Research Paper
Yi Yao
Women’s Politics
Chelsea Ebin
Brief Overview
For my research paper I would like to touch upon Feminism in Modern
China. I will talk about the historical context of feminism in China and how did
women’s position change through the century. Besides the research questions there
are several points I would like to research and discuss: Mao’s government influence
on women’s suffrage and societal behavior and how has public media influenced or
reflected gender roles.
Research Questions
1. How is Feminism in China’s Communist society differ from the west?
2. Is the rise of feminism in China a response to the oppression of a patriarchal
society or the consequence of political reform?
3. What’s Mao’s influence on women’s suffrage?
4. How dis a 30 years period change women’s position to where it is today,
economically and politically? (Modern feminist movement from 1980s to
present)
5. What’s Chinese women like today? Gender roles, demographics,
household…etc. How does it differ from the west?
Questions to be considered also
6. One child policy vs. Contraception and Abortion
7. Open and hidden feminist messages in public media
Annotated Biliography
Edwards, Louise P. Gender, Politics, and Democracy: Women’s Suffrage in China.
Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 2008. Print.
What the western world think of women’s suffrage in China. The book will help
me form combining views of the East and West.
Dunayevskaya, Raya. Sexism, Politics and Revolution in Mao’s China. Detroit, MI:
Women’s Liberation, News and Letters Committees, 1977. Print.
Part of this book explains the author’s view on how Mao’s government affects on
women’s suffrage in China and how it is still influenced today. I will connect the
dots between women’s rights and the one child policy.Peerenboom, R. P. China Modernizes: Threat to the West or Model for the Rest? Oxford:
Oxford UP, 2007. Print.
This book summarizes on the legal reforms in China and law and development in
Asia. In China’s Long March toward Rule of Law, the author examined
competing conceptions of rule of law, several of them at odds with the liberal
democratic version of rule of law found in Euro-America. The author provided a
detailed analysis of China’s legal reforms, adopting an institutional approach to
assess the progress China had made in improving its legal system and the
obstacles to further progress. Despite the occasional comparison to the institutions
or laws of other legal systems, the focus was squarely on China. For my study, I
will be quoting the excerpt focusing on women’s reform and political rights.
Chen, Tao Jun. “Feminist China.” Literature.org. Literature Web, 2006. Web. 12 Nov.
2013.
This article summarizes the Chinese’s view on Chinese women’s political
movements from the 80s to present, the author defines what feminism in China is
look upon as and the different stages of the feminism from back then to women’s
position in China today. I will be using this source to combine with the standpoint
of western scholars’ researches and critics.
Ko, Dorothy, and Zheng Wang. Translating Feminisms in China. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Pub., 2007. Print.
The Japanese scholar Dorothy Ko’s interesting point of view that Chinese
Feminism did not stem from the idea of opposing a patriarchal society but rather
opposing the invasions of other nations. Famous political activist, Mr. Liang’s
movement of educating women and promoting late marriages was to bring up the
integral quality of women as a group…etc. The book will be a substantial
resource for part of my research.
