Chinese Women’s Rights and Interests: Do the New Revisions Bring New Changes? Part 1

Read Time:12 Minute, 30 Second

Zijing Liu

Edited by WeiDi Xu & Beata Desselle

Public Opinion of the Revision

1.中国女性权益：新法是否带来新变化？

——人们对新法的看法

The “Law of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests (2022 Revision),” hereinafter referred to as the new revision, which was first revised and adopted at the 37th Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People’s Congress of the PRC on October 30, 2022, came into effect this January. The new revision stipulates that the country shall take necessary measures to gradually improve the protection of women’s rights and interests, eliminate all forms of gender discrimination, and prohibit restrictions on women’s enjoyment and exercise of their rights and interests. The new revision has 86 articles, 48 of which constitute big changes to existing articles while 24 of them are new. But what are the public opinions of the new revision? Do people think the new revision will actually bring about new changes?

30年前，《中华人民共和国妇女权益法》公布。30年后的2022年10月30日，中华人民共和国第十三届全国人民代表大会常务委员会修订通过《中华人民共和国妇女权益保障法》（以下简称“新法”），并自2023年1月1日起施行。新法规定，国家应采取必要措施，逐步加强对女性权益的保护，消除对女性一切形式的歧视，禁止歧视或限制女性依法享有和行使各项权益。新法总计86条，其中48条作了重大修改，24条是全新法条。人们对新法有什么看法？新法会带来新的变化吗？

“It is the first time I’ve participated in politics on my own.” “这是我第一次自主地参与政治。”

As a girl who loves surfing the internet, Li spends most of her leisure time on social media, especially Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter. In browsing trending topics, she found that Chinese lawmakers were deliberating a draft law revision to better protect women and eliminate discrimination. At the time, the draft was being put forward for public consultation.

Li喜欢上网娱乐，她把大部分空闲时间都花在社交媒体上，尤其是微博。在微博热搜中，她发现全国人民代表大会在审议一项法律修订草案，以便更好地保护女性和消除性别歧视。当时，这个草案正在征集公众意见。

“I saw that the draft is about me, a female, so I must speak up for myself and for the rights of all women.” Li read the draft carefully, and she expressed her views and proposals online—specifically, on the National People’s Congress website. Chinese authorities have used this channel to ask the public for comments on legislation for over a decade. “It is the first time I’ve participated in politics on my own,” Li said.

“我看到这个草案是关于我的，关于女性的，所以我必须为自己发声，为女性权益发声。”Li仔细阅读了草案，并在全国人民代表大会官网上表达了她的观点和建议。十多年来，国内官方部门一直利用网络渠道向公众征求对立法的意见和建议。“这是我第一次自主地参与政治。”Li说。

She is not alone. During the period when the draft was subject to public comment, more than 80,000 people submitted over 400,000 proposals on the first review, followed by over 80,000 people submitting over 300,000 proposals on the second review. These are record numbers of Chinese people sharing their voices, demonstrating their eagerness to bring about change.

她不是一个人。在草案征求意见期间，8万多人对草案一次审议稿提交了40多万条意见，之后8万多人对草案二次审议稿提交了30多万条意见。这是历史上收集意见最多的草案之一，人们对法律草案提出他们意见并试图带来改变。

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

The Law of the PRC on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests (Second Deliberation Draft of the Revised Draft) solicits comments, 妇女权益保障法（修订草案二次审议稿）征求意见，

“It’s no concern of mine.” “与我无关。”

Public opinion will always matter, and it is important that proponents of the law win Chinese public support. However, the silent majority of Chinese are unwilling to express their opinion. In terms of data, the 80,000 people who spoke out on women’s rights represent a very small portion of China’s large population.

公众舆论变得越来越重要，法律需要赢得公众的支持。然而，沉默的大多数不愿意表达自己的意见。从数据上来说，8万多人为女性权益发声，但是与中国14亿人相比，这个数字微不足道。

“I agree that women should have equal rights. But I am not interested in discussing a proposal on this law. It’s no concern of mine. Actually, I find myself not clicking on headlines or popular topics about women’s rights, despite the fact that gender issues are one of the hottest topics on the Internet.” Yu is more interested in news regarding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. In this sense, he conforms to a male stereotype. He is a microcosm of the silent majority who have no interest in accessing information channels and amplifying platforms for women’s voices. Even some female students at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC) have no idea about the new revision, although their interests are tied to the new law.

“我认同男女平等，但我对提意见不感兴趣。这与我无关。实际上，我发现我从来不点击关于女性权益的热搜或新闻，尽管性别是网上最热门的话题。”相比女性权益，Yu对俄乌冲突相关新闻更感兴趣。从这一点来看，他符合人们对男性的刻板印象。他是沉默的大多数的缩影，他们没有切身利益，也没有听到女性声音的信息渠道和平台。南京大学中美中心（以下简称“中心”）的一些女生对新法也不了解，尽管她们的利益与新法息息相关。

On Weibo, someone said, “You might not care about politics; however, politics still influence you.” It is not possible for women to live a better life without participating in politics. Strong voices for women’s rights must move the public. This is the only way for women’s rights to improve so that their needs, concerns, and interests are met.

在微博上，有人说：“你可能不关心政治，但是政治一定关心你。”如果女性不参与政治，就不可能争取更大的权益。女性要为自己的权益发声，而且这些声音必须说服公众。如果更多女性针对她们的需求、困境和利益发出有力的声音，那么女性权益会得到改善。

“The new revision is not easy to implement in practice.” “新法不容易落实。”

“I feel a little disappointed about the law, which has settled on an imperfect compromise. It is not clear enough. And the law is not easy to implement in practice.” Chen is a law student who advocates for women’s rights. According to Chen, the revised law specifies measures to further promote gender equality in different parts of society, but it does not provide women with strong protection against the infringement of their privacy rights. “One such right is most important: a woman’s right to life. In China, fetal sex determination is still popular, and girls are frequently aborted by their parents when detected in utero by ultrasound or by a blood test. According to article 21 of the law, ‘non-medically necessary fetal sex identification and sex-selective artificial termination of pregnancy shall be prohibited.’ There are policies and laws to deal with sex selection before the new revision, but the key point is how to effectively prevent abortion based on that.”

“我对新法感到有点失望，它是一种不得已的妥协。新法不够有力，不够明确。而且新法不容易实施。”Chen是一位支持女性权益的法律专业学生。Chen说，虽然修订后的法律规定说会进一步促进全社会性别平等，但是并没有为女性提供强有力的保障措施以防止女性权益受到侵害。“女性最重要的权利，就是女性的生命权。在中国，胎儿性别选择仍然很流行，一些父母通过超声波扫描或者验血鉴定胎儿性别，然后把女婴流产。这些女婴连出生的权利都没有，更不用说别的权利了。新法第21条规定，禁止进行非医学需要的胎儿性别鉴定和选择性别的人工终止妊娠。新法之前就有很多禁止性别鉴定的政策和法律，但问题是如何有效防止因为性别大规模堕胎。”

March 12, 2021, the contact numbers of illegal companies advertising egg donation, surrogacy, and sex selection on the streets of a downtown city in China have been scraped off by kind-hearted citizens. At present, egg donation, surrogacy, and sex selection are illegal in China, and people can call the mayor’s hotline on 12345 to complain and report. China’s law prohibits the sale of personality rights, including egg donation and surrogacy which also cause harm to women’s bodies and exploit women’s fertility.

2021年3月12日，中国一个市中心街头的供卵、代孕、包男孩的违法广告，联系电话已经被热心市民刮去。目前，中国买卖卵子、代孕、性别选择都违法，可以拨打市长热线12345投诉举报。中国法律禁止人格权的买卖（包括供卵和代孕），此外供卵和代孕也造成对女性身体的伤害和对女性生育的剥削。

Sex selection continues to exist even after the relaxation of China’s one-child policy. Parents can have three children now, but they still prefer boys. Even though policies and laws have prohibited non-medically necessary fetal sex identification and sex-selective artificial termination of pregnancy, families who desire boys went to illegal agencies to identify gender and receive an abortion. According to the seventh national census in 2020, the gender of a family’s third child is the most skewed, with the sex ratio of third-born children in China being 132.93 by 2020. This figure means that there are 132.93 boys per every 100 girls at birth. Demographers consider the normal ratio of newborns to be 105. Among the 31 provinces and Municipalities for which data are available in China, the five highest sex ratios were 177.42 (Hubei province), 165.86 (Anhui province), 164.49 (Fujian province), 158.22 (Jiangxi province), and 152.78 (Shanghai). Even in Shanghai, one of the most developed cities in China, parents prefer boys and choose to abort girls, resulting in a ratio of 152.78 boys born for every 100 girls. Population Research estimates that from 1980 to 2099, the actual number of female births decreased by about 63 million compared to the normal birth sex ratio.

即使中国放宽生育政策，性别选择仍然存在。现在一对夫妻可以生育三个孩子，但很多人还是更喜欢男孩。尽管法律明文规定禁止非医学需要的胎儿性别鉴定和性别选择，偏爱男孩的家庭仍然会去黑诊所或非法医疗机构做鉴定和堕胎。根据2020年第七次全国人口普查，出生的第三个孩子的性别比畸高。2020年，中国三孩性别比为132.93。132.93表示每100个女孩出生就有132.93个男孩出生。人口统计学家一般认为新生儿的正常性别比为105。在有数据的31个省和直辖市中，三孩性别比前五名分别是177.42（湖北省）、165.86（安徽省）、164.49（福建省）、158.22（江西省）和152.78（上海）。即使是中国最发达的城市上海，那里的父母也偏爱男孩，选择把女婴流产，这导致上海三孩中每100个女孩对应152.78个男孩。《人口研究》估计，1980年至2099年，与正常出生性别比情况下的女婴出生数相比，实际女婴出生数总共减少约6300万人。

Photo Credit: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2021/indexch.htm

According to the sex ratio data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the sex ratio between 0 and 29 years old exceeded 110 in 2020. 根据中国国家统计局公布的性别比数据，2020年0岁至29岁的性别比都在110以上.

“I helped a woman who was beaten.” “我帮了一个被打的女人。”

Gender-based violence is violence directed against individuals because of their gender. Gender-based violence exists across class, race, and religion. Unfortunately, many women who encounter gender-based violence at home and within the community suffer in silence.

To empower these victims, society needs to strengthen anti-violence measures to protect women and make them feel supported. The issue is that many victims of domestic violence are too embarrassed to ask for help, and the public regards violence happening in the home as taboo to discuss openly. Conservatives consider domestic violence as family affairs and marital disputes, while progressives think domestic violence is a legal issue that demands action from courts and police.

性别暴力基于个人的性别进行的暴力。性别暴力普遍存在，跨越阶级、种族和宗教。女性常常在家庭和社会中遭受性别暴力的伤害。不幸的是，并非所有的性别暴力受害者都能被看到，整个社会需要加强反暴力措施，保护女性免受暴力侵害。比如，家庭暴力的受害者羞于寻求帮助，公众回避谈论家庭暴力。保守人士认为家庭暴力只是家庭事务或者婚姻纠纷，而进步人士则认为家庭暴力是一个法律问题，需要法院和警察采取行动。

Liu, a student of HNC, shared her story to stop domestic violence, “I helped a woman who was beaten. It happened at around 22:00 p.m. on December 13, 2021. My sister and I were walking on the way back home from the gym. We found a man beating a woman near a Metro station in a bustling area of the city. We stopped the man, comforted the woman, then called the police. The woman told us the man was her husband and they were getting divorced. We thought it was domestic violence when we gave our statements to the policemen. But it seems the policemen took it as disorderly conduct or a family quarrel. It is wrong to place any blame on the woman who was the victim of her husband’s violence. I felt disappointed with the policemen. I posted this domestic violence on WeChat Moments (China’s equivalent of Instagram, author’s note). My friends commented and shared domestic violence cases they witnessed. I realized how common domestic violence really is.” Liu refused to accept these scenarios as “common-place” violence and advocated for measures to be taken on gender violence to the National People’s Congress.

中心学生Liu分享了她制止家庭暴力的故事，“我帮了一个被打的女人。 2021 年 12 月 13 日晚上，十点左右，我和妹妹从健身房回家。路上我们发现一个男的在殴打一个女人，就在市里面最繁华地带的地铁站出口。我们拦住那个男的，把女人拉到一边安慰她，然后报警。那个女人说，男的是她的老公，正在闹离婚。和警察做笔录的时候，我们觉得这是家庭暴力。但警察的口气听上去这只是治安事件、家庭纠纷。我觉得各打五十大板是错的，因为就女人被打了。我当时有点失望，当晚就发了朋友圈说这个事。很多朋友给我留言说他们亲眼看到的家庭暴力。原来家庭暴力这么常见。”Liu拒绝接受“常见”的暴力，向全国人民代表大会提出了有关性别暴力的意见。

According to a special report on judicial big data for divorce disputes released by the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC, from 2016 to 2017, the annual first-instance trial of divorce disputes nationwide was basically the same, with more than 1.4 million cases in 2017. Amongst these cases, 73.4% of the plaintiffs were women and 14.86 % of the couples applied to the court for dissolution of marriage due to domestic violence. Of the cases involving domestic violence, 91.43% of the domestic violence were committed by men against women.

最高人民法院发布的离婚纠纷司法大数据专题报告显示，2016年至2017年，中国离婚纠纷年度一审审结案件量基本持平，2017年为140余万件。这些案件中，73.4%的原告为女性，14.86%的夫妻因家庭暴力向法院申请解除婚姻关系。其中涉及家庭暴力的案件，有91.43%的案件是男性对女性实施家庭暴力。

“Best would be free sanitary products, if possible.” “如果可能，最好是卫生巾免费。”

“As a female student, I pay attention to women’s interests, but I have not found a ‘Don’t Worry Box’ or ‘Mutual Aid Box’ at the HNC.” Lu added, “Toilet paper rolls are free, so why aren’t sanitary products? I am not sure whether it follows the HNC’s rules or not, but I am sure there will be some obstacles, such as financial constraints, or maybe simply because a ‘Mutual Aid Box’ is not in demand now. Frankly, a ‘Mutual Aid Box’ is the second best option. The best option would be free sanitary products, if possible. I think all women should be able to access sanitary products for free.” Mutual Aid Boxes are created due to the basic nature of menstruation: menstruation can not be controlled (unlike holding urine) and the time in which a woman starts menstruating is uncertain. The logic behind the “Mutual Aid Box” is that women understand and help each other based on this shared predicament and embarrassment. Although these sanitary napkins in the“Mutual Aid Boxes” donated by individuals or small groups are helpful, we need more public policies and laws providing free access to these products.

“作为一名女生，我肯定关注女性权益，不过我在中心没有找到‘卫生巾互助盒’。”Lu补充说：“卫生纸是免费的，为什么卫生巾不免费呢？我不确定‘卫生巾互助盒’是否符合中心的规定，不过我想一定有困难，比如钱从那里来？或者说‘卫生巾互助盒’现在不流行了。说得直接点，我觉得‘卫生巾互助盒’是退而求其次。如果可能，最好是卫生巾免费。我想所有女性都应该有免费卫生巾用。”“卫生巾互助盒”产生是因为女性清楚月经的基本常识：月经不受人控制（不像憋尿）并且月经时间不确定，因此会有来月经却没有卫生巾的情况。“卫生巾互助盒”的逻辑是女性基于相同困境和尴尬的相互理解和帮助。目前“卫生巾互助盒”里的卫生巾主要由个人或小团体捐赠，但是我们更需要的是公共的制度、政策和法律。

However, Lu admitted that providing free sanitary products may be too costly to be afforded by the Chinese government. “We cannot build a mansion in the air. Maybe it is not practical to make sure every woman has free sanitary products. But how about providing free sanitary pads to women in poverty? We all know the priority in China is fighting poverty. Menstrual poverty is also poverty.” Menstrual poverty, also known as period poverty, refers to women’s inability to receive adequate-both quantity and quality- of hygiene products during their period because they cannot afford them financially or because they are constrained by backward attitudes. Currently, China has a public health poverty alleviation program for women – free cervical and breast cancer screenings for rural women, benefiting 168 million women. However, there is no national program related to sanitary napkins. Since there is a slim chance of having free sanitary products for all, Lu went to the National People’s Congress website and wrote down advice about eradicating menstrual poverty. To make matters worse, Lu becomes even more disappointed in remembering that, in China, condoms are free, but sanitary pads are not.

Lu承认免费卫生巾花费很高，中国政府负担不起这个预算。“有点像空中楼阁，让每个人都有免费卫生巾不实际。不过给贫困妇女免费用卫生巾怎么样？大家都知道，中国的首要任务是消除贫困。那月经贫困也是贫困。”月经贫困，又叫经期贫困，是指女性在经期无法获得足够（包括数量上和质量上）的卫生用品，因为她们在经济上负担不起或受到落后观念的制约。目前，中国有针对女性的健康扶贫项目——农村女性宫颈癌和乳腺癌免费检查，累计惠及1.68亿人次，但没有卫生巾相关的国家项目。因为让每个人获得免费卫生巾的可能微乎其微，Lu在全国人民代表大会网站上，只填写了消除月经贫困的意见。Lu还是有些郁闷，特别是想到在中国, 避孕套免费而卫生巾不免费。

Nanjing University Community Hospital is 1 km from the HNC. It is the nearest place to supply free condoms. People can register on the WeChat public account and wait for the free condom to mail home. 离中心1公里的南京大学社区医院，是最近的免费避孕套领取点。人们还可以在微信公众号登记，等待免费避孕套邮寄到家。

Sanitary products are essential to maintain healthy hygienic conditions for women, and period shaming and period poverty are common all over the world. A period poverty bill to make sanitary products free was introduced in Scotland in 2017. However, the opponents were against the bill citing concerns about the cost. From 2018 to 2019, Scotland provided free sanitary products in schools, colleges, universities, libraries, and recreational centers. In 2020, Scotland passed the period poverty bill to make sanitary products free, the first country in the world to provide free sanitary products for all. The Scottish experience is a good one to follow. It tells us that free universal access to period products can be achieved.

卫生巾事关女性的卫生和健康，月经羞耻和月经贫困在世界各国都很常见。2017年，苏格兰就提出了致力于提供免费卫生巾的月经贫困法案。当时反对者以财政负担为由反对该法案。2018年和2019年，苏格兰在中小学校、大学、图书馆和娱乐中心免费提供卫生巾。2020年，苏格兰通过了月经贫困法案，成为世界上第一个为所有人提供免费卫生巾的国家。苏格兰的经验告诉我们，为所有人提供免费卫生巾是可能的。

The picture shows a screenshot of the Chinese TV series Rising Lady. It talks about the power of women, but ironically, the line “sanitary pads” in the play has been replaced with “makeup remover pads”. 这张截图是讲述女性力量的中国电视剧《她们的名字》，然而讽刺的是，剧中台词的“卫生巾”都被替换成“卸妆棉”。

Note: The names of the people appearing in the report are pseudonyms.

注：文中出现的人名均为化名。