Women rise up against ‘toxic environment’

Women’s rights and equality have become part of the public discourse in China. The state alternates between concession and repression to counter the growing discontent of young women. With a revised 1992 law, for example, Beijing wants to fight sexual harassment. However, the state will never bow to a “radical feminist” movement like MeToo, controlled by “foreign forces”.

By

Fabian Peltsch

In January 2021, Chinese stand-up comedian Yang Li suddenly became famous for her statement that men are “普確信” Pǔ quèxìn: “mediocre, but self-confident.” On China’s social media, the phrase became a feminist slogan within hours. At the same time, a shitstorm broke out over Li, which also cost her some advertising contracts. The tenor: Li’s comedy was inciting “hatred against men”. Gender equality is generally a topic that quickly raises tempers in China. Most recently, the case of a mentally ill woman who was chained up by her husband in the city of Xuzhou caused nationwide outrage. Women were often not even treated as human beings, according to comments on Chinese social media channels such as Weibo.

Never before have gender debates and equality questions been so publicly debated in China as in the past three years. Just like in Western countries, certainties are being thrown into doubt. Feminist-inspired TV shows such as “Hear Her” 听见她说” criticize unhealthy beauty standards and distorted self-image among young women. Pop singer Tan Weiwei addressed real-life cases of domestic violence in her song “Xiǎo juān 小娟,” while rapper Yamy openly ranted about sexual harassment in Chinese show business on her Weibo channel.

Feminism is to a certain extent part of today’s Chinese pop culture. However, artists are walking a fine line. The Chinese government considers a feminist mass movement a danger to social stability. In particular, the wave of solidarity with victims of abuse and assault that has gone around the world under the hashtag “MeToo” is labeled by Beijing as a “tool of foreign forces” to undermine the Chinese system.

When the movement gained traction in China in early 2018 after a former Shanghai University of Finance and Economics student accused a professor of sexual harassment, censors deleted dozens of social media accounts of well-known feminists and feminist discussion groups in a matter of weeks. The best-known “MeToo” case, involving tennis player Peng Shuai, once again showed China’s leaders how quickly accusations of sexual harassment can turn into a state affair.

Beijing wants to direct the feminist narrative

In an effort to cool things down and not leave the gender equality narrative to the people, China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress submitted a revision of China’s Women’s Rights Law in late December. The draft, based on the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests (LPWRI), which was passed in 1992 and last revised in 2005, stipulates, among other things, that employers may no longer ask female applicants about their marital status or plans to have children during job interviews – a practice that remains common in China.

It is also the first time that a Chinese law has attempted to provide a clear definition of sexual harassment in the workplace. This includes not only physical assault but also verbal and nonverbal remarks, as well as the spreading of private pictures and files. Companies and educational institutions will be required to train officers to implement the regulations and offer workshops on the issue. Hotlines and mailboxes are to be set up to report instances of sexual harassment.

In total, the draft contains revisions to 48 paragraphs and 24 new additions. It will have to pass two more reviews before it can finally be adopted next year. A report by state broadcaster CCTV already praises the overhaul as a major achievement for China’s women. In Chinese online forums, however, the announcement triggered a veritable gender war. Numerous users argued that the planned law discriminated against men. Others wrote that the law did not address the heart of the issue: China’s deeply rooted patriarchal structures.

One of the law’s critics is Eloise Fan. The 29-year-old feminist has worked in the Shanghai advertising industry for eight years and runs the music label Scandal as a side project, which aims to provide a platform for feminist artists. “It takes many more steps to fundamentally change the toxic environment China’s women are in,” she tells China.Table. Despite her position as a Creative Director, she repeatedly experiences sexism in the workplace, especially from direct supervisors who make lewd or misogynistic comments or exclude female employees from important decisions. Her ideas are often rejected as “too feminist,” Fan says. “My years of experience in the industry have shown me that even changing jobs won’t change that.”

Lower salary, higher social pressure

China is basically in a strong position to achieve gender equality in its economy: According to World Bank data, the proportion of women in the workforce in China was 43.7 percent in 2019 – higher than in any other country in the Asia-Pacific region. But a closer look at the numbers reveals significant gender differences. While there are nowhere as many female billionaires in the world as in China, women still earn an average of 36 percent less than their male colleagues for the same work with similar qualifications and experience.

Between 2008 and 2021, the People’s Republic dropped from rank 57 to 107 in the WTO Global Gender Gap Report. In other words, men were the main beneficiaries of the Chinese economic boom of recent years. In China’s patriarchal society, they are still considered more assertive and more suitable for leadership positions. This is also reflected in politics: In the second most powerful body, the 25-member Politburo, there have been just six women in the past 50 years.

Since Chinese society is aging rapidly, women in today’s China are also increasingly being pushed back into motherhood. Beijing already abolished the one-child policy in 2016. Since May 2021, China’s women have even been allowed to have three children. However, only very few dare to do so, given the high financial and social pressure to offer their children the best and often most expensive education.

At the same time, the divorce rate in the People’s Republic has risen steadily over the past 20 years. While around 1.3 million couples divorced in 2003, the year when China made the divorce process easier by law, this number had risen to 4.5 million by 2018. Here, too, the government is trying to propagate classic family structures to counteract the divorce trend. Since the beginning of 2021, couples who want to file for divorce must first go through a “cooling-off” period: If they fail to both appear for two official appointments in a period of 30 and 60 days, the divorce filing will be denied. “More and more women don’t want to get married in the first place,” Fan explains. “Many have realized that marriage will only rob them of energy and property for the rest of their lives.”

Women barely stand a chance in court

Chinese women born after 1990, like Fan, are more confident, independent, and better educated than the previous generations. They do not want to be regarded as second-class citizens or even mere childbearing machines. And especially not by men, who don’t consider them to be their intellectual equals. “More and more women are realizing that patriarchy really exists and puts them at a disadvantage,” she says.

Young feminists do not set high expectations in China’s legal system. According to an analysis by the Beijing Yuanzhong Gender Development Centre, a majority of plaintiffs who file sexual harassment lawsuits end up being prosecuted for slander in return. “Few women consider the legal route because they are afraid they will lose their jobs or their careers will be over,” Fan says. “If you really want to win a lawsuit like this, you have to be tough and present a lot of solid evidence.” Making sexual harassment public on social media promises greater chances of being heard. Even if the process can be “difficult and painful,” Fan adds.

The state alternates between concession and repression to deal with the discontent of young women’s rights activists like Fan. However, China will not allow “unscrupulous people to have the opportunity to make trouble,” writes the state-run Global Times in an article on the new draft law. Despite such political hurdles, Fan believes the “MeToo” movement in China is just getting started. “It is a trial-and-error process: What we have achieved so far can be taken away at any time.”