Chinese Women (2001-2010). It was based on the requirement of the Tenth Five-Year Plan of the National Economic and Social Development Outline of the PRC; it was drafted in consideration of the national conditions and the present situation of women and it took into account periodic and long-term goals of women's development. Accordingly, the Chinese government set major objectives for women's development in 2001-2010.1,6 Meanwhile the program takes full consideration of the 12 crucial areas listed by the Beijing Platform for Action.1,7 On the basis of the achievements of the Program for the Development of Chinese Women (1995-2000), the program lists 6 areas for priority development. These are: women and economy, women's participation in 96 97
96 The Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2001-2010), China Women's News, May 31,2001.
97 Ibid
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decision-making and administration, women and education, women and health, women and law, and women and the environment.98
The general targets of the program are to: implement the basic state policy of equality between men and women; promote women's full participation in the economy and social development; realise equality between men and women in political, economic, cultural, social, and familial areas.99
Section 5 refers to women and law. In this section, there are more detailed articles regarding violence against women. Compared with the 1995 Program, these articles are more practical. They are not simply slogans, but measures to tackle the problems that women face. For example, article 3 in section 5 stipulates that "To protect women's human rights, any kind of violence against women is forbidden".100
Under policies and measures, there are four ways to reach this target.
1. Legislation. Embody the sense of gender, and regulate social behaviours that have negative effects on women's development in national laws.
Strengthen and perfect legislation in protecting women's legal rights, on the basis of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and Law Safeguarding Women's Rights and Interests of the People's Republic of China. Much attention must be paid to women issues in the process of perfecting relevant laws and regulations in order to guarantee that women enjoy equal rights with men in political, economic, cultural, social and
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family life.101 102 The new Marriage Law passed in April 2001 is the fruit of the program. Domestic violence is outlawed in the new Marriage Law.
2. Jurisdiction and implementation. Strengthen legal protection and implementation of laws. Effectively prevent and fight against criminal acts that infringe on women's human rights and property rights, reduce rape and abduction cases. Prevent and fight against domestic violence. Establish and perfect the system of jurists invited from women's federations to implement the principle o f equality between men and women, to safeguard women's legal rights, and guarantee justice in the trial of cases related to women.10' 3. Publicise legal knowledge. Put publicising women's protection laws into the
outline of publicising national laws. Enhance women's sense of law. Raise women's capability of safeguarding their own rights.101
4. Legal services and legal aid. Establish legal aid systems so as to provide all kinds of legal services and social help. Enhance reception systems. Provide legal consultation and legal service so as to process appeals of women victims. Adopt various measures to provide legal, medical and psychological services to women victims of violence. Women's federations, workers unions and communist youth league should safeguard women's legal rights within their responsibilities.104
The above measures for fighting against violence, including domestic violence.
offer practical solutions. Providing legal services to women is one of the best
"" Op. cit. n. 96. Section Five — Women and Law.
102 Ibid
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ways to help abused women. Medical and psychological services are essential for abused women to recover and possibly walk out of the abusive relationship.
Although there is no clear definition of the responsibilities of women's federations, workers unions and communist youth leagues, they are appointed to be responsible for intervening in domestic violence cases.105 This can be perceived as progress, because the 1995 Program only contained the slogan of fighting against family violence without adopting any operational measures.
Another progressive step in the 2001 program is the establishment of jurists invited from women's federations to guarantee judicial justice in judging cases related to women.106 This practice introduces the sense o f social gender into the judicial system, which will benefit women, because the sense of gender will
help judges view cases from a feminist perspective.
In the area o f organisation and implementation, relevant departments under the State Council must report annually the result of implementing the program to the National Working Committee for Children and Women of the State Council. The local working committee for children and women must also establish a similar reporting mechanism.107 This supervision mechanism is intended to guarantee the successful implementation of the program.
In the area of monitoring and appraisal, article 2 states that it aims to
"Establish a national and provincial monitoring system on women's status and formulate feasible and scientifically defined plans so as to monitor
105 Ibid., Section five, Policies and Measures, article 4.
Ibid., Section five. Policies and Measures, article 2.
107 Op. cit., n. 96.
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women's development in an all-round and dynamic way."108 In addition to the monitoring system, a mechanism of periodic reporting and appraisal is to be established.109
Article 4 stipulates that institutions to be established under the National Working Committee for Children and Women of the State Council are responsible for supervising and examining appraisal plans so as to draft responding strategies based on appraisal results.110
Compared with the 1995 Program, the 2001 Program has made some progress in providing specific measures to combat domestic violence. As a matter o f fact, only in this program does the Chinese government take actual actions to fight against domestic violence. In the 1995 program, the government acknowledged the existence of domestic violence without taking further action.
Another characteristic of the 2001 program is the establishment o f an appraisal mechanism and relevant institutions. This is a practical step for the implementation of the programme.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we have reviewed the impact of the FWCW on the Chinese government and women. Preparing for world conferences became a mechanism for making governments implement plans and recommendations put forward by earlier UN conferences. The FWCW pushed China to examine and improve its work on women so as to meet international standards. This has led to the
Ibid.
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acknowledgement of the existence o f domestic violence in China and the drafting of two programs for the development of Chinese women. By making comparison between the two programs and UN resolutions, we can see the gap between UN documents and their implementation by China as a state party.
From the 1995 Program to the 2001 Program, China has taken measures to improve its work in implementing UN resolutions to fight against domestic violence. O f particular significance is the fact that the government emphasises legal measures to tackle domestic violence. However, to what extent has awareness regarding domestic violence resulted in people considering it an abuse o f rights as a result o f the Beijing Conference? Has this awareness resulted in increased expectations on the part of abused women regarding service provision? Have those expectations been met? How are the written articles implemented and how effective they are? In the next 4 chapters, I aim to answer these questions by analysing my fieldwork data.
Chapter 5
Research Settings and Methodology
This chapter provides a detailed description of the empirical work I carried out on domestic violence in China. It outlines the work of the Women's Law Studies and Service Centre (WLSSC) where the bulk of the research was undertaken. It also provides background information of institutions related to abused women. Gathering data was achieved through participant observation at the WLSSC as well as by drawing samples of women who had experienced domestic violence. My fieldwork was carried out between December 2000 and September 2001. It consisted of three elements: namely participant observation in WLSSC in Beijing, in-depth interviews with abused women and interviews with people from other institutions. The following provides the rationale for my choice of research methods and strategies.