Chinese president is behind patriarchal turn in politics with activists silenced for ‘promoting gender antagonism’
Addressing dignitaries gathered in Beijing on Monday, Xi Jinping praised the “historic achievements” of women’s rights in China. In the past 30 years, the Chinese president said, maternal mortality rates had dropped by nearly 80%, and women were now participating in the project of national governance with “unprecedented confidence and vigour”.
Xi was speaking at the global women’s summit, an event on Monday and Tuesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the historic UN’s world conference on women, which took place in Beijing. It was there in 1995 that Hillary Clinton, the then US first lady, delivered her “women’s rights are human rights” speech, lines now often quoted by people in China advocating for women’s rights.
This year, Chinese officials used Xi’s speech to highlight the contributions that China has made to women’s advancements. Xi announced a $10m (£7.5m) donation to UN Women, the organisation’s gender-equality agency, as well as a $100m fund for global south countries.
But while Xi hailed a “glorious chapter of women’s progress”, in recent years, Chinese feminists have found it increasingly difficult to advocate for, or even speak about, women’s rights.
