Abstract
This chapter analyzes the complex and turbulent struggle for women’s rights in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The PRC was an early champion of women’s rights, passing laws and implementing policies that created new conditions for marriage equality and the health of women and children. But these early commitments were overshadowed and undermined, by other policy priorities during the Maoist (1949–1978) and Reform Era (1978–present). Drawing on nearly forty years of scholarship, Manning traces the contradictions in political ideology and changes in informal institutions that affect women’s political participation in China. She argues the struggle for women’s rights is now taking place largely at the margins of the party-state: through the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF), the official organization representing women in the PRC, and women’s nongovernmental organizations, and the activism of young feminists.
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Manning, K.E. (2019). China: Women’s Rights Advocacy. In: Franceschet, S., Krook, M.L., Tan, N. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Women’s Political Rights. Gender and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59074-9_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59074-9_21
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