China Revises Women’s Protection Law for the First Time in Decades, Addressing Inequality and Harassment
Women’s rights movement in China (Guang Niu, Getty Images).
On Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, China passed legislation that will provide women with protection from gender discrimination and sexual harassment that will take effect in January. The amendment, to the existing Women’s Protection Law, will prohibit employers from restricting the promotion of female employees due to marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave and other circumstances at the workplace. Additionally, the law requires local governments to report any suspected trafficking of women to the police in a timely manner. After launching additional public resources, such as a domestic violence helpline within the last year, China appears to be motioning towards women’s rights advocacy. However, days before the women’s protection law was passed, the Communist Party reportedly excluded women from its upper elections for the first time in 25 years.
Despite the gains in female equality, China’s central government still lags behind. The quota system in China required a minimum of one woman in senior leadership at each level. As Xi Jinping – the paramount leader of China’s Communist Party – consolidated power at China's 20th Communist Party Congress, he revealed a politburo of all men, for the first time since 1997. In the decade that Xi has been the party's general secretary, there has been a drastic decline in the number of women in politics and a widening of gender gaps in the workforce. The faint presence of China’s feminist movement has been slowly silenced as the government has increasingly emphasised the value of traditional roles for women as mothers and caretakers. Pan Wang, senior lecturer in Chinese and Asian studies at the University of New South Wales, says that “China’s patriarchal political structure limits women’s upward mobility.”
Women who are fighting for their rights in China are combating Xi’s immense distrust for women’s social organizations and movements. Chinese authorities are cracking down on women who are speaking out against social injustices, silencing lawsuits with claims of sexual assault, and arresting women who are publically protesting. The #MeToo movement – a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harrassment, and rape culture – has infiltrated China despite the Chinese authorities attempts to drown it out. However, China’s #MeToo movement has made little progress in its years of existence. Authorities have diluted the online outcries and accusations of women who announce that they were victims of sexual harrassment or assault.
A case broke in August, as a Beijing court rejected Zhou Xiaoxuan’s appeal against a CCTV host for allegedly sexually assaulting her during her internship at the broadcaster in 2014. Xiaoxuan’s case was considered a landmark for China’s #MeToo movement. Another high-profile lawsuit was filed last year against now retired Chinese politician, Zhang Gaoli. Female tennis champion, Peng Shuai, went missing for several weeks after publicly accusing Gaoli of sexual assault on social media. Her post was removed only 20 minutes after it was posted. Shuai later announced that her post was misunderstood and she has kept a low-profile since the incident.
Zhou Xiaoxuan had filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against a Chinese TV host, in hopes that her case would encourage other victims of gender violence in a system with few options to pursue justice. Photo: Deadline
The wave of activism for women in China has been mobilized primarily through the internet and social media since public protests are pacified within China. Civic engagement from women and allies around the world have circulated conversations on women’s rights in China and whether the legislation that China has revised will elicit tangible change. Forms of activism, whether online or offline, are being restricted due to the tightened grip of government power. With nearly 700 million women living in China, the issue of women’s rights in the workplace and society is not just a matter of principle. "The feminist movement right now is very weak and lacks freedom to evolve. Many social movements have been silenced and women don't have free will," said Lu Pin, an activist and founder of the defunct online Chinese media channel Feminist Voices who is now New York-based.