Transnational Feminisms in Translation: the Making of a Women’S Anti-Domestic Violence Movement in China

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Transnational Feminisms in Translation: the Making of a Women’S Anti-Domestic Violence Movement in China TRANSNATIONAL FEMINISMS IN TRANSLATION: THE MAKING OF A WOMEN’S ANTI-DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MOVEMENT IN CHINA DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Lu Zhang, M.A. The Ohio State University 2008 Dissertation Committee: Professor Cathy Rakowski, Adviser Approved by Professor Jill Bystydzienski Professor Mytheli Sreenivas ____________________________ Adviser Graduate Program in Women’s Studies Copyright by Lu Zhang 2008 ABSTRACT My dissertation examines the construction of the contemporary Chinese women’s movement against domestic violence. It explores the anti-DV campaign in China within the global context of women’s transnational human rights campaigns against gender violence and historical factors (local and global) associated with the origin and work of the Network/Research Center for Combating Domestic Violence (the DVN), a new women’s non-governmental organization in Beijing with an unprecedented and exclusive commitment to the fight against domestic violence in China. Specifically, my analysis interrogates the DVN as a global-local interface for women’s rights that usually emphasizes initiatives at the global level and their “impact” on women’s organizing at the local level. My case study finds that transnational feminist advocacy activism, which has made violence against women an international policy issue through application of a human rights framework, provides crucial political opportunities and economic resources for women’s local political organizing. For anti-DV activism in the civil society sector of China, the processes of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995 and the international donors who fund Chinese women’s NGOs are particularly important. However, Chinese woman have not bee passive followers of their Western sisters, nor is violence against women an imposed agenda or imported ideology. In fact, for DVN activists, ii mobilizing against domestic violence and establishing a specialized NGO to address this issue went beyond the goal of combating domestic violence. To raise social awareness and promote institutional action, the DVN focuses on inculcating gender and human rights perspectives in local agencies and adopts an “engaging” approach to the state through the official women’s organization, a strategic process shaped by local relations of power. In sum, my dissertation argues that local women’s activism forms a critical—though under-studied and under-recognized—site through which a global feminist cause (in this case VAW as a human rights violation) is advanced in locally appropriate ways that feed back into the cause’s increasing importance on the global agenda. Evidence comes primarily from archival research, observations and interviews with DVN activists. iii Dedicated to my dear parents Zhang Ding and Zhou Lizhen, and to my husband and best friend, Bai Jie. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The completion of this dissertation is indebted to the work and support of many people. My adviser, Professor Cathy Rakowski, has been a loving, inspiring and tremendous mentor and teacher to me. Her patient and intellectual guidance, warming encouragement, and unfailing belief in me and this project have shepherded me through the Ph.D. program of women’s studies like an unflagging beacon of hope. I wish to acknowledge my deepest gratitude and most profound thanks to her. I thank my dissertation committee for discussions and advice. I am grateful to Professor Jill Bystydzienski for providing editorial suggestions to my dissertation. I am also thankful to her for inviting me to her classes to talk about my dissertation. These experiences have helped to shape the development of my dissertation writing in important ways. I am also grateful to Professor Mytheli Sreenivas for sharing her critical insights and feedback with me. Her class on women’s movements and nationalism in India has been stimulating to my own thoughts on the relationship between women and the state in China. I am also indebted to Professor Wendy Smooth for her devoted attention to my project. She has always been a role model of diligence, intelligence and enthusiasm to me. v I also wish to thank Professor Cindy Burack, Professor Ara Wilson, Professor Mary Margaret Fonow and Professor Marie Cieri (in Geography) for inspiring me with their scholarship and assisting with my professional development at its various stages. My dissertation research was supported by numerous small grants from the Ohio State University. Without the generous support from the G. Micheal Riley International Academic Fund, the Graduate Student Dissertation Research Travel Grant, the Coca-Cola Critical Difference Grant for Research on Women, Gender and Gender Equity, and the Phyllis Krumm Memorial International Scholarship, all administered by OSU programs, I would not have been able to conduct and complete my dissertation fieldwork. vi VITA January 25, 1978……………………….… Born Shanghai, People’s Republic of China 1995-1999…………………………………B.A. American and English Language and Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai, China 2003……………………………………….M.A. Women’s Studies, The Ohio State University 2001-present………………………………Graduate Teaching and Research Associate, The Ohio State University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Women’s Studies vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iv Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………v Vita………………………………………………………………………………………vii List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………...x List of Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………..xi Chapters: 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………..1 2. Inter-Trans-Global Feminisms: The Global-Local Linkage……………………..24 3. Connecting Tracks: Moving Toward the Beijing Conference…………………...58 4. The U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing: Writing Domestic Violence into Chinese Discourses and Creating Chinese Women’s NGOs……..90 5. Women’s Non-Governmental Anti-Domestic Violence Activism, International Philanthropic Capital and the Making of the Domestic Violence Project……...130 6. Translating the Transnational Concept of Violence Against Women………….172 7. Conclusion: Reflecting on Transnational Feminist Politics Through a Local Study………..214 viii Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………230 Websites Consulted…………………………………………………………………….270 Appendix A: Consent Process of My Interviews………………………………………271 Appendix B: List of Cited Interviews and Use of Names……………………………...275 Appendix C: Interview Procedure and Questions………………………………………279 Appendix D: Participant Observation…………………………………………………..282 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Domestic violence and divorce in China, comparable studies………………14-15 2. Risk factors of intimate partner abuse in Chinese households………………….16 3. Network (Research Center) for Combating Domestic Violence of China Law Society, organizational Structure………………………………………………174 4. DVN’s membership…………………………………………………………….175 x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences CCP Chinese Communist Party CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women CWN China Women’s News CSW Commission on the Status of Women CWGL The Center for Women’s Global Leadership DV domestic violence DVN Network/Research Center for Combating Domestic Violence of China Law Society FLS Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies FWCW United Nations Forth World Conference on Women NCHR Norwegian Center for Human Rights, Oslo University P.R.C. People’s Republic of China SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women VAW violence against women xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Research Question As a country with a long history of state feminism,1China perpetuated a “grand gender narrative”2 portraying the Communist as the savior who had bestowed gender equality on Chinese women. However, the “gender equality” myth has faced increasing challenges since the economic reforms in the 1980s, launched under the “open-door” policy by the Dengist regime. As the country rapidly opened up to the world and engaged enthusiastically with global capitalism to achieve fast economic development, the grand narrative began to dismantle gradually as women reflected drastic and often negative impacts of these changes. However, this history of globalization has not only brought forth the integration of China into the global economic system, it also has connected China to the tracks of what has been alternatively described as international/global/transnational feminism. As a matter of fact, the Fourth World conference on women and its parallel NGO forum, often regarded as a landmark event organized by the international women’s movement, was hosted by China in 1995. As a result, transnational feminist activism became inserted irrevocably into the gender narratives of China, contributing to a pluralization of women’s voices and political agendas in general. 1 Here, I follow Stetson and Mazur’s definition of “state feminism” as the “activities of government structures that are formally charged with furthering women’s status and rights” (1995, 1-2). China can be described as a country of “state feminism” because the All China Women’s Federation was formed by the Chinese government to advance women’s conditions following the country’s liberation. 2 See Edwards 2000. 1 One newly emerged “gender narrative” in China appears around the issue of domestic
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