In September 1995, then-US first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton led a US delegation to the UN Women’s Conference in Beijing, where she played a prominent role in her advocacy of the rights of women, poor people and those who are disadvantaged. She delivered a speech that strongly criticized discrimination against women by Chinese authorities and declared: “Women’s rights are human rights” — a credo that many women and human rights advocates have often repeated.
Much to the chagrin of her Chinese hosts, Clinton also took the initiative to organize a public forum on women’s rights and invited a dozen or so prominent female activists to discuss the problems women face in China. Many made bold statements about Chinese women’s rights and authorities’ failure to address sexual harassment, domestic violence and professional discrimination, as well as HIV/AIDS and other health issues.
The unscripted expose embarrassed Chinese officials, but the media had a field day with the lively event.
Almost 20 years have elapsed since Clinton’s crusade, discrimination against women in China continues and the gaps in gender equality remain wide.
Whereas Mao Zedong (毛澤東) said: “Women hold up half of the sky,” and Chinese women were “liberated” from their household chores to labor in the fields and factories like men to speed up China’s economic development, by all measures women in China have been subordinated to men.
Typically, in the 25-member Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, just two members are women, and in the Politburo Standing Committee, the regime’s top policymaking body, all seven members, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), are men.
Despite the efforts by the increasing number of brave Chinese feminists to campaign for gender equality and search for solutions to pay gaps, inadequate legal protection and insufficient healthcare, as well as the improvement of women’s opportunities in the workplace, “traditional ideas” are hard to change and progress has been slow.
Domestic violence was first outlawed in 2001, but the prohibition has not been regularly enforced.
In this context, it seems like a “big leap forward” for the Chinese National People’s Congress (NPC) to draft a landmark domestic violence law to protect China’s battered women on the eve of International Women’s Day on March 8. The new law provides legal protections for victims of domestic violence, including children, and mandates actions by local governments.
It is due for its first reading by the NPC’s Standing Committee in August.
Congress spokeswoman Fu Ying (傅瑩) said candidly that domestic violence is society’s “secret anguish,” which all modern governments must face.
Most surveys show that between 25 and 40 percent of women in China experience domestic violence, and the proportion could be much higher in rural areas.
To make things worse, police officials often look the other way and are reluctant to intervene, men are rarely prosecuted and violence is almost never acknowledged as grounds for divorce.
Ironically, it was up to Kim Lee, a US woman with a Chinese celebrity husband, to challenge Chinese male chauvinism, win popular support and shame the male-dominated NPC into taking legislative action.
Lee said she was often kicked, slapped and abused by her husband. After a long and savage beating in August 2011, she took her daughter and walked to the nearest police station, bruised and bloody.
However, police officers were not interested in helping, initially trying to put her appeal aside and telling her to go home. With nowhere else to turn, she published photographs of her injuries on microblog Weibo, and the images of her injuries went viral.
Eighteen months later, Lee finally won in court, with a judge granting her a divorce and ordering her husband, the founder of the popular Crazy English learning program, to pay US$1.9 million in alimony and compensation.
For the first time, state-run China Central Television reported on the court’s divorce ruling on domestic violence. It captured public attention and paved the way for the NPC’s draft law to give victims of violence access to redress and protection, including restraining orders and shelters to be set up by local authorities.
Julie Brassard, who runs the UN Women office in China, called the draft law “a huge achievement,” but Chinese feminists know better. When five young female activists were organizing a protest across several cities to call for an end to sexual harassment on public transportation to be carried out around International Women’s Day, they were arrested and formally detained by police officers in Beijing on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
The International Federation of Business and Professional Women, in which Taiwanese women are proactive, is an international organization that seeks to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women in the world. The organization plays an active role in emboldening and assisting Chinese women to fight for their cause.
It is the strong conviction of many international female leaders that in a nation where economic development has accelerated as fast as China’s, Chinese women deserve better. If Xi is to fulfill his China Dream, the empowerment of women — not military and territorial aggrandizement — must be the top national priority.
Shirley Chang is an associate professor emeritus and department chairwoman of library and information science at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania and chair of Business and Professional Women Taiwan’s international affairs committee.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry