Legislating Women's and Children's Rights and Interests in the PRCa

Abstract

The reference to the "perfecting of a system of social protection" is integral to recent legislation on minors, women and the handicapped, but it is perhaps best expressed in Article 2 of the Law on Protecting the Rights and Interests of Women. Western scholarship which deals with the state-society paradigm in China often comments that the Chinese political culture has tended to merge state and society into a continuum of political and social activity and that despite the growth of market relationships the conceptual notion of "civil society" lacks a strong indigenous equivalent. For a selected list of references on civil society see n. 41.

Childhood, children, and family lives in China

“…The meanings of such terms are the focus for major theoretical debates across different academic disciplines -but we might briefly indicate here some key dimensions relevant to Chinese children's family lives. Keith (1997) has discussed the notion of 'children's rights' in the People's Republic of China since its first introduction in a white paper in 1991, arguing it reflected an uneasy conflict between a reluctant acceptance of the need for a competitive market, and a desire to pursue the ancient Chinese ideal of harmony (Leung and Xu, 2015). This conflict was apparent through attention to fairness in terms of rights on the one hand, but without challenging the top-down view of organisation and control on the other.…”

“…In terms of legislation, the 1992 WeiChengNianRen BaoHuFa (未成年人保护法), 'Nonadults Protection Law', followed quickly upon the UNCRC, but it arguably reflected an uneasy tension between ideas of children's rights as individuals, and older ideas of children as subject to the obligations of filial piety (Keith, 1997: 44). Nevertheless, children's rights and interests were enshrined in law (Naftali, 2009), differentiated by age and gender (Keith, 1997). The Law marked a significant break from older views of children as the property of their parents (Naftali, 2014), and contributed to 'Chinese children's greater capacity to exert control over their bodies and lives and to assert their will vis-à-vis power and authority' (Naftali, 2009: 81).…”

The Institutionalisation of ‘TongNian’ and ‘childhood’ in China and Britain: Exploring Cautious Comparisons

“…In China, the introduction in 1992 of WeiChengNianRen BaoHuFa (未成年人保护法), the ‘Non‐adults Protection Law’ was seen as a major step following China's involvement in, and 1991 signing of, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This reflected engagement with human rights discourse, differentiated by gender and age, and covering many aspects of children's ‘rights and interests’ (Keith, ). Naftali (: 39) concludes that this legislation acknowledged ‘that minors… are not ancillary to their families but constitute a separate social group that is entitled not only to protection but also to respect as human beings’.…”

The Social and Gender Politics of Confucian Nationalism

“…Ronald Keith (1997) illustrates the way in which rights are understood in China, underscoring the focus on second-generation (group) rights. Chinese law endorses an updated conception of the state and society relationship whereby the state provides protection of rights to create social protection.…”