According to the organizers of these projects, they were set up as it was found that female entrepreneurs led firms differently to their male counterparts.

"The difference mainly lies in how to lead employees, how to handle risk, how to persuade others on an issue and how to ease pressure," said Lu Feng, organizer of the Beijing-based WDP.

Different to skill-oriented courses for male leaders, courses for women are more comprehensive and cover aspects like family relationships and personal image creation.

According to the organizers of such programmes, their projects emphasize not only their attendants' role as elite company managers, but also the role as a "perfect" woman at work and in life.

Organizers said there has been a huge demand from women entrepreneurs for the training and re-education .

Statistics from the Beijing-based Female Entrepreneurs Association show that more than 43 per cent of female enterprise leaders in China (there are 20 million female bosses across the country) said they felt they lacked management and professional skills.

Most of the women who attend the programmes are from private enterprises and are aged around 40, according to statistics from programme organizers.

According to Chen Liangwen, a researcher in economics with the China Regional Economics Centre, female owners of private enterprises are more in need of improvement than female bosses at large-scale State-owned enterprises.

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