Chinese Women’s Rights and Interests: Do the New Revisions Bring New Changes? Part 2

Read Time:16 Minute, 42 Second

Zijing Liu

Edited by WeiDi Xu & Beata Desselle


The Cases and the New Revision

2.中国女性权益:新法是否带来新变化?

——案例和新法

The law must be stable, but not stagnant. No society can make a perpetual law. Law is both an instrument of change and a result of the change. The Law of the PRC on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests (2022 Revision) is a result of the change from past judicial precedents, cases, and social events.

法律必须是稳定的,但不能是停滞的,没有一个国家能够制定永恒不变的法律。法律既是变革的工具,也是变革的结果。新法是过去司法判例和社会事件的变革结果。

 

Women’s right to life, body, and health: The assault against four women in Tangshan 

女性生命权、身体权、健康权:唐山暴力打人事件

Article 21: Women’s right to life, body, and health shall be inviolable. Abuse, abandonment, mutilation, purchase, sale, and other acts against women’s rights and interests in life and health shall be prohibited. (The new revision)第二十一条 妇女的生命权、身体权、健康权不受侵犯。禁止虐待、遗弃、残害、买卖以及其他侵害女性生命健康权益的行为。(新法)

Article 23: Sexual harassment of women against their will by verbal, written, image, physical behavior, or other means shall be prohibited. (The new revision)第二十三条 禁止违背妇女意愿,以言语、文字、图像、肢体行为等方式对其实施性骚扰。(新法)

Article 65: It is prohibited to commit family violence against women. (The new revision)第六十五条 禁止对妇女实施家庭暴力。(新法)

On June 10, 2022, at a barbecue restaurant in the city of Tangshan in Hebei province, a woman was sexually harassed by a man who placed his hand on her back. When the woman pushed the man away, the man and his companions dragged her outside and attacked, also making sure to beat the three women she was dining with. Many were shocked that such violence could happen in 2022, and the video of this assault going viral on China’s internet platforms, such as Weibo, TikTok, and WeChat, triggering public outrage. The debate about sexual harassment and gender-based violence was renewed. On September 23, 2022, 28 defendants related to the case and others were sentenced to different periods of prison time, ranging from six months to 24 years.

2022年6月10日,在河北省唐山市的一家烧烤餐厅,一名女子被一名男子性骚扰,该男子用手摸她的背。当这名女子推开该男子时,该男子和同伙把她拖到餐厅外殴打,而和这名女子一起用餐的三位女性朋友也被殴打。打人视频在中国的互联网各大平台疯传,包括微博、抖音和微信等。人们很难相信这样公开的暴力发生在2022年,视频引起公众强烈的愤慨,也引发了性骚扰和性别暴力的讨论。2022年9月23日,和打人事件有关的28名被告被依法判处6个月到24年不等的有期徒刑。

Undoubtedly, what happened in Tangshan was gender-based violence and sexual harassment against women. The silver lining for the four women in the case is the social media attention they managed to raise for the cause. Social media is an important front for Fourth-wave feminism. With the development of the Internet and digital connectivity, social media is becoming a platform to voice women’s issues and can assist in the fight against gender-based violence. According to the China Institute of Applied Jurisprudence, the incidence of domestic violence in total Chinese families is between 29.7% and 35.7%, of which more than 90% of the victims are women. This data also showed that victims of gender-based violence, with women as the overwhelming majority, make their voices heard through social media platforms to disclose their trauma. Women’s voices across social media have created a new discourse that challenges stereotypical gender concepts and victim blaming.

毫无疑问,“唐山暴力打人事件”是针对女性的性骚扰和性别暴力。对受害的四名女性来说,不幸中的万幸是她们引起了全网的关注。网络,特别是社交媒体是第四波女权主义的重要阵地。随着互联网的发展,社交媒体正在成为女性拓宽话语权力的空间,比如帮助女性对抗性别暴力。中国应用法学研究所指出,中国家庭暴力的发生率在29.7%到35.7%之间,其中90%以上受害者是女性。这说明性别暴力的受害者通常是女性,她们通过社交媒体平台讲述她们的创伤,发出她们的声音。女性在社交媒体上发出的声音创造了一种新的话语权,试图去挑战陈旧的性别概念和责备受害者的现象。

Will the new revision work? It is questionable. The Law on Family Violence came into effect in 2016, and China’s legal system has continued to promote the prevention of domestic violence. Nevertheless, the incidence of domestic violence remains high, and there has been an increase in domestic violence against women during the Covid-19 pandemic. The inaction of police and other relevant institutions, the inadequate legal system, the failure to punish abusers, and the onerous social requirements on women have all failed to decrease instances of domestic violence. It seems that the law has no say in the presence of domestic violence. Some victims who do not have access to legal and social help choose to respond to violence with violence. In recent years, there have been “violence against violence” cases involving female victims of domestic violence, where China’s judicial practice directly punishes those female victims for the crime of intentional injury or intentional homicide. At present, the courts have not taken the longevity and severity of domestic violence into account and have not considered the justification of “violent” resistance from the victimized woman.

新法在这里会起作用吗?不确定。2016年《反家庭暴力法》生效后,中国法律体系持续推进家庭暴力预防和干预。尽管如此,家庭暴力的发生率仍然很高。疫情期间,针对女性的家庭暴力加剧。警察和法院等机构不作为,法律制度不完善,执法时忽略惩罚施暴者,社会对女性或受害者要求太高、求全责备,都会导致针对家庭暴力的干预和援助失败。在家庭暴力面前,法律有时候没有起很大作用。得不到法律和社会帮助的一些受害者选择使用暴力来反抗暴力。近年来,中国家庭暴力受害女性“以暴制暴”的案件时有发生,但中国司法实践直接对家庭暴力受害女性以故意伤害罪或故意杀人罪进行惩罚。目前,法院还没有考虑家庭暴力的长期性和严重性,还没有弹性考量家庭暴力受害女性所实施的“暴力”反抗的防卫正当性。

 

Women’s right of property: Women’s Lands Rights and Interests in Rural Areas

女性财产权:农村土地权益

Article 55: Women shall enjoy equal rights with men in their membership in rural collective economic organizations, the contracted management of land, distribution of proceeds from collective economic organizations, indemnities and resettlement for land expropriation or indemnities for land requisition and use of house sites. (The new revision)第五十五条 妇女在农村集体经济组织成员身份确认、土地承包经营、集体经济组织收益分配、土地征收补偿安置或者征用补偿以及宅基地使用等方面,享有与男子平等的权利。(新法)

Article 56: Villagers’ charters of self-government, village regulations, and folk constitutions, the decisions of villagers’ meetings and villagers’ representative meetings, and other decisions concerning the interests of villagers may not infringe upon a woman’s rights and interests in the rural collective economic organization on the grounds that she is unmarried, married, divorced, widowed, or has no male family member, among others. (The new revision)第五十六条 村民自治章程、村规民约,村民会议、村民代表会议的决定以及其他涉及村民利益事项的决定,不得以妇女未婚、结婚、离婚、丧偶、户无男性等为由,侵害妇女在农村集体经济组织中的各项权益。(新法)

Land rights and interests are the main sources of income and basic living security for farmers. In China, A man in a rural area may enjoy the rights to the land, while a woman in the same countryside lives a different story. The land rights include membership in rural economic organizations, the rights to farmland, and homestead rights. Both the distribution of proceeds of collective economic organizations and the indemnities for land expropriation are based on these land rights. In the past 100 years, there have been historical changes regarding Chinese women’s land rights.

土地权益是农民的主要收入来源和基本生活保障。在中国,某一个农村的男性享有土地权,而同一个地方的女性则很可能没有土地权。这里的土地权包括农村集体经济组织成员资格、耕地权和宅基地权。集体经济组织收益的分配和土地征收的补偿以这些土地权为基础。近百年来,中国女性的土地权发生了巨变。

In the era of the Agrarian Revolution, women’s farmland rights were promoted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). When the collective economy was established, neither men nor women had land rights. The land rights shifted to equal pay for equal work for all. However, members in collective economic organizations discussed and voted for the distribution of house sites according to the social structure of “following residence”, meaning women were expected to leave their parents’ homes upon marriage and move into their husbands’ households. This led to voters voting for men to own the land. Such results deprived women of land rights, rights which were violated or revoked upon marriage.

在土改时代,中国共产党推动落实女性的耕地权。到了人民公社时代,男女都没有土地权,人人同工同酬。不过,集体经济组织的成员会按照“从夫居”的社会结构来分配宅基地。“从夫居”就是妇女在婚后应该搬出父母家、搬入丈夫家,这就导致男性才有权拥有宅基地。这样的分配剥夺了女性的土地权,女性通常因为婚姻被剥夺土地权。

After the reform and opening up, rural women and traditional gender forces conflicted when women tried to exercise their land rights. The land rights of all women, including unmarried women, married women, divorced women, widowed women, and women in a family without male family members, were infringed upon due to a lack of supervision from the government. Some local governments have tried to solve the conflict but have made little progress. This is largely because the rural villagers’ committees have exercised the rights of democratic self-governments, which include rights to democratic elections, policy-making, management, and oversight. Most of the rural villagers’ committees in China have denied women’s land rights through democratic voting and collective decisions. At the same time, the lack of legal and judicial relief to protect rural women’s land rights and interests makes infringement upon these rights difficult to address.

改革开放后,农村女性试图获得她们应有的土地权,与农村传统势力发生冲突。由于缺乏政府监管,农村几乎所有女性的土地权都受到侵犯,不管是未婚的、已婚的、离婚的、丧偶的女性,还是家里没有男性成员的“无男户”。一些地方政府试图解决这种冲突,但收效甚微。这主要是因为农村的村民委员会有民主自治的权利,包括选举、决策、管理和监督的权利。中国大多数农村的村民委员会用民主投票和集体决定的名义剥夺女性的土地权。同时,由于缺乏保护农村女性土地权益的配套法律和司法救济途径,农村女性土地权受到侵犯的问题至今难以解决。

A large number of people who submitted online proposals on women’s land rights are city residents – or more broadly, female city dwellers. Many females move from rural areas to cities in search of education, employment opportunities, and better lives after losing their homes and land in rural areas. Female city dwellers want to be a voice for the women who don’t have a voice- those still living in the countryside. Will the new revision improve judicial relief, ensure the legitimacy of village regulations, and strengthen women’s land rights? Only time will tell.

在网上提交农村女性土地权意见的很多是城市居民,或者明确地说,很多是女性城市居民。许多女性从农村迁移到城市,寻求更好的教育、工作和生活的机会。一些女性选择城市是因为她们在农村是无家可归和无地可依的人。已经进入城市的女性希望为那些仍在农村并且没有发言权的女性发声。新法是否会改善农村女性土地权的司法救济途径,是否可以确保农村委员会守法,是否能够保障农村女性的土地权?一切只能拭目以待。

 

Women’s welfare: period shaming and period poverty

女性福利:月经羞耻和月经贫困

Article 30: The state shall take necessary measures to spread health knowledge, provide health care, and prevent diseases in relation to menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and menopause, suit the health needs of women during special physiological periods, and provide mental health services and support for women in need. (The new revision)第三十条 国家采取必要措施,开展经期、孕期、产期、哺乳期和更年期的健康知识普及、卫生保健和疾病防治,保障妇女特殊生理时期的健康需求,为有需要的妇女提供心理健康服务支持。(新法)

Over the past three years, especially in 2020, “sanitary pads” have become a trending topic on Chinese social media. People, especially women, discussed “menstruation” on the Internet in an attempt to address period shaming and period poverty. In February 2020, when female medical staff members fighting Covid-19 lacked menstrual supplies, the government, donor organizations, and private companies alleviated the problem. In June 2020, teenagers from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, raised money to donate sanitary pads to teenage girls in Zhaojue County, the poorest area in Sichuan province. In August 2020, the hashtag “bulk sanitary pads” brought public attention to period poverty and became a popular topic with more than 1.2 billion views on Weibo. In October 2020, a female student at the East China University of Political Science and Law placed the first “Mutual Aid Box,” which provided free sanitary products for women when they forgot or needed menstrual products at school. Following this act, 428 schools placed “Mutual Aid Boxes” on their campuses.

近三年,尤其是2020年,“卫生巾”成为中国社交媒体上的热门话题。人们,特别是女性,在网上公开讨论“月经”,试图解决月经羞耻和月经贫困问题。2020年2月,当与疫情作斗争的女性医务人员缺乏卫生巾时,政府、慈善组织和公司为她们提供了帮助。2020年6月,四川省成都市的一群青少年筹集资金,向四川省最贫困的昭觉县的女学生捐赠卫生巾。2020年8月,“散装卫生巾”冲上微博热搜,引起公众对月经贫困的关注,阅读量超过12亿。2020年10月,华东政法大学的一名女生设置了第一个“卫生巾互助盒”,为学校里需要卫生巾的女性提供免费卫生巾。有428所学校响应了这个倡议,在校园内放置了“卫生巾互助盒”。

Due to the unsustainability of individual or small group donations of sanitary napkins and concerns about the hygiene of “Mutual Aid Boxes”, this community resource in schools is gradually falling out of fashion. However, topics related to “sanitary pads,” such as “domestic high-quality sanitary napkins are 0.3 yuan per piece,” “should railways sell sanity products”, “what the body is experiencing during menstruation,” “sanitary napkins don’t have to be in black bags,” “volunteer teacher carries 6,000 sanitary pads to school in mountainous areas,” “how many women suffer from menstrual poverty,” “a primary school teaches students to use sanitary napkins in sex education courses,” “say no to menstrual shame,” and “a primary school establishing a ‘don’t worry box’” has triggered a public discussion on menstrual shame and poverty in the past year. These discussions are meaningful and have an impact. For example, the discussion in mid-to-late September about whether high-speed rail should sell sanitary pads resulted in many high-speed rail lines beginning to sell sanitary napkins. Before the discussion, only the Kunming Railway Bureau’s high-speed rail lines did such.

由于个人或小团体捐赠卫生巾的不可持续性以及对“卫生巾互助盒”卫生问题的担忧,“卫生巾互助盒”逐渐不再流行。但是与“卫生巾”相关的话题,如“国产优质卫生巾3毛一片”、“高铁上售卖卫生巾有必要吗”、“月经期间身体在经历什么”、“卫生巾不用黑色袋子装也没关系”、“背着6000片卫生巾上大山”、“处在经期贫困中的女性有多少”,“小学开性教育课中教学生使用卫生巾”、“让女生勇敢向月经羞耻说不”、“小学女生卫生间多了’月经暖心盒’”在过去的2022年中继续引发了公众对月经羞耻和月经贫困的广泛讨论。这些讨论是有意义的。9月中下旬讨论的高铁是否应该销售卫生巾问题很快有了一个好结果。10月初,人们发现许多高铁线路开始销售卫生巾。在这次讨论之前,只有昆明铁路局下属的高铁线路销售卫生巾。

On September 25, 2022, three “sanitary pads” topics went viral on Weibo. 

2022年9月25日,一天之中三个与卫生巾有关的话题冲上微博热搜。

Netizens actively participate in discussions surrounding the “sanitary pads” topic. Some have called on lawmakers to change the new revision by offering free sanitary products, reducing the Tampon Tax, and spreading health knowledge regarding menstruation. However, they didn’t get the response they wanted. While the new revision has article 30, to “promote spreading health knowledge of menstruation,” there is no mention of free sanitary products and the Tampon Tax. Therefore, Chinese women must continue to buy “luxury”-sanitary napkins for some time. But why are sanitary pads a luxury? Firstly, the Tampon Tax can be to blame. China’s sanitary napkins are taxed at the highest VAT level of 13% Value-Added Tax (VAT). Secondly, the Pink Tax is an added tax only seen on products for women. Big brands of sanitary napkins, such as Whisper (Procter & Gamble), Kotex (Kimberly-Clark), SOFY (Unicharm), Space 7 (Hengan International), etc., are conducting large-scale marketing and monopolizing supermarket sales channels. Their profit is as high as one yuan a piece. On the contrary, small brands of domestic sanitary napkins with little marketing, low visibility, and no offline sales channels must be purchased online in advance. If women buy these big brand sanitary napkins for 2 yuan per piece, they spend about 700 yuan per year (around 100 USD). If this is replaced with 0.3 yuan per piece of domestic high-quality sanitary napkins of non-name brands, women only need to spend about 100 yuan per year (around 15 USD). Third, even given a price reduction, these products still may be a Luxury for millions of women who live in poverty. In 2020, the standard income of China’s poor was 4,000 yuan (around 600 USD) a year, so poor Chinese women who earn up to 333 yuan (around 50 USD) a month can only afford to buy bulk sanitary napkins for 0.1 yuan a piece, or even cheaper sanitary paper. These cheap menstrual products come with potential health concerns. A charity estimates that about 4 million girls aged 12 to 16 live in menstrual poverty in China, and it is unknown how many women over that age suffer under the same conditions. What are we going to do? To some feminists who advocate a philosophy of action, the answer is to do absolutely anything to improve women’s rights.

网民围绕“卫生巾”话题展开讨论,其中有些人呼吁立法者修改法律,提供免费卫生巾,减免卫生巾税,普及生理健康知识。可是,他们没有得到想要的回应。新法第30条只规定了“开展经期健康知识普及”,但没有提及免费卫生巾和减免卫生巾税。因此,中国女性在接下来一段时间还要自行购买有些像奢侈品的卫生巾。为什么说像奢侈品?第一,卫生巾税。中国按照13%增值税税率对卫生巾收税,13%是目前最高一档的增值税。第二,粉红税。卫生巾大品牌,比如护舒宝(宝洁集团)、高洁丝(金佰利集团)、苏菲(尤妮佳)、七度空间(恒安集团)等,大规模营销,垄断超市销售渠道,这些所谓高端卫生巾的利润高达一元一片,这是一种针对女性的粉红税。与之相反的是小品牌的国产卫生巾,营销少,知名度低,线下没有销售渠道,必须提前在网上购买。如果在超市购买这些2元每片的大品牌卫生巾,女性每年支出700元左右(大约是100美元)。如果换成0.3元每片的国产小品牌优质卫生巾,女性每年只需要支出100元左右(大约是15美元)。第三,奢侈品。确实有人用不起卫生巾,卫生巾对她们来说就是奢侈品。2020年,中国贫困人口的标准是年收入4000元(大约是600美元),因此每月收入最多333元(大约是50美元)的中国贫困女性,她们只买得起0.1元一片的散装卫生巾,甚至只买得起更便宜的卫生纸。这些便宜的月经用品可能会引起健康问题。有慈善机构推算,中国处于月经贫困的12岁至16岁女童约为400万,16岁以上月经贫困女性有多少就不得而知了。我们怎么办?对此,一些中国女性主义者的回答是做任何有利于女性权益的事。

The convenience store that is 100 meters from HNC only sells SOFY sanitary pads; other convenience stores and supermarkets around the area also only sell sanitary napkins of big brands, such as Whisper, Kotex, SOFY, and Space 7. 距离中心100米的便利店只销售苏菲卫生巾;其他便利店和超市同样只销售护舒宝、高洁丝、 苏菲、七度空间等大品牌卫生巾。

Shecare, Smilfree, Nurse, 555, Anerle, Yimucao, ANKEXIN and other domestic brands of sanitary napkins are of good quality, and they are almost not on the black list in the annual sanitary napkin quality inspection, but they can only be purchased online. 舒莱、笑爽、小护士、555、安尔乐、益母草、安可新等国产品牌卫生巾质量好,在每年卫生巾质量检查中几乎没有上黑榜,但是只能在网上购买。

 

Do Anything They Can to Improve Women’s Rights

做任何有利于女性权益的事

Social media can often be counterproductive due to multiple factors of history and reality. Some Chinese netizens, especially masculinists, are suspicious of the language of women’s rights, which some consider Western import. As women’s discourse is widely disseminated on social media, stigmatization of women and feminists occurs from time to time. The stigmas, such as Tian yuan nv quan (“pastoral feminism” in Chinese) and Nv quan (“cynical feminist” in Chinese), have made some women in China afraid to call themselves “feminists,” as certain discourse has given such a derogatory meaning.  

由于历史和现实的多重因素,社交媒体有时也有反作用。一些中国网民,尤其是男权主义者对女权主义的话语表示怀疑,认为女权主义是西方话语。随着女性话语在社交媒体上广泛传播,对女性和女权主义者的污名化时有发生。诸如“田园女权”和“女拳”等污名,使一些中国女性不敢自称“女权主义者”。“女权主义者”被涂抹上了 “田园女权主义”的贬义色彩。

In short, feminism is the belief and aim that women should have the same rights, powers, and opportunities as men. This idea of “cynical feminism” misinterprets the ideology of feminism and pursues gender privilege. For some masculinists, Chinese women’s gender privileges include “ladies first”, women have the advantage of choosing a mate, women do not have to buy a house, women who do not like to work can marry rich men, “sky-high bride price” and so on. In fact, the so-called “female privilege” is to limit women to the field of marriage and family so that women can only get a little benefit from marriage and family rather than obtain equal rights and interests in society. Some individual women may benefit, while larger groups of women do not. These benefits are even nominal. Taking “sky-high bride price” as an example, the essence of “sky-high bride price” is an exchange between paternal power and husband’s power, and women are objects in exchange, so it is often the case that the bride price of a daughter is used to buy a house for a son. In fact, Chinese “cynical feminism” or “pastoral feminism” was used to describe some women’s statements of self-interest, and yet anti-feminists have weaponized these labels as a stigmatizing cyber language to attack all feminists.

简而言之,女权主义是女性应该拥有与男性相同的权利、权力和机会的理念和目标。在一些人看来,“田园女权主义”曲解了“女权主义”的形态,追求的是性别特权。对于一些男权主义者来说,中国女性的性别特权包括“女士优先”、女性有择偶优势、女性不用买房、不喜欢打工的女性可以嫁给有钱人、“天价彩礼”等等。其实,所谓“女性特权”,就是把女性限制在婚姻和家庭领域,让女性只能从婚姻和家庭中得到些许好处,而无法在社会上获得平等的权益。一些女性个人可能会受益,而更大的女性群体则不会受益。这些好处甚至是名义上的。以“天价彩礼”为例,“天价彩礼”的本质是父权与夫权的交换,女性在交换中是客体,所以经常出现用女儿的彩礼来给儿子买房的情况。“田园女权”被用来描述一些女性的自利言论,但反女权主义者却用这个词污名化女权主义,并使用网络语言暴力攻击所有女权主义者。

When faced with the reality that it may take a few hundred years to achieve gender equality across the globe, “cynical feminism” seems like a constructed target that attacks and causes division within feminists under the structure of the patriarchy. Developed over time, Chinese feminism has split into many factions, including liberal feminism, Marxist feminism, socialist feminism, radical feminism, postmodern feminism, and so on. We can also roughly divide the prominent feminism on the Chinese Internet into two types: one is to debate and attack with fierce or even extreme words, which has a far-reaching impact. As Lu Xun said, “Only when you threaten to tear down the roof is it possible to open the window”. The other Chinese feminists believe in “just do it,” and they avoid pointless debates and take action to do anything they can to improve women’s rights. In their opinion, Chinese “pastoral feminism” seems false because most Chinese women do not have land rights in the countryside. In my opinion, regardless of affiliation or gender, people are feminists as long as they support women having the same rights, power, and opportunities as men. In the following section, allow me to refer to Chinese feminists who take actions as “they” (the “female” plural pronoun in Chinese written).

考虑到全球实现完全性别平等可能需要几百年的现实,“田园女权主义”似乎是一个被构建的目标和被攻击的靶子,来自父权制结构下的攻击导致女权主义者之间的分裂。随着时间的发展,中国女权主义分成了很多派别,包括自由主义女权主义、马克思主义女权主义、社会主义女权主义、激进女权主义、后现代女权主义等等。我们还可以把中国互联网上比较突出的女权主义大致分为两种,一种用激烈话语甚至极端话语进行辩论和攻击,这有着深远的意义。正如鲁迅所说,只有当你威胁说要拆掉屋顶,才有开窗的可能。还有一种中国女权主义者相信行动哲学,避免无意义的辩论,并积极采取行动尽其所能改善女性权益。例如,她们认为“田园女权”似乎是一个伪命题,因为很多中国女性没有“田园”,她们在农村根本没有土地,何来“田园”?个人认为,无论是什么派别、什么性别的人,只要支持女性拥有与男性相同的权利、权力和机会,都是女权主义者。下面请允许我称呼正在行动的中国女权主义者为“她们”。

Taking sanitary pads as an example, they (Chinese feminists) will continue to eliminate menstrual shame and poverty through various actions, including pushing legislation on free sanitary products and ending the Tampon Tax, donating sanitary pads to poor women, and sharing high-quality and affordable domestic sanitary pads. In the case of the new revision, they have made full use of social media platforms to expand their discourse, combine feminist discourse with personal narrative, incorporate gender issues in public discussions, and construct a feminist community in the public space. They have found, shared, and used their voice for both themselves and the many “voiceless” women affected by the same patriarchy and misogyny. By speaking out, they have impacted the content of the new revision, and hopefully, the new revision will, in turn, bring about new changes in 2023.

以卫生巾为例,她们会继续通过各种行动消除月经羞耻和月经贫困,包括推动免费卫生巾和减免卫生巾税的立法,向贫困女性捐赠卫生巾,分享物美价廉的国产卫生巾。以新法为例,她们充分利用社交媒体平台拓展话语权,将女性话语与个人体验相结合,把性别议题纳入公共讨论,构建公共空间中的女性社区。她们为承受父权制和“厌女症”的自己和许多其他“无声”的女性找到声音,分享声音,使用声音。她们通过发声影响了新法的修订,并且希望新法能够在 2023 年带来新的变化。

Action is power. From December 30, 2022, to January 28, 2023, the draft of the Law of the PRC on the Rural Collective Economic Organization was solicited for comments on the National People’s Congress website. They (Chinese feminists) once again spoke out for rural women’s land rights. They are doing anything they can to improve women’s rights across China. They put in this dedication for a better tomorrow, prompting the question: will you join them?

行动就是力量。2022年12月30日至2023年1月28日,《中华人民共和国农村集体经济组织法(草案)》在全国人民代表大会网站上征求意见,她们为了农村女性的土地权再一次发声。她们正在做任何有利于女性权益的事。为了一个更美好的明天,她们在行动,你呢?

Photo Credit: http://www.npc.gov.cn/flcaw/

The Law of the PRC on the Rural Collective Economic Organization (draft) solicits comments,农村集体经济组织法(草案)征求意见. 

 

 

 

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