Authoritarians be authoritarian

Chinese feminists continue to resist amidst repression 30 years after Beijing Conference on Women

[...] at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 [...] governments, including China, pledged to take concrete actions to advance gender equality and women’s rights. However, thirty years later, the landscape for women’s rights advocacy in China has changed drastically [...]

Feminist activists and women human rights defenders (WHRDs) face increasing State repression [in China], including censorship, surveillance, arbitrary detention, harassment, and politically motivated charges. Broader movements such as the #MeToo movement, which was inspired by global efforts to expose sexual harassment and gender-based violence, have been targeted by a government that refuses to yield space for any form of organising or an independent civil society [...]

The crackdown on women activists is exemplified by the ongoing persecution of Huang Xueqin and He Fangmei, both of whom remain unjustly detained. Huang Xueqin, a journalist and key #MeToo activist, was sentenced to five years in prison following a secret trial. Meanwhile, He Fangmei, a vaccine safety advocate, was sentenced to five years and six months, and her children’s whereabouts remain unknown after being taken by authorities [...]