WOMEN are playing an increasingly important role in lawmaking and the management of social affairs in Shanghai, a leading women’s representative said yesterday.

In the 2010-13 period, the proportion of female deputies to the Shanghai People’s Congress rose by 3.6 points to 31.7 percent, Xu Feng, president of the Shanghai Women’s Federation, said yesterday at the 2014 Shanghai International Forum on Women’s Development.

Meanwhile, the proportion of city-level social and professional groups with women among their leadership gained 3.2 percentage points in the period to 60.4 percent, she said.