URUMQI -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has issued two plans to promote the high-quality development of women and children through 180 welfare measures spanning 15 fields, local authorities said Friday.

The plans aim to promote the coordinated development of women and children from urban and rural regions and of different areas and groups, and protect the rights and interests of women and children with special difficulties, said Wang Lixia, deputy director of the regional working committee on children and women.

Besides, these plans will integrate the goals and objectives involving the development of women and children with the overall economic and social planning of the region, Wang added.

In recent years, the rights of women and children in Xinjiang have been further protected, and their health conditions have continued to improve. "Historic achievements have been made in the development of women and children in Xinjiang."

The maternal mortality rate in the region had dropped from 39.45 per 100,000 in 2011 to 7.89 per 100,000 in 2020. By 2020, the number of newly employed women in the region's urban areas had accounted for 45.11 percent of the total.

Gender discrimination in the workplace has been largely eliminated in the region, with employment channels for women further expanded and equal pay for men and women fully implemented.