ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the discourse of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and its impact on women’s organizations and the women’s movement in China, in particular its impact on the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF). It adopts Fisher’s approach to analysing NGOs and applies it to women’s organizing in China, beginning with a critique of how the debate over the ACWF as an NGO is influenced by the dominant approach in the NGO discourse. The insistence on the separation between non-profit and for-profit organizations in the NGO discourse is equally erroneous, because it fails to recognize that the lines between the two can also be blurred and that market influences can have a positive impact on women’s organizations in China. The chapter examined the complicated relationship the ACWF has with the party-state and women, and the dual role it has played in Chinese society and the women’s movement.
