A poster dedicated to women working on the frontline of the battle against novel coronavirus Photo: Courtesy of Yanidadi

The frontline of the novel coronavirus outbreak hasn't lacked female representation. These women are doctors, military medics, scientists, researchers, train attendants, flight attendants and event workers at the construction site for Huoshenshan Hospital, which was built within 10 days to help in the battle against the virus in Central China's Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Take 53-year-old Wang Xiaohong for example, an expert from China Construction Third Engineering Bureau. She was in charge of overseeing and coordinating the construction of the hospital's steel frame.

With the fast pace and tight schedule, the construction team was faced with a seemingly impossible task, and protecting their own health became crucially important under the challenging circumstances. To make sure everyone on site wore a mask, Wang wrote a poem.

"The mask may cause pain around your ears and leave red marks on your face. Maybe it makes your glasses foggy and voice muffle. You have to shout to each other to be heard. Yet we must wear masks all the time, just like the medics do. Let's fight the virus together!"

During the construction, Wang took hundreds of phone calls a day, yet only had five to six hours to rest. After the project was completed, she told media, "It was truly exhausting… But to allow the patients to be hospitalized and receive treatment as early as possible, we had to work as hard as we could."

Besides Wang, there were other women among the managing teams overseeing construction. Feng Xin, who was in charge of the workers' meals, had to lead a team that worked around the clock.

On February 2, after preparing 2,400 meals for people who were working after midnight, Feng was told another 1,200 workers would join the construction effort. That meant preparing 3,600 servings of breakfast. Due to the sudden increase in the number of workers, she led her team to work with the limited ingredients they had under the conditions. 

"We were running out of options. We borrowed some extra stoves to make noodles bowl by bowl," she told media.

While the construction was livestreamed on video platform Yangshipin, many netizens couldn't help but noticing the other female construction workers racing against time alongside people like Wang and Feng.

"I saw a female worker break her thumb during the construction. But she was so poised, which made me cry. They are so strong and beautiful," commented one netizen on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

"Female doctors, nurses, construction workers and construction managers…The power of women should be seen and respected in this battle," commented another netizen.

Zhongdiyin, a band made up of migrant workers from different cities working in Shenzhen, posted a song on Wednesday on Sina Weibo. The song, titled "Heroines," was dedicated to the female construction workers.

"There are more than 6 million female construction workers in the country. They are a crucial part of a construction site. They are the backbone of a city in daily life, and the heroines during the battle against virus," wrote the post that came along with the song. 

"Women will not sit out this battle."

Global Times
Newspaper headline: 'Strong Beautiful'