engaged in the new economy and it has come to an age for the society to harness the gender revenue from women, said Yang Lan, a Chinese female celebrity.

"I call for our society to harness the gender dividend of women, their creativity, their ability of innovation and entrepreneurship," the renowned hostess, journalist and entrepreneur told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Yang was invited to give a keynote speech at a special session of the conference of Women in an Inclusive Economy held by the Columbia University on April 19 as an alumna.

Chinese women are playing increasingly significant roles in the business sector as modern technologies, such as high-speed rail train networks, artificial intelligence and 5G, enter an era of improvement, according to Yang.

China has the world's largest middle-class consumer base and the upgrading of consumption has created many opportunities for Chinese women, said Yang.

"Internet-based business innovation and new marketing tools enabled fast and scalable growth" which is beyond imagination, she added.

Nevertheless, Chinese women still have to fight against the stereotypes about their lifestyle, and there is economic gender-inequality in terms of payments, loans-approval and job opportunities, she noted.

"To realize gender equality and harness gender dividend of women, I think we should help them address the work-family dilemma ... and the society should make changes both in terms of policy and concept," Yang said.

To carry out her desire to empower more women, Yang initiated in 2005 a TV talk show entitled Her Village to share stories about women and to explain the transformation of the society from the female perspective.

She also founded Her Village Academy which aims to enable a systematic lifelong learning for women to upgrade their mindset and to advocate a more inclusive society and gender parity in China.

"By realizing the full potentials of women and by releasing their creativity and innovation ... there will be positive impact on the world economy," she added.