Monday 30 September 2013

Powerless Chinese Women


The empowered Chinese woman has been applauded in all forms of media in recent years, and she certainly deserves it. She has elevated the status of Chinese women in their society through her professional and financial successes. Unfortunately, she has also taken a lot of attention away from those women, particularly the ones in rural China, who remain powerless and are still frequently subjected to severely unfair and psychologically damaging treatment.

The diversion is not intentional, of course, but it is still a diversion just the same. The great opportunities and freedoms that many modern women of China now enjoy have made it possible for these women to take a big leap forward and up. But not all Chinese females are so lucky. There are still far more of them, mostly in China’s rural areas, that continue to suffer violations of women’s rights.

As fast as the modern daughters of China have made their mark in their society, and even the world, the elevation of their status is still not fast enough or big enough to reverse the trend of depression and other psychological problems among China’s greater female demographic. Indeed, the country still has the highest female suicide rate in the world, with an alarming 590 women committing suicide every day.

One of the longest-standing, cruelest, and most harmful women’s right violations that remain to this day in China is the government-sanctioned forced abortions that are enforced as part of the strict implementation of the country’s One-Child Policy.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers president, Reggie Littlejohn, said in an online article published by the Catholic News Agency (http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/chinas-one-child-policy-denounced-as-violating-womens-rights/) that one of the most damaging effects of the one-child policy on Chinese women is the enforcement of abortion “…. up to the ninth month of pregnancy.” She added that, “It is also enforced through forced sterilization and coercive birth control.”

Social media has made it possible for the heartbreaking and terrible stories of numerous women who have suffered forced abortions to be heard. Additionally, given that Chinese families traditionally prefer sons over daughters, the country’s one-child policy has resulted in the selective abortions of female babies – which can be seen as one of the most atrocious forms of gender bias. Indeed women’s rights are commonly violated in China even before they are born.

Such traumatic experiences naturally do a lot of damage to the mental health of these Chinese women. Many of the forced abortion procedures also often lead to other long-term health complications; some have even led to death.

The violation does not end with the taking away of a woman’s rights over her own body; many more violations of women’s rights have arisen from the One-Child Policy’s enforcement of these abortions. More specifically, the sex-selective abortions have resulted in an extremely skewed sex ratio in China; it is estimated that there will be 37 million more men than women in China within the next decade or so. The current imbalance between gender populations have already led to an increase in the trafficking of women in Asia.

Women empowerment in China is a great thing; it’s a great step toward gender equality for all Chinese women. Instead of diverting attention away from the tragic plight of many other women of China, the phenomenon that is the empowered, successful, and independent Chinese woman should put into starker contrast the continued oppression of her fellow women.

This is just one of the many issues that modern Chinese women face nowadays. A foreign man looking at China women to find a life partner or wife would do well to learn as much as he can about relevant issues, such as this, that affect today’s Chinese woman. He can find invaluable information on the blogs, forums, and magazine of ChinaLoveMatch.net, the home of trusted Chinese online dating and where foreign men and women of China share their life experiences and bare their souls to give you the real goods on love, cross-cultural relationships, and all things Chinese.

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