A girl plays a game on her PlayStation Portable console while her family members are praying outside the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, on Sept 28. Cui Meng / China Daily

Women in the Tibet autonomous region enjoy rising social status and are stepping beyond their traditional roles, according to an official at the Tibet Women's Federation.

Wang Huiling, head of the Party committee at the women's federation, said the job market has kept expanding for women, many of them becoming researchers, judges, lawyers, teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs and mountain climbers.

Tibetan women are increasingly stepping out of their traditional role as domestic caretakers, to receive education and learn skills to make a living, according to Wang.

Previously in herding regions, women would typically carry their babies on their backs as they trekked through the mountains with their flocks, in addition to performing household chores, Wang said.

The federation offers women a variety of training programs, including learning to make leather and hand-woven wool products, silver ornaments and stone carvings, which attracts mostly men.

All trainees receive free housing, an allowance for transportation and food, and compensation for lost work.