Hillary Clinton initiated the programme last year when she accompanied her husband on a state visit to China. During that visit, she urged Chinese women to value and respect their daughters so that they can move themselves, their families and their country forward. She told the Shanghai Women's Federation that ``enormous reservoirs of talents'' and ``boundless potential'' exist for Chinese women to ``hold up their half of the sky,'' a phrase coined by Mao Zedong.

``Women can't hold up half the sky if, as girls, they are not loved and valued by their parents and given the same opportunities as their brothers to fulfill theirpotential,'' Clinton said. ``Women can hold up their half of the sky when their feet are planted firmly on the soil of freedom and equal justice.''