in the One-Child Policy. The ACWF was responsible for publicizing the policy and its content, but questioned if the policy respected the rights of women. In the end, the ACWF settled on requesting that its cadres comply with the law to set a good example for the country, to promote the One-Child policy to the Chinese women, and to strongly condemn any coercive action related to the policy. The ACWF also expanded its legal training for cadres, strengthened its finances, became involved with gay rights, fought employment discrimination and female trafficking, and introduced legislation to meet the challenges faced by women. In 2000, ACWF developed jobs for one million unemployed women by creating small economic (for profit) entities in which women can work as family service aides or in women's service groups. The organization also helps China's "leftover" women. These are women who remain unmarried after the age of 27. ACWF offers them alternatives to marriage such as the opportunity to pursue an education. With these changes, the ACWF became less concerned with mobilizing grass roots organization, and focused on its role in setting the public discourse for the social and political issues of women. By 1994 the organization had over 68,000 branches and somewhere between 80,000 and 90,000 cadres. By 1995 the party declared the ACWF, at least nominally, a non-governmental organization in response to criticism from women's groups abroad. However, the international women's movement questioned the validity of that declaration. While the federation expanded in size, it became increasingly difficult to continue to reach all Chinese women through traditional channels. Other NGOs appeared to fill some of the void, but many of those became incorporated within the federation to gain legitimacy. By the end of the 1990s there were 6,386 women’s associations and recreational clubs under the ACWF umbrella. The ACWF continues to struggle to reach an increasingly diverse female population in China, to incorporate groups outside the ACWF umbrella, and to defend its NGO status. Organization Actions and organizations The main action of the All-China Women's Federation is funu gongzuo (women’s work). The federation currently has seven functional departments to carry out this work: the Department for Children, the International Liaison Department, the Department for Women’s Development, the Publicity Department, the Department for Women’s Rights and Interests, the Human Resources Development Department and the General Office. The ACWF maintains a strong connection to the CCP through the