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Feminism in China

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Feminism in China began in the 20th century[1] in tandem with the Chinese Revolution. Feminism in China is closely linked with socialism and class issues.[2] Some commentators[who?] believe that this close association is damaging to Chinese feminism and argue that the interests of party are placed before those of women.[3]

History

Prior to the 20th century, women in China were considered essentially different from men. Despite the association of women with yin and men with yang, two qualities considered equally important by Daoism, women were believed to occupy a lower position than men in the hierarchical order of the universe. The I Ching stated that "'Great Righteousness is shown in that man and woman occupy their correct places; the relative positions of Heaven and Earth.'"[4] Women were to be submissive and obedient to men.[5] Women were not allowed to participate in government or community institutions.[6] A number of women, and some men, spoke out against these conditions in the early 20th century, but of little avail.

The revolt of women has shaken China to its very depths.... In the women of China, the Communists possessed, almost ready-made, one of the greatest masses of disinherited human beings the world has ever seen. And because they found the keys to the heart of these women, they also found one of the keys to victory...

J. Belden, 1946[7]

As a result of government approval following the Communist Revolution, women's rights groups became increasingly active in China: "One of the most striking manifestations of social change and awakening which has accompanied the Revolution in China has been the emergence of a vigorous and active Woman's Movement."[8]

Beginning in the 70s and continuing in the 80s, however, many Chinese feminists began arguing that the Communist government had been "consistently willing to treat women's liberation as something to be achieved later, after class inequalities had been taken care of."[9] Some feminists claim that part of the problem is a tendency on the government's part to interpret "equality" as sameness, and then to treat women according to an unexamined standard of male normalcy.[10]

In 2001, China amended its marriage law, so that abuse was considered grounds for divorce.[11]

In 2005, China added new provisions to the Law on Women's Right Protection to include sexual harassment.[12] In 2006 "The Shanghai Supplement" was drafted to help further define sexual harassment in China.[13]

In 2013, the first woman to bring a gender discrimination lawsuit in China, a 23-year-old who went by the pseudonym of Cao Ju, won a small settlement of 30,000 yuan and an official apology from the Juren Academy.[14]

In 2015, China enacted its first nationwide law prohibiting domestic violence, although it excluded same-sex couples and did not address sexual violence.[11] The law also defined domestic violence for the first time.[11] Domestic violence had become a subject of much public debate in China in 2011, when Kim Lee posted pictures of her bruised face on Chinese social media and accused her husband Li Yang of domestic violence.[11] She later stated in the New York Times that police had told her no crime had happened; Li admitted beating her but criticized her for discussing private things in public.[11]

Differences from Western feminism

Chinese feminism differs from Western feminism in that Chinese feminism has no history of assuming that "man" and "woman" are natural categories. Rather, Chinese culture has always assumed that "man" and "woman" are socially constructed categories.[15]

Prominent Chinese feminists

Li Xiaojiang is often credited as the founder of women's studies in China. Her 1983 essay "Progress of Mankind and Women's Liberation" (Renlei jinbu yu funü jiefang) was the first women's studies publication in China; the Association of Women's Studies was founded two years later.[16]

Another early 20th century prominent feminist was the anarchist He-Yin Zhen who founded the Journal "Natural Justice" while in exile in Japan.[17]

Yu Zhengxie and Yuan Mei were two of the first male feminists in China.[18][19]

Contemporary Chinese feminist thinkers, activists, writers and lawyers include: Ai Xiongming, Wang Zheng, Lü Pin, and Zhao Sile.[20]

Arrest of Chinese Feminists in 2015

On the eve of International Women's Day, March, 2015, five young Chinese feminists were arrested for “Disorderly Conduct” (寻衅滋事罪):[21] Li Tingting (李婷婷, nicknamed Maizi 麦子), Wei Tingting (韦婷婷), Zheng Churen (郑楚然, nicknamed Datu 大兔), Wu Rongrong (武嵘嵘), and Wang Man (王曼).[22]

Known collectively as the "Feminist Five," the five feminists have been long-time advocates for legislation against domestic violence in China. They have engaged in protests against gender inequality in China and performance arts for LGBT rights in China.

They were for planning against sexual harassment on public transportation.[23] In April 2015, they were released on bail after much domestic outcry and international attention, including calls from Hillary Clinton[24] and Samantha Power.[25]

Issues

Sexuality and reproductive rights

See also

2

References

Notes

  1. ^ Croll (1978), 1.
  2. ^ Lin (2006), 127.
  3. ^ Hom (2000), 32.
  4. ^ Quoted in Croll (1978), 13.
  5. ^ Croll (1978), 13.
  6. ^ Croll (1978), 15.
  7. ^ Quoted in Croll (1978), 1.
  8. ^ Quoted in Croll (1978), 15.
  9. ^ Lin (2003), 66.
  10. ^ Meng 118-119.
  11. ^ a b c d e Katie Hunt, CNN (28 December 2015). "China finally has a domestic violence law - CNN.com". CNN. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  12. ^ "China to outlaw sexual harassment". BBC News. 27 June 2005. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
  13. ^ Li, Cao; South, Mark (27 October 2006). "Draft bill details sexual harassment". China Daily. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
  14. ^ Michelle FlorCruz (3 February 2014). "Chinese Woman Wins Settlement In China's First Ever Gender Discrimination Lawsuit". International Business Times.
  15. ^ Brownell (2002), 25-26.
  16. ^ Wang.
  17. ^ Liu.
  18. ^ Ko, Dorothy (1994). Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-century China. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804723591.
  19. ^ Ropp, Paul Stanley; Zamperini, Paola; Zurndorfer, Harriet Thelma, eds. (2001). Passionate Women: Female Suicide in Late Imperial China. BRILL. ISBN 9004120181.
  20. ^ "博客天下". view.inews.qq.com. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  21. ^ correspondent, Tania Branigan China (2015-03-12). "Five Chinese feminists held over International Women's Day plans". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-02-22. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  22. ^ "The Inspirational Backstory of China's 'Feminist Five'". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  23. ^ "'They Are the Best Feminist Activists in China'". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  24. ^ "Hillary Clinton on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  25. ^ "Samantha Power on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-02-22.

Sources

  • Barlow, Tani E. The question of women in Chinese feminism. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8223-3270-1.
  • Brownell, Susan, and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom. Chinese Femininities / Chinese Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. ISBN 0-520-22116-8.
  • Croll, Elisabeth J. Feminism and Socialism in China. New York: Routledge, 1978. ISBN 0-8052-0657-4.
  • Edwards, Louise. "Issue-based Politics: Feminism with Chinese characteristics or the return of bourgeois feminism?" In The New Rich in China: Future Rulers, Present Lives. Ed. by David S. G. Goodman. New York: Routledge, 2004. pp. 201–212. ISBN 0-415-45565-0.
  • Fan, Hong. Footbinding, feminism, and freedom: the liberation of women's bodies in modern China. New York: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0-7146-4633-4.
  • Hom, Sharon K. Women's Rights: A Global View. Ed. by Lynn Walter. New York: Greenwood Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30890-X.
  • Honig, Emily, and Gail Hershatter. Personal voices: Chinese women in the 1980s. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8047-1431-2.
  • Jaschok, Maria, and Suzanne Miers. Women and Chinese patriarchy: submission, servitude, and escape. London: Zed Books, 1994. ISBN 1-85649-126-9.
  • Lin, Chun. "Toward a Chinese Feminism: A personal story." In Twentieth-Century China: New Approaches. Ed. by Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom. New York: Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0-415-19504-7.
  • Lin, Chun. "The Transformation of Chinese Socialism". Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8223-3798-3.
  • Liu, Lydia et al. "The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory". Columbia University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-231-16290-6.
  • Meng, Yue. "Female Images and National Myth." In Gender Politics in Modern China: Writing and Feminism. Ed. by Tani E. Barlow. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1993.
  • Wang, Shuo. "The New 'Social History' in China: The Development of Women's History." The History Teacher 39:3 (May 2006).
  • Zarro, Peter. "He Zhen and Anarcho-Feminism in China." Journal of Asian Studies 47:4 (November 1988), 796-813.
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