ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I will look at the political and economic opportunities that have existed for the Beijing women's movement in the post-Mao era. Such opportunities were especially salient in the domestic political arena in expanding discussion of women's problems that began during the 1980s, and were enhanced by the introduction of the exogenous factor of the Fourth World Conference on Women being held in Beijing in 1995. This was a particularly important “movement-specific opportunity” for the women's movement. Economically, while the reforms had various negative effects on women, the introduction of Ford Foundation funding for independent women's activities in the 1990s was an additional exogenous opportunity. I will particularly show that the combination of increasing tolerance by the state of discussion of women's problems, ultimately further elevated by the successful convening of the FWCW, with the provision of Ford Foundation funding, led to the development of more independent manifestations of the women's movement during the 1990s. First, I will look at the phasing of the development in the movement, which has clearly emerged in Initiating, Latent, and Popularizing Phases. Then, I will look at the endogenous and exogenous political opportunities provided the movement in the post-Mao period, particularly during the 1990s, as well as the endogenous and exogenous economic opportunities.
