For Wang Shurong (not her real name), dreams of a
happy marriage turned into a nightmare lasting 18 years, until her divorce in
2001. "He took pleasure in beating me," she says of her abusive ex-husband. "He
would hit me anytime, anywhere. He would follow me out of the house if I tried
to escape and beat me in the street."
The woman, who lives in Tianjin City in northern China, is just one of
millions of wives who are routinely maltreated by their husbands. And her case
is far from the worst. Li Li (also a pseudonym), a primary school teacher in
Shaanxi Province in northwestern China, once suffered several broken ribs merely
for trying to persuade her husband to use protection when he visited
prostitutes.
One scene from a TV
play 'Don't talk to strangers' depicting domestic
violence.
On the rise
In the last few years, China has seen a significant rise in domestic violence
cases. In 2002 alone, the All-China Women's Federation handled 36,000 appeals
for help from wives in distress, nearly 40 per cent more than in 2001. The
federation has also reported that domestic violence occurs in one-third of the
267 million families in China.
In most cases, the victims are women. Domestic violence breaks up more than
100,000 families every year, accounting for 60 per cent of divorces registered
across the country.
Many assume that domestic violence occurs only in poverty-stricken families,
perpetrated by husbands with little or no education. But a survey by the Hongye
Women's Hotline, a Beijing-based non-governmental organization (NGO), turns this
perception on its head.
The survey, which covered 100 documented cases of physical abuse inflicted by
men against their wives, shows that 62 per cent of the perpetrators and 35 per
cent of their victims have received higher education. "It is truly alarming that
physical abuse against women is spreading," says Wang Huan, a hotline volunteer.
Domestic violence against women has gained the attention of NGOs, legal
experts and legislators. The Ninth Congress of the All-China Women's Federation
held in August placed it high on their agenda. At the first session of the Tenth
National People's Congress (NPC) in March, 10 deputies recommended revising the
Law on Protecting Women's Rights and Interests to better safeguard women from
domestic violence.
"Given the current circumstances, revision of the law brooks no delay," says
Deputy Cao Suying of Hebei Province, who initiated the recommendation.
'Male superiority'
In late 2002, the Beijing Women's Federation conducted a survey to pinpoint
the causes behind domestic violence against women. Replies from 338 legal
workers in and outside of Beijing to the questionnaires indicated that the
traditional concept of "male superiority" is a major culprit.
The experience of Wang Shurong of Tianjin is a typical case in point. She was
jobless and had to depend on her husband for a living. As it happened, he had
feudal ideas about women. "More often than not, women like Wang do not know how
to properly protect themselves," says NPC deputy Cao Suying. "They either take
their hardships lying down or resort to violence in retaliation."
Like Wang Shurong, Li Li in Shaanxi Province was often beaten by her husband
for no reason. But her forbearance collapsed when, one night, she came home to
find her husband sleeping with a prostitute on their bed. When her husband woke
up, he began attacking her. This time, however, Li Li fought back and, in her
fury, hit him on the head with a hammer. He died from the blow.
In one way or another, the old maxim of "never airing one's dirty laundry in
public" still holds sway in China. Few abused women report their husbands'
actions to police, for fear of bringing shame on their families and themselves.
And even if they do speak up, the police are likely to recommend mediation,
telling the battered women to go back home and talk things over with their
husbands to attempt a reconciliation.
Legal improvements needed
Time and again, leaders of the All-China Women's Federation have called for
the mass education of the public on gender equality as a way to curb domestic
violence against women. They also demand improvements in China's legal system to
provide still more effective protections for women.
Back in 1992, the NPC adopted the Law on Protection of Women's Rights and
Interests, the first of its kind in China. Two years later, the NPC championed
the Law on Protection of Mothers' and Infants' Health. The State Council,
China's highest governing body, published the Regulation on Protection of Female
Workers the same year. And after heated debate that involved almost all sectors
of society, a new Marriage Law was adopted following revisions made in 1980 of
the original law passed in the early 1950s.
Under the new law, if a couple is embroiled in a domestic dispute, the
aggrieved party shall have the right to legal protection and the perpetrator or
perpetrators of domestic violence shall be punished. This marked the first time
that a Chinese law spelled out, in explicit terms, that domestic violence was a
crime.
While all of this sounds good, Cao Suying argues that there is still much
room for improvement. The NPC deputy, who doubles as chairwoman of the Hebei
Provincial Federation for Women, notes that in the first place, "there are no
legal provisions that define domestic violence explicitly enough". As domestic
violence is often seen as "private dirty laundry", she says, judicial
intervention can be hard, if not impossible, to effect. "In trying a case of
domestic violence, for example, the court often finds it difficult to collect
evidence and testimony."
Legal experts share her opinion. Lawyer Liu Wei notes that under China's
legal system, perpetrators of domestic violence are prosecuted only with the
consent of the victims. "Take wife-beating, for example," she explains. "Nothing
will happen to the husband if the wife does not agree to have the case referred
to the procuratorate. That's ridiculous. After a bank is robbed, do you ask the
bank's consent to have the robber prosecuted?"
News ways to combat abuse
Liu Wei acted as the defence counsel for Li Li, the Shaanxi woman who was
tried for killing her husband. "The prosecutor insisted that she had committed
manslaughter, a crime that can result in the death sentence," she recalls. "I
fought back, telling the court that my client killed her husband in self-defence
and, therefore, she deserved leniency."
After the court of first hearing sentenced Li Li to death, with a probation
of two years, the lawyer appealed to a higher court on her behalf and the
sentence was changed to 15 years in prison. "That was still not fair, but it was
the best we could hope for," Liu Wei says.
Liu Wei is a member of the Peking University Women's centre, one of many NGOs
that have sprung up in recent years to help protect women's rights and
interests.
Beside these organizations, social workers and NGOs have been working hard to
set up community-based anti-domestic violence (ADV) teams.
Wang Shurong in Tianjin is a beneficiary of an ADV team that operates in her
neighbourhood. The team was set up in 2001 under a three-year programme jointly
launched by a Beijing-based psychological counselling centre for women and the
local women's federation, with financial support from the Heinrich Boell
Foundation of Germany and the Ford Foundation of the United States.
The programme is intended to bring together volunteers from various NGOs and
professionals to spread legal knowledge among residents and help victims of
abuse fight for their rights. Composed of 30 volunteers, including lawyers,
social activists and judges, the ADV team has set up a counselling hotline and
held lectures on laws protecting abuse victims for the residents. The team also
helps train judges and police officers to be more aware of the special problems
facing battered women.
Yuan Xin, one of the team psychologists, says that with legal assistance from
the team, many victims of spousal abuse have become bold enough to stand up for
their own rights.
And it was the legal and psychological aid provided by the ADV team that made
Wang Shurong feel empowered enough to decide to divorce her husband and start a
new life. The team also helped her find a job to support her daughter, who is
studying at a teachers' college.
"I feel a lot better now, both physically and mentally," the once battered
woman says.
