Women in China
General Statistics | |
---|---|
Maternal mortality (per 100,000) | 37 (2010) |
Women in parliament | 24.2% (2013)[1] |
Women over 25 with secondary education | 54.8% (2010) |
Women in labour force | 67.7% (2011) |
Gender Inequality Index[2] | |
Value | 0.192 (2021) |
Rank | 48th out of 191 |
Global Gender Gap Index[3] | |
Value | 0.681 (2022) |
Rank | 102nd out of 146 |
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Women in society |
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Like women in many other cultures, women in China have been historically oppressed.
Achievement of women's liberation has been on the agenda of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the beginning of the PRC.[4][6] Following the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong replaced the common use of the term "女人" [nüren] with "妇女" [funü] as he famously said "妇女 [funü] 能顶半边天" (Women hold up half the sky).[6][7][8][9] "妇女" [funü] is a term for labouring women, which signifies the revolutionary role that women play in the liberation of China. The first celebration of "妇女节" (International Women's Day) immediately after the establishment of CCP consolidated the representational strategies associated with "妇女" [funü].[6]
During the Mao era, many policies were carried out to promote gender equality. The
In contemporary China, although women's rights in China have improved tremendously, women still suffer a lower status compared with men.
Historical development
Ancient and Imperial China
Pre-modern Chinese society was predominantly
Older Chinese traditions surrounding marriage included many ritualistic steps. During the
In the late Qing dynasty period, extramarital sex by women and fornication (a label typically used to refer to pre-marital sex) by women were criminalized.[20]: 41
Developments in early 20th century
Traditional family structures, including a multi-generational household in which paternal grandmothers dominated household life, persisted into the early years of the Republic of China.[21]
In the 1880s and 1890s, both male and female Chinese reformist intellectuals, concerned with the development of China to a modern country, raised feminist issues and gender equality in public debate; schools for girls were founded, a feminist press emerged, and the Foot Emancipation Society and Tian Zu Hui, promoting the abolition of foot binding.[22]
Early Reformers, including Liang Qichao, a scholar, journalist, and political reformer in the last years of the Qing dynasty, were one of the first in late imperial China to consider "the woman question".[23]
Many changes in women's lives took place during the Republic of China (1912–1949). In 1912 the Women's Suffrage Alliance, an umbrella organization of many local women's organizations, was founded to work for the inclusion of women's equal rights and suffrage in the constitution of the new republic after the abolition of the monarchy, and while the effort was not successful, it signified an important period of feminist activism.[24]
In November 1919, Miss Zhao's suicide sparked cultural debate regarding the role of modern women in social and political life.[25] A woman forced into an arranged marriage by her family, Miss Zhao, committed suicide by cutting her throat while being transported to the house of her would-be husband.[25] The formerly routine occurrence of a woman's suicide to avoid arranged marriage became an important center of debate for Chinese feminists.[25] Feminist commentators included Mao Zedong who published nine newspaper articles about the suicide and the need to overhaul societal norms relating to women.[26] Simultaneously, Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House was newly-translated and being performed in Shanghai.[27] The example of the play's Nora further fueled radical intellectuals and the discussion of women's roles in China.[27]
A generation of educated and professional new women emerged after the inclusion of girls in the state school system and after women students were acted at the University of Beijing in 1920, and in the 1931 Civil Code, women were given equal inheritance rights, banned forced marriage and gave women the right to control their own money and initiate divorce.[28] No nationally unified women's movement organized until China was unified under the Kuomintang Government in Nanjing in 1928; women's suffrage was included in the new Constitution of 1936, although the constitution was not implemented until 1947.[29]
Professor Lin Chun writes that "Women's liberation had been highlighted in the communist agenda from the outset, and, in that sense, the Chinese revolution was simultaneously a women's revolution, and Chinese socialism a women's cause."[30] By the 1920s, the Communist movement in China used a labor and peasant organizing strategy that combined workplace advocacy with women's rights advocacy.[31] The Communists would lead union organizing efforts among male workers while simultaneously working in nearby peasant communities on women's rights issues, including literacy for women.[31] Mao Zedong and Yang Kaihui were among the most effective Communist political organizers using this method.[32] Poor peasant women were generally strong supporters of Communist Party programs.[33]: 157
During the White Terror that began with the 1927
In the
During
Developments in the People's Republic of China
After the founding of the PRC in 1949, newly-established local governments continued to prioritize women's political mobilization.[41] Mao's statement that "women hold up half the sky" became a major slogan symbolizing the PRC's support for women's social and political equality with men.[36]: 298 The cultural stigma against young women working outside the home disintegrated.[42] Chinese grandmothers increased their roles as caregivers for their grandchildren, facilitating younger women's opportunities for paid work.[43] In a weakening of traditional Chinese patrilineality, grandmothers on the mother's side gained equal status to grandmothers on the father's side allowing them to fill gaps in childcare.[44]
Soon after its founding, the PRC passed the Marriage Law of 1950.[37] It prohibited concubinage and marriages when one party was sexually powerless, suffered from a venereal disease, leprosy, or a mental disorder.[45] The law abolished arranged marriages, paying money or goods for a wife, and outlawed polygamy and child marriage.[37] Following the passage of the 1950 Marriage Law, mass campaigns promoted the principle of freely-chosen monogamous marriages and official registration of marriage.[46]: 70
John Engel, a professor of Family Resources at the
In the 1950s, high-level female Communist Party cadre had a significant role in advocating for greater access to abortion and sterilization surgeries—in their view, women could not "hold up half the sky" nor advance their revolutionary work if they had too many children.[20]: 75
In the 1950s, the political campaign for "Five-Good Families" urged families to practice the principles of (1) "harmony between husbands and wives"; (2) "equality between men and women"; (3) "frugality in housekeeping"; (4) "solidarity among neighbors"; and (5) "honoring elders and caring for the young."[48]
From the 1950s onwards, China sought to pursue gender equality by including women in the formal labor force.[46]: 132 In urban areas, this process was facilitated by the development of a network of public nurseries, daycare centers, and kindergartens.[46]: 132 In rural areas, working mothers obtained support from mothers-in-law and other extended family members, usually on the father's side.[46]: 132–133
As women became increasingly needed to work in agriculture and industry, and encouraged by policy to do so, the phenomenon of Iron Women arose.[49] Women did traditionally male work in both fields and factories, including major movements of women into management positions.[51] Women competed for high productivity, and those who distinguished themselves came to be called Iron Women.[49] Women workers on the mobile film projection teams which brought cinema to rural China were promoted by media as model workers and symbols of advancing gender equality.[52]: 104–105 Slogans such as "There is no difference between men and women in this new age," and "We can do anything, and anything we do, we can do it well," became popular.[50]
Women's increasing roles in agricultural labor also had the indirect effect of supporting heavy industry campaign through increasing the availability of men for labor in projects such as the Third Front construction.[53]: 151
During the Cultural Revolution, one way China promoted its policy of state feminism was through revolutionary opera.[54] Most of the eight model dramas in this period featured women as their main characters.[54] The narratives of these women protagonists begin with them oppressed by misogyny, class position, and imperialism before liberating themselves through the discovery of their own internal strength and the Communist Party.[54]
A second marriage law was passed in 1980 and enacted in 1981.[45] This New Marriage Law banned arranged and forced marriages and shifted the focus away from the dominance of men and onto the interests of children and women.[45] Article 2 of the 1980 Marriage Law directly states: "the lawful rights and interests of women, children and the aged are protected. Family planning is practiced."[45] Adults, both men and women, also gained the right to lawful divorce.[55]
To fight the tenacity of tradition, Article 3 of the 1980 Marriage Law continued to ban concubinage,
Although the law generally prohibited the exaction of money or gifts in connection with marriage arrangements, bride price payments are still common in rural areas, though dowries have become smaller and less common.[56][needs update] In urban areas the dowry custom has nearly disappeared. The bride price custom has since transformed into providing gifts for the bride or her family.[45] Article 4 of the 1980 marriage law banned the usage of compulsion or the interference of third parties, stating: "marriage must be based upon the complete willingness of the two parties."[45] As Engel argues, the law also encouraged gender equality by making daughters just as valuable as sons, particularly in the potential for old-age insurance. Article 8 states: "after a marriage has been registered, the woman may become a member of the man's family, or the man may become a member of the woman's family, according to the agreed wishes of the two parties."[45]
In 2001, the Marriage Law was further revised to protect women from the harmful social trends following China's market reforms, such as polygamy by wealthy men and underpaid female labor.[57] The law was deliberated via an open revision process which included input from feminist academics and women lawyers.[57] Other civil and criminal laws were also amended to better protect women's rights and interests, including the inheritance law.[57]
In 2019 a government directive was released banning employers in China from posting "men preferred" or "men only" job advertising, and banning companies from asking women seeking jobs about their childbearing and marriage plans or requiring applicants to take pregnancy tests.[58]
Women and family
Marriage and family planning
Traditional marriage in pre-revolutionary China was a contract between families rather than between individuals.[45] The parents of the soon-to-be groom and bride arranged the marriage with an emphasis on alliance between the two families.[55] Spouse selection was based on family needs and the socioeconomic status of the potential mate, rather than love or attraction.[45] Although the woman's role varied slightly with the husband's social status, typically her main duty was to provide a son to continue the family name.[59]
Arranged marriages were accomplished by a matchmaker, who acted as a link between the two families.[60] The arrangement of a marriage involved the negotiation of a bride price, gifts to be bestowed to the bride's family, and occasionally a dowry of clothing, furniture, or jewelry from the bride's family for use in her new home.[45] Exchange of monetary compensation for a woman's hand in marriage was also used in purchase marriages.[citation needed]
The Japanese invasion of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War strained traditional family structures.[61] It resulted in mass separations of the old from the young, particularly as the young fled into areas not under Japanese occupation or became soldiers.[61] As a result of the war, young women were also able to find work outside the home, which provided liberty from the traditional households.[62]
In 2013, Xi Jinping stated that it was necessary for women to be "good wives and mothers" to ensure the "healthy growth of the next generation".[63] During the 2020 National People's Congress, a civil code was adopted which contained a number of significant changes for China's laws on marriage and family.[64] A 30-day "cooling off period" was added to divorce proceedings. Before then, some divorces were finalized within hours of application, leading to concerns about impulsive divorces.[65]
In addition the new civil code continues to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.[64] The state news agency Xinhua described the new civil code as guarantying "a harmonious family and society".[64] Writing for The Diplomat, Chauncey Jung writes that these revisions to the civil code complete a transition from the women hold up half of the sky era in which, at least rhetorically, China was one of the most progressive nations in the world in terms of women's rights to more regressive era of "strong family values for a harmonious society".[64] In 2022, an amendment to the Women's Rights and Interests Protection Law directed women to protect "family values".[63]
Policies on divorce
The
Jeffreys asserts that the Marriage Law of 1980 provided for divorce on the basis that emotions or mutual affections were broken.[66] As a result of the more liberal grounds for divorce, the divorce rates soared[68] As women began divorcing their husbands tensions increased and men resisted, especially in rural areas .[69] Although divorce was now legally recognized, thousands of women lost their lives for attempting to divorce their husbands and some committed suicide when the right to divorce was withheld.[69] Divorce, once seen as a rare act during the Mao era (1949–1976), has become more common with rates continuing to increase.[70] Along with this increase in divorce, it became evident that divorced women were often given an unfair share or housing and property.[66]
The amended Marriage Law of 2001, which according to Jeffreys was designed to protect women's rights, provided a solution to this problem by reverting to a "moralistic fault-based system with a renewed focus on
During
Second wives
In traditional China, polygamy was legal and having a concubine was considered a luxury for aristocratic families.[75] Dynastic ambitions were the formal justification for polygamy in that era, as important families sought to increase the number of sons and cement their social and economic ambitions through arranged marriage.[76] Male sexual gratification was also an underlying motivation for polygamy, and concubines were typically younger than wives and chosen for looks rather than social status.[76]
Polygamy continued into the Republic of China era under the Nationalist government.[77] During the nationalist period, other forms of polygamy emerged.[78] One form included two wives but not polygamous cohabitation - for example, if a young man had an arranged marriage in his village and then married a second time while at university.[78] Another form included dual families where a man married and had a family in China and married again while living and traveling abroad.[77] In the 1930s and 1940s, a man could only have one official wife, but polygamy remained in wealthier households where in addition to an official wife, a wealthy man might have a concubine.[46]: 70
In 1950, polygamy was outlawed, but the phenomenon of de facto polygamy, or so-called "second wives" (二奶 èrnǎi in Chinese), has reemerged in recent years.[79] When polygamy was legal, women were more tolerant of their husband's extramarital affairs. Today, women who discover that their husband has a "second wife" are less tolerant, and since the New Marriage Law of 1950 can ask for a divorce.[80]
The sudden
The first wives in these situations have a hard time and deal with it in different ways. Women that are far away from their husbands do not have many options. Even if the wives do move to mainland China with their husbands, the businessman still finds ways to carry on affairs. Some wives follow the motto "one eye open, with the other eye closed" meaning they understand their husbands are bound to cheat but want to make sure they practice safe sex and do not bring home other children.[84] Many first wives downplay the father's role to try to address the children's questions about a father that is often absent. Other women fear for their financial situations and protect their rights by putting the house and other major assets in their own names.[84]
This situation has created many social and legal issues. Unlike previous generations of arranged marriages, the modern polygamy is more often voluntary.[82] Women in China face serious pressures to be married, by family and friends. There is a derogatory term for women who are not married by the time they are in their late twenties, sheng nu.
Education
Female primary and secondary school enrollment suffered more than male enrollment during the Great Chinese Famine (1958–1961), and in 1961 there was a further sudden decrease.[85]
As of 2023, Chinese girls receive more schooling on average than boys.[86]: 69 A number of studies attribute the improvement in girls' schooling to the effects of the one-child policy.[86]: 69
Gender disparity persisted into the 1990s for tertiary institutions.[85] By 2009, however, half of all college students were women.[86]: 69 China's rate of increase in women's higher education levels has been substantially greater than countries with similar, and some countries with higher, per capita income levels.[86]: 69
Studies for the years 2000-2009 found that Chinese women had higher financial returns on education than men did, with an 11-12% return per year of schooling compared with 6-7% for men.[86]: 69
Health care
In traditional Chinese culture, which was a patriarchal society based on Confucian ideology, the healthcare system was tailored for men, and women were not prioritized.[87] Traditional culture emphasized the role of grandmothers in the management of childbirth.[88] Chinese health care has since undergone much reform and has tried to provide men and women with equal health care.
The People's Republic of China has enacted various laws to protect the health care rights of women, including the Maternal and Child Care law.[citation needed] This law and numerous others focus on protecting the rights of all women in the People's Republic of China.[citation needed]
In the PRC's early years, traditional midwives came to be viewed as dirty and unscientific.[88] By 1959, over 750,000 midwives were retrained with some modern medical practice, but only 5,300 were fully modern trained midwives.[89] With China's program of barefoot doctors, perinatal practitioners were often older women.[90] Their work was effective, with much of the 1950s and 1960s population boom resulting from the decline in infant mortality.[90]
During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), the People's Republic of China began to focus on the provision of health care for women.[87] This change was apparent when the women in the workforce were granted health care. Health care policy required all women workers to receive urinalysis and vaginal examinations yearly.[87]
For women in China today, the most common type of cancer is
Abortion in China is legal and generally accessible.[92] Abortions are widely-accepted and available to all women through China's family planning programme, public hospitals, private hospitals, and clinics nationwide.[93] In August 2022, the National Health Commission announced that it would direct measures toward "preventing unintended pregnancy and reducing abortions that are not medically necessary" in an effort to boost population growth.[94] The announced support measures include improvements with regard to insurance and taxation, improvements for education and housing, and encouraging local governments to boost infant care services and family friendly workplaces.[94]
Ethnic and religious minorities
After the founding of People's Republic of China in 1949, the
A unique feature of
Among the
Due to
Among
During the last years of
The birth of a girl was seen as a terrible calamity by the local Uyghur Muslims and boys were worth more to them. The constant stream of marriage and divorces led to children being mistreated by stepparents.
A Swedish missionary said "These girls were surely the first girls in Eastern Turkestan who had had a real youth before getting married. The Muslim woman has no youth. Directly from childhood's carefree playing of games, she enters life's bitter everyday toil… She is but a child and a wife." The
Population control
One-child policy
In 1956, the Chinese government publicly announced its goal to control the exponentially increasing population size. The government planned to use education and publicity as their main modes of increasing awareness.
The One-child policy, initiated in 1978 and first applied in 1979, mandated that each married couple may bear only one child except in the case of special circumstances.[114] These conditions included, "the birth of a first child who has developed a non-hereditary disability that will make it difficult to perform productive labour later in life, the fact that both husband and wife are themselves single children, a misdiagnosis of barrenness in the wife combined with a passage of more than five years after the adoption of a child, and a remarrying husband and wife who have between them only one child."[114] The law was replaced by a two-child policy in 2015,[115][116] and then a three-child policy in 2021.[117] On July 26, 2021, all restrictions were lifted, allowing Chinese couples to have any number of children.[118]
Sex-selective abortion
In China, males are traditionally thought to be of greater value to a family because they take on greater responsibilities, have the capacity to earn higher wages, continue the family line, receive an inheritance, and are able to care for their elderly parents.
In 1986, the National Commission for Family Planning and the Ministry of Health prohibited prenatal sex determination except when diagnosing hereditary diseases.[20]: 191 Individuals or clinics that violate the prohibition are subject to fines.[20]: 191 This prohibition was repeatedly affirmed in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s.[20]: 191 Since the 1990s, government efforts to promote daughter/son equality in family planning and to eliminate the traditional son preference in China have increased, further accelerating after the United Nations-sponsored Caring for Girls national campaign in 2003.[46]: 6–7 Sex-selective abortions in China are illegal.[121]
The sex ratio between male and female births in mainland China reached 117:100 in the year 2000, substantially more masculine than the natural baseline, which ranges between 103:100 and 107:100. It had risen from 108:100 in 1981—at the boundary of the natural baseline—to 111:100 in 1990.[122] According to a report by the State Population and Family Planning Commission, there will be 30 million more men than women in 2020, potentially leading to social instability.[123]
When family planning policies limited the number of children a family could have, immense social pressures are placed upon women. Women are mostly blamed when giving birth to a girl. Women were subjected to forced abortions if they appear to be having a girl.[124] This situation led to higher female infanticide rates and female deaths in China.
Other Asian regions also have higher than average ratios, including Taiwan (110:100), which does not have a family planning policy.[125] Many studies have explored the reason for the gender-based birthrate disparity in China as well as other countries. A study in 1990 attributed the high preponderance of reported male births in mainland China to four main causes: diseases which affect females more severely than males; the result of widespread under-reporting of female births;[126] the illegal practice of sex-selective abortion made possible by the widespread availability of ultrasound; and finally, acts of child abandonment and infanticide.
Iron Fist Campaign
According to reports by
The Iron Fist Campaign lasted for 20 days and targeted 9,559 individuals.[127] Approximately 50 percent consented and 1,377 relatives of targeted couples were detained.[127] Family planning officials defended the Iron Fist Campaign, asserting that the large population of migrant workers in Puning misunderstood the One-child policy and therefore had not complied with family planning regulations.[127] In an attempt to standardize family planning policies across all of China, the Population and Family Planning Law of 2002 was implemented, which protects individual rights and bans the usage of coercion or detainment.[127]
Property ownership
In current-day China, women enjoy legal
Ancestry in imperial China was
In most cases, the most control over family property that a widow would receive was maintenance, or the agency to control the property while an heir came of age.[131] In some cases after some reforms in the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), some women could retain maintenance over undivided property even after their sons came of age.[132] Law during the Republican era interpreted this to mean that widows held complete power over sons in control of the family property.[132]
The
The
The land was distributed to households with legal responsibility in the family head or the eldest male. A woman's access to land was then contingent on her being part of a household. Land leases were technically supposed to transfer with marriage to a woman's marital family, meaning women could potentially lose land upon marriage.[128][135]
For property other than land, new Chinese laws allow for the distinction between personal and
Since most divorce disputes are settled at a local level, the law allows courts to review specific situations and make decisions in the best interest of the children. Typically, such a decision would simultaneously favor the mother, especially in disputes over a house where the children would live. In some divorce disputes "ownership" and "use" over property would be distinguished, giving a mother and child "use" of the family house without awarding the mother full ownership of the house.[133]
Employment
If female
According to a study by Bauer et al., of women who married between 1950 and 1965, 70 percent had jobs, and women who married between 1966 and 1976, 92 percent had jobs.[85] In 1982, Chinese working women represented 43 percent of the total population, a larger proportion than either working American women (35.3 percent) or working Japanese women (36 percent).[137] As a result of the increased participation in the labor force, women's contribution to family income increased from 20 percent in the 1950s to 40 percent in the 1990s.[137]
China has the world's most gender-balanced technical and professional work force and exceptional wage equality between women and men.[138]: 1
Rural work
In traditional China, the land was passed down from father to son and in the case of no son, the land was then given to a close male relative.
Urban and migrant work
The People's Republic of China's dependence on low-wage manufacturing to produce goods for the
In 1984 the reform of the Regulations of Permanent Residence Registration marked an increase in the migration of rural Chinese workers. As the restrictions on residence became more lenient, less penalizing, and permitted people to travel to find employment, more women engaged in
Nationally, male
Stereotypically "feminine" jobs and professions
Along with economic reforms in China, gender differences in terms of physical appearance and bodily gestures have been made more visible through the media and commerce. This has created jobs that demand stereotypically feminine attributes, particularly in the service industry. Sales representatives in cosmetics and clothing stores are usually young, attractive women who continually cultivate their feminine appearance, corresponding to images of women in advertisements.[149] Chinese women nowadays also dominate other domains of professional training such as psychotherapy. Courses and workshops in psychotherapy attract women of different ages who feel the burden of sensitively mastering social relations in and outside their households and at the same time as a channel to realize themselves as individuals not reduced to their familial roles as mothers or wives.[150]
Women executives
Women are substantially less represented in senior management than men.[138]: 1–2 According to the China Stock Market and Accounting Research Database, the proportion of women executives of publicly traded Chinese companies has increased in age cohorts from executives born in the 1950s to executives born in the 1990s.[86]: 70 As of 2017, only 12% of executives born in the 1950s were women, compared with 23% of those born in the 1970s, 35% of those born in the 1980s, and 42% of those born in the 1990s.[86]: 70
Female Billionaires
In 2018 of all self-made female billionaires in the world, 61% were from China, including nine out of the top 10, as well as the world's richest self-made female billionaire Zhong Huijuan.[151][152][153][154][155]
Women in politics
Mao Zedong established a quota for the inclusion of women within Communist Party leadership, although few women have reached the highest positions within the Party.[156]: 62
Rural women had a significant impact on China's land reform movement, with the Communist Party making specific efforts to mobilize them for agrarian revolution.[157] Party activists observed that because peasant women were less tied to old power structures, they more readily opposed those identified as class enemies.[158] In 1947, Deng Yingchao emphasized at a land reform policy meeting that "women function as great mobilizers when they speak bitterness."[157] The All-China Women's Federation issued a call to Party activists to encourage peasant women to understand their "special bitterness" from a class perspective.[158] Women activists helped peasant women prepare to speak in public, including by roleplaying as landlords to help such women practice.[158]
During the Cultural Revolution, two women who were model workers -- Wu Guixian and Li Suwen—rose to become national level political leaders in only seven years.[156]: 160
Women's political disadvantage is most evident in their severe under representation in the more powerful political positions.
Since the early 2000s,
Chinese women in politics generally have higher levels of educational attainment than men, with 75% of them having graduate-level degrees compared with 56% of men.[86]: 71
Neighborhood committees of the Communist Party are often led by older women.[86]: 118
Crimes against women
Domestic violence
In Henan in the 1980s, activist
In 2022, China's highest court issued guidelines[166] that make it easier for domestic violence victims to obtain personal protection orders.[167] The guidelines broadens the definition of domestic violence to include additional conduct such as stalking, harassment, and verbal abuse; it also lowers the threshold for proof.[167]
Women's safety
China is generally considered a safe place for women, having some of the lowest
In recent years, with the rise of feminist voices on China's social media platforms, many incidences of violence were able to be reported. One of the incidences that triggered the most outrage and fear was
The government officials, after the attack happened, initially offered self-contradictory accounts on the handling of suspects.[169] In an interview with the newspaper The Paper on the afternoon of June 10, Tangshan Police claimed they had detained the suspects right after the incidence, while the secretary of Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of Tangshan said the police were still searching for the suspects. On June 11, all the suspects were detained.
A fierce public debate was also generated with regard to whether such attack was relevant to gender issues. Several Chinese authorities denied the significance of gender played in the attack, claiming it was about public security but not women's security specifically.[169] And many believed the blame should be about these specific attackers rather than be generalized to "all man".[169] However, many feminists disagreed with such view and were in outrage. They thought those voices essentially dismissed the origin of the attack being a failed attempt of sexual harassment towards women and underplayed the structural violence experienced by women in everyday life.[171]
Foot binding
In 1912, following the fall of the
Trafficking
In the 1950s, Mao Zedong, the first chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, launched a campaign to eradicate prostitution throughout China. The campaign made the act of trafficking women severely punishable by law.[178] A major component was the rehabilitation program in which prostitutes and trafficked women were provided "medical treatment, thought reform, job training, and family reintegration".[178] Since the economic reform in 1979, sex trafficking and other social vices have revived.[178][179]
According to United Nations Inter-Agency Project On Human Trafficking (UNIAP), China is both the source and the destination for human trafficking.[180] UNIAP reports shows, with the rise of inter-provincial migration within the country, Chinese women between 16 and 20 years are the main victims of trafficking.[180] Southeastern provinces such as Yunnan and Guizhou are the main source provinces, while Fujian, Guangdong, and Shangdong are the main destination provinces of trafficking.[180] Cross-border trafficking of women is also prevalent in China.[180] Many migrants from Vietnam, Russia, Korea and Myanmar are trafficked into China and sold for purposes such as commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage.[180] The huge market for human trafficking is partially due to the uneven gender ratio caused by the one-child policy.[181] The increasing bachelors in China produces a high demand for bride trafficking.[181] Women trafficked are kidnapped from their homes and sold to gangs who traffic women, often displacing them by great distances, making it difficult for them to escape.[182] Men who purchase the women often do not allow them to leave the house, and take their documentation.[183] Many women become pregnant and have children, and are burdened to provide for their family.[183][184]
In recent years, China passed a number of laws against trafficking including the latest statement "Notice by the General Office of the State Council of Issuing China's Action Plan against Human Abduction and Trafficking (2021-2030)" released in 2021.[185] However, recent trafficking cases such as the widespread Xuzhou chained woman incident have pose doubt on the effective enforcement of anti-trafficking laws in China.[186] On January 28, 2022, a video showing a mentally traumatized woman chained to the wall in Fengxian, Xuzhou by her husband went viral on social platforms.[187] The government initially released a statement claiming the woman was legally married to the husband. As the public's skepticism grew, the statement was overturned by the police investigative team, who verified it was in fact a case of human trafficking.[187] The government later claimed to locate the true identity of the woman, although many were still highly skeptical of the result of official investigation.[187] Wuyi, a volunteer who went to Xuzhou to further investigate by herself, has encountered state obstruction and been imprisoned ever since.[184]
Prostitution
Shortly after taking power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party embarked upon a series of campaigns that purportedly eradicated prostitution from mainland China by the early 1960s. Since the loosening of government controls over society in the early 1980s, prostitution in mainland China not only has become more visible, but also can now be found throughout both urban and rural areas. In spite of government efforts, prostitution has now developed to the extent that it comprises an industry involving a large number of people and producing a significant economic output.[citation needed]
Prostitution has also become associated with a number of problems, including
See also
- Women in the Republic of China
- Feminism in China
- Feminism in Chinese Communism
- Globalization and women in China
- Urban society in the People's Republic of China
- Rural society in the People's Republic of China
- Women in ancient China
- Missing women of China
- Female infanticide in China
- Abortion in China
- Chinese patriarchy
- Chinese ideals of female beauty
- List of Chinese administrative divisions by gender ratio
- Concubinage in China
- New Marriage Law
- Prostitution in China
- Women in agriculture in China
- Chinese rural left behind women
- Women in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War
References
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- ^ a b c d e Lu, Shen. "Under Xi Jinping, Women in China Have Given Up Gains". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
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Further reading
- Women in the People's Republic of China (Country Briefing Paper) (pdf doc.) by the Asian Development Bank (Pub. Date: 1998)
- BURTON, MARGARET E. Notable Women of Modern China
- King, Dean (2010). ISBN 978-0-316-16708-6.
- Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Stefanowska, A. D., eds. (2007). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E.-618 C.E. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0765641823. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
- Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Stefanowska, A. D.; Ho, Clara Wing-chung, eds. (1998). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: The Qing Period, 1644-1911. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0765618276. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
- Karl, Rebecca E. (2011). "The State of Chinese Women's History". Gender & History. 23 (2): 430–441. S2CID 145575848.
- Wang Zheng, Finding Women in the State: A Socialist Feminist Revolution in the People's Republic of China, 1949–1964. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2017 ISBN 9780520292291
- Yinhe, Li《中国女性的性与爱》(Sexuality and Love of Chinese Women), Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1996.
- Yinhe, Li《女性权力的崛起》(Rising Power of the Women), Chinese Social Science Press, 1997.
- Yinhe, Li《中国女性的感情与性》(Sexuality and Love of Chinese Women), China Today Press, 1998.
- Helen Gao (September 25, 2017). "How Did Women Fare in China's Communist Revolution?". The New York Times.