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Women's Activism In China

Decent Essays

Women have been active proponents in the effort towards equality between men and women, although if you look towards those in government that enact new laws in their favor, you wouldn't be able to tell. Activism in China is headed by women, NGO's for women are more often then not headed by women, but only one member of China's Cabinet is a woman, the rest are males. This image gives rise to how women are repeatedly being portrayed of no representation in their own attempts at the betterment for their sex. There is an idea in Chinese culture that women are weaker, must be married, and shouldn't be working because if they are their husband isn't providing for them in the way a husband should.
Mainly, the difference between the ways in which …show more content…

A case where this is shown is with the aftermath of the student protest movement in 1989 that Naihua Zhang and Ping-Chun Hsiung mention in their chapter “The Chinese Women's Movement in the Context of Globalization” in Women's Movements in the Global Era: The Power of Local Feminisms. The Chinese government was working toward becoming more democratic in the way it conducted itself so that is may become an actor on the global stage. When the protests started to increase in size and representation in the global media, the Chinese government responded in violence. In 1989, the Chinese army was ordered to attack protesters, killing thousands in what became known as Tiananmen Square Massacre. Internationally, these actions went against what most saw happening in the country, and to regain the ground it had lost, China had to make impressive change fast. “In 1992 the Chinese government decided to deepen the economic reform and integration with the global economy. "To connect the Chinese railroad to the international tracks" became the slogan and, obsession of the government and the public” (Zhang Hsiung, 164). With this in mind, we begin to understand why China now has such an emphasis on engaging in the global conversation, as well as trying to engage in improving women's lives in a manner that appears good compared to others in global

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