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| +Lijia Zhang |
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| +Zhang Lijia |
I understand how important a strengthened law is in fighting against this endemic problem. Research conducted by the All-China Women’s Federation showed that one in four women has experienced domestic violence. Feng ( Yuan, founder of the Anti-Domestic Violence Network, a Beijing-based non-governmental organisation) estimates the number to be one in three.
The problem will not vanish overnight just because of a new law. There are, in fact, no shortage of laws in China. It is implementation that poses the greatest challenge. Once this law is enacted, it will undoubtedly be easier to file a lawsuit on the grounds of domestic violence. With no legal aid on offer, however, many poor victims may not be able to access the law to gain this protection.
The new bill demands that each county set up a shelter for domestic violence victims. In the past, hundreds of government-run shelters have been established, but few have served the correct purpose, partly because they required strict criteria, such as employer’s certification. Even with a relaxed criteria, they still need a lot of resources to keep going. I am not sure local governments will be willing to devote the resources needed to support this.
Yet the biggest challenge of all, to my mind, is for the people in this populous country to truly understand that domestic violence is fundamentally wrong. For centuries, beating one’s wife, whom many men regarded as their own property, has been tolerated. And the roots of the problem – a disparity of power and a male chauvinism ingrained in Chinese culture – will continue to exist.Much more at Zhang Lijia´s weblog.
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| Rupert Hoogewerf |
More in Women of China."In fact, the list of wealthy women is different from other lists; China's richest woman pay more attention to real estate and financial investment. We can see that 28 percent of China's richest women primarily made their money in the real estate industry, while in the overall list this total is about 20 percent. Fourteen percent of women in the list are in the finance industry, but in the big list the percentage is lower than 10 percent. Many male billionaires are in the manufacturing industry but there are fewer women in this industry, around half the number of men. Women pay more attention to the healthy food and nutrition industry, and clothing, and account for 11 percent."...According to the list, more women than men are self-made millionaires, and fewer inherit their fortune (although Yang Huiyan might be an exception).Rupert Hoogewerf:"We can see a change in the location the location of these women. A lot of them are working in Shenzhen, while that used to be Beijing. Now Shenzhen is the city that reflects the most of Chinese female entrepreneurs. We can also look at this from the age perspective."Women on the list are 48 years old on average, 5 years younger than overall rich list and 6 years younger than the male list. 70 percent of them are self made, out of 50 individuals 35 started from scratch, which is great. Especially this year a self-made woman who was born in the 80s made it into the top 50.The list shows that 33-year-old Yang Huiyan, with 44 billion yuan (U.S. $7 billion), is once again the richest woman in China, and that 73-year-old Chan Laiwa of China's real estate group Fu Wah topped the self made rich list with 40 billion yuan (U.S. $6.1 billion) and 57-year-old Zhang Yin comes in third with 29 billion yuan (U.S. $5.1 billion).
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| James Farrer |
More in the Atlantic.Why would Chinese women demonstrate a greater propensity for adultery than women in France, where sexual attitudes are often portrayed as remarkably liberal? Or than American women, who are bombarded by infidelity in TV shows and movies, not to mention among the celebrities that star in such entertainment?“China is a society that has emphasized women’s independence and women’s equality,” says Farrer. “Socialism was not a passing thing. It had a big impact on the way that women saw themselves. So Chinese women feel as though they have a right to the things that Chinese men have a right to. And when you talk to women about infidelity in China, they will often say, ‘Well, men do it. Why can’t we?’”...Another phenomenon associated with infidelity in China involves women married to partners whose income is modest. These women are sometimes interested in “trading up” should the chance arise. “I would say that working-class women who are not happy with their marriages are sometimes actually looking for a better deal rather than just trying to enjoy themselves,” Farrer says.“And then there is the phenomenon of women who are married to men who have money but are not available, are not around, and they are looking for affection,” Farrer adds. “And there, I think it is more looking for some kind of sexual or romantic fulfillment rather than just trading up.” For Chinese women, opportunity may come in the form of participation in the country’s labor force. “One thing that China has is very high rates of female labor-force participation,” Farrer says. “So women work, and women who are out in the labor force have more chance to meet men, and therefore far more chance to hook up with somebody, and women sitting at home have less chance.” According to World Bank statistics, 70 percent of China’s female population (aged 15-64) participated in the country’s workforce in 2012, compared to 84 percent of the male population. Some of these young women are working far from their hometown and their parents’ disapproving gaze, away from the responsibilities of children, and sometimes separated from their romantic partner. In China, Farrer says, sex has traditionally been seen as something that comes later in life and is earned. “In the West and even in Japan, sex is seen as sort of like child’s play. It is something that young people get up to, a thing people do for amusement,” he notes. “In China, it is seen as something that adults do.” “It is more legitimate for a guy who has already made a lot of money to indulge himself in this kind of stuff because he has already made it, whereas young people, who don’t have any resources, any money or social status, should be working hard to get that stuff and shouldn’t be fooling around,” Farrer continues.
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| Rupert Hoogewerf |
About a quarter of the list's 50 wealthiest women work in real estate; 18% of them are involved in finance. China's richest women are generally younger than their male counterparts, with an average age of 48 compared with 52.
"What I've asked myself is: why are Chinese women so successful? I think there are a number of different dynamics at play," said Rupert Hoogewerf, the Hurun Report's publisher and chairman. "One is that there's the one-child policy, which means that they have a very short career break, compared with someone who has three children or more. Plus there's the fact that in Chinese society, children are brought up by grandparents, traditionally," giving mothers more time to pursue their careers.
"Another dynamic is that it might just be this generation – relatively speaking, they're much more successful here than in the rest of the world," he added.More in Women of China.
