ABSTRACT
Looking backwards to move forward Xian, January, 1994: China Western Regional Conference on Women and the PRC Law for the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests. Flashback to a workshop I conducted on drafting legislative for over 100 women from various levels of women’s federations (fulians), including the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF). As usual, the planning process required navigating different shifting cultures and invoking languages challenged by the task of creating new concepts, laws and realities. Instead of the familiar ‘stuffing the goose’ lecture approach, I divided the women into groups of ten or so, then distributed large sheets of paper – the kind used for wall posters or announcements – one for each group. Their task: to brainstorm a list of the top problems facing women in their local area and then report to the full group. Violence against women and domestic violence were among the top problems reported by all the groups. However, when we examined draft regulations in progress which were aimed at implementing greater protections for women’s rights, the women also quickly identified the shortcomings of the regulations: no clear definitions in the law, a lack of specificity about implementation mechanisms and remedies, and no provisions for financing needed solutions. In a follow-up exercise of brainstorming common expressions or sayings about women, it was painfully clear that negative images and gender stereotypes were embedded in the language, thus reinforcing cultural biases.
