The All-China Women's Federation has elected younger and more grassroots-level delegates to attend its upcoming 11th National Women's Congress, the federation said.

A total of 517 delegates, 34.3 percent of the 1,510 total, are from the grassroots level, up more than 13 percentage points from the previous congress in 2008.

Of all the delegates, the number of those who have at least a college degree increased by 1 percentage point, and those who have a master's degree increased by 12.2 percentage points. The age of the delegates is more equally distributed compared with five years ago, with the average age now 48.

Chen Weihua, a federation staff member, told China Daily that the increase in the rate of grassroots delegates shows that more voices from the grassroots level will be heard at the congress.

Chen said that the federation at different levels imposed strict disciplines on the election to ensure a sound and healthy process and banned bribery and pulling strings to draw votes.

The 11th National Women's Congress will be held on Oct 26 to Oct 30 this year in Beijing. The congress will deliberate and is expected to approve a work report by the 10th Executive Council of the All-China Women's Federation, amend the federation's constitution, and elect its new executive council members.