Anatomy of the relationship between the feminist movement and the family, will it make the family more harmonious or full of crisis?

Feminism is not a war between the sexes

●The feminist movement is one of the most influential and successful movements in the world

●The competition for talents is the survival of the fittest. On the one hand, it provides opportunities for women, but it also raises new issues of inequality between men and women

●The views of feminist radicals have been exaggerated and spread by the media, causing many people to mistakenly believe that the feminist movement means homosexuals taking to the streets , prostitute parade, etc.

●In the eyes of many people, feminism is synonymous with gender struggle, that is, women knock down men. This is a distortion of the original meaning of feminism

Editor's note Recently, the topic of women's rights has attracted much attention. On the 29th of this month, China's first Gender and Global Issues Research Center was established at Beijing Foreign Studies University. This newspaper invited researcher Li Yinhe from the Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, researcher Li Dongyan from the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Dr. Hu Chuanrong from the Institute of International Relations and Diplomatic Affairs at Shanghai International Studies University, and Dr. Li Yingtao from the School of International Relations at Beijing Foreign Studies University to discuss this topic. , had an interesting discussion.

How many female rights issues have been solved

Hu Chuanrong: In the past year, women have frequently appeared on the world political stage. Merkel was elected as the first female prime minister in the history of Germany; Liberia has The first female president on the African continent; South Korea, where chauvinism is deeply rooted, has a female prime minister; and the just-concluded midterm elections in the United States also produced the first female speaker of the House of Representatives. As a result, many people exclaimed that the feminist movement had reached a new climax and that a world controlled by women was about to come.

Li Yingtao: After experiencing two waves of feminism in the mid-19th century, in which the main goals were fighting for suffrage and education rights, and the elimination of gender differences in the mid-20th century, the "domino effect" has once again appeared in the development of the feminist movement. . However, compared with the two waves, although the current international feminist movement is not so vigorous and shocking, it has pushed the movement deeper and deeper based on the hard work of its predecessors. Achieved results that our forefathers could never have imagined. From a macro level, women's rights in politics, economy, culture, society, marriage and family in many countries around the world seem to be protected by law to a certain extent, and are gradually being basically resolved in practice. But at the micro level, there are still some problems that need to be solved urgently, such as women's poverty, literacy rate, violence and so on.

Li Yinhe: From a historical perspective, the feminist movement is one of the most influential and successful movements in the world. In the past, women only pursued some equal and due status, such as the right to vote, equal education, social respect, etc., but now feminism has become the center of the global peace and ecological movement, and women's organizations are based on cooperation and sharing. . Women create an alternative definition of themselves, their humanity, and the human experience. In addition, contemporary feminist thought has also comprehensively questioned all existing categories, including knowledge base, discourse system, value system, etc. Take prostitutes as an example. In the past, prostitutes were despised by men, women, and children, but now more and more countries are using the term "sex workers" instead. Many countries have also established relevant organizations and formulated measures to protect sex workers, including Some time ago, in order to prevent and treat AIDS, a city in Northeast my country held lectures for sex workers and distributed free condoms to them. Many countries have realized that the essence of the prostitution problem is poverty and cannot be solved in one fell swoop with strict laws. The key is to strengthen moral education and solve it through long-term subtle influence. This questioning of traditional value systems also appears on many gender-related issues, such as one-night stands, homosexuality, etc. Therefore, the overall feeling is that the development of feminism has entered one area after another that has never been entered before.

Li Yingtao: The current feminist movement presents three problems that deserve our attention. First, the feminist movement has entered an era of diversity and pluralism, allowing women's movements in various countries to follow different development paths. Second, economic development and the improvement of women's status do not always go hand in hand. The status of women in relatively developed economies such as Japan and South Korea is not satisfactory. However, in relatively economically backward countries like Namibia, the proportion of women participating in politics is relatively high.

Third, we should not only look at the absolute improvement of women's status, but also clearly understand the status of women relative to men. For example, Nordic countries and other countries have a higher proportion of women working in politics, but many men in these countries do not want to work in politics, but instead take jobs that are more lucrative and have more status.

What is hindering the development of the feminist movement

Li Dongyan: Feminism also has another side. Let me talk about two things first: First, last year, Harvard President Summers was criticized for his "female He was forced to resign after saying that it is difficult to become a scientist. It can be seen that to a certain extent, the issue of women's rights seems to have become a very sensitive issue of moral value, like the issue of sovereignty, race, and human rights, rather than a simple issue of freedom of speech or an issue that can be studied and discussed. From countries to international organizations, no one will express public opposition to women's activities for equal rights. Even those who have objections probably have an attitude of "good men don't fight with women."

The second thing is that in the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Democratic candidate John Kerry’s wife was a successful career woman. When she asked about her former primary school teacher and librarian After Mrs. Bush expressed her disdainful attitude, it immediately caused an uproar. The majority of voters believed that she discriminated against housewives. Despite her repeated apologies, even Democrats acknowledged that Mrs. Cliff's attitude caused irreparable damage to her husband's campaign. This allows us to see that today, people may be more tolerant and more accustomed to various radical feminisms and unique feminist words and deeds. But on a global scale, people seem to have a basic understanding of the protection of women's basic human rights and the principle of non-discrimination against women. What rights women should have, how they should be respected, and how to define and realize "gender equality" question, and still has very inconsistent responses. For example, feminists "denounce" the United Nations as a "man's organization" and suggest that gender equality be considered in the election of the Secretary-General, but the question is what kind of "equality" procedures can be developed to produce a result that guarantees "equality" between the genders.

Li Yingtao: This also reminds me of the fact that the governor of South Dakota in the United States signed an anti-abortion bill earlier this year. Later, the bill was narrowly rejected in a statewide referendum. It can be seen that the feminist movement has experienced a "resurgence of male rights" in many countries. However, the "resurgence of male supremacy" is not a special historical phenomenon, but a normal state. However, it will have different effects under different historical conditions and according to the growth and decline of different power balances.

Hu Chuanrong: This is one aspect that hinders the development of the feminist movement. What is even more noteworthy is that under the conditions of economic globalization and the process of global polarization between rich and poor, women account for the majority of the poor population. The overwhelming majority. The "structural adjustment" policies implemented by many third world countries have exacerbated their plight; the rise of neoconservatism in developed countries has put feminists under attack. The documents adopted by the international community on the realization of gender equality have not been truly implemented, and the government agencies established by many countries to promote gender equality are in name only. This means that feminists still have a long way to go to achieve the goal of gender equality in society.

Li Dongyan: In different countries, under different religions, cultural backgrounds and socio-economic conditions, equality between men and women has very different meanings, and the factors that restrict equality between men and women are naturally also different. In my opinion, there are three obstacles to the development of women’s rights: First, in areas that have not yet escaped poverty, low levels of culture and education, and embarrassment in life, are the main reasons why it is difficult to protect women’s rights. If a family can only send one child to school, they will obviously choose a boy. Those countries that are still in a state of war cannot even talk about safeguarding women's basic rights. Second, traditional religious culture, especially some extreme fundamentalist religions, still hinders the realization of equality between men and women and hinders women's pursuit of equal rights. This cannot be easily changed. Third, the talent competition of survival of the fittest not only provides opportunities for women, but also raises new issues of inequality between men and women. When I was looking for a job 20 years ago, the human resources departments of some units said that they were not willing to hire girls, especially female graduate students, because they would have many mother-in-law and mother-in-law affairs. This is still the case. Faced with the same opportunities, girls can only obtain them if they do better and pay more than boys. This is especially true in developing countries.

Marketization and privatization have encouraged profit-seeking competition and weakened government intervention. Coupled with the imperfection of the legal system, the regulations that have been formulated to protect women's rights and gender equality are not adhered to or are greatly discounted. Private enterprises infringe on female workers. Acts of entitlement are commonplace.

Has feminism been vilified in China?

Li Yingtao: The terms "feminism" and "feminism" were used interchangeably just now. These are of course two translations of English feminism. But now most people often use the word "feminism". When Chinese people talk about gender issues, they often state, "I'm not a feminist," as if calling yourself a feminist is something ugly. In the eyes of many Chinese people, feminism is often vilified and even demonized. There are four reasons for this: First, the views of feminist radicals have been exaggerated and spread by the media, causing many people to mistakenly believe that the feminist movement means homosexuals taking to the streets, prostitutes marching, etc.; second, feminism originated in Europe and the United States. Decades ago, Chinese public opinion criticized the corrupt ideas of the bourgeoisie, including feminism, and its influence continues to this day; third, male centrists are unwilling to lose the existing dominance of men. They often use the example of men and women waiting for the elevator to ridicule feminists: If the man presses the elevator button first to let the woman go in, feminists will say that this demeans women's ability. Don't women even have the ability to press the button? If you go first in the elevator, feminists will say that if you don't follow "ladies first", it's not gentlemanly at all. These are clearly understandings of feminist mechanism.

Of course, not only do many Chinese public opinion and male centrists mechanically understand women’s rights, but even feminist radicals themselves mechanically copy theory into reality. For example, in the 1970s and 1980s, some feminist radicals advocated the so-called "equality of breasts" and equalized the physiological differences between men and women. Naturally, they were resisted by many people. Within the family, radicals also use theories mechanically and even provoke war between the sexes for no reason. In fact, these are contrary to the goal of equality between men and women pursued by feminists. More than 20 years ago, some feminists in the United States formed some groups with parallel powers and no hierarchy within them. As a result, such groups did not work effectively. Therefore, feminists must reflect on how their goals of pursuing equality and opposing hierarchy are closely integrated with the need for some kind of hierarchy in reality.

Li Yinhe: The development of feminism in China has an interesting feature, that is, it was initially promoted and advocated by men such as Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu. In the past hundred years, after experiencing several revolutions, China's women's rights have developed faster than many Western developed countries. Nowadays, a new feminism has quietly appeared in China. Its most important characteristic is that it is very pragmatic and not good at theory. It just talks about the problem and does not touch on the overall plan and prospects. It only talks about strategy, not strategy; it only talks about concreteness, not abstraction; it only talks about personal happiness, not group interests; it only talks about compromise and cooperation, not struggle; it only talks about reality, not theory. For example, they use parallel thinking to put the strong in a weak position, such as trying to say words such as "We are all sisters in the world," "Mr. Zhang Mary," and "Our mother in heaven." They acknowledge the existence of patriarchy and just want to make their voices heard and do something to change it. They also hope to express women's living conditions and thoughts through writing. When faced with sexist jokes in public, they say: I don’t think that’s funny. They also dare to make people feel uncomfortable and ask: Why are all leaders men? Why don’t men share housework?

Hu Chuanrong: In China, feminism is still a very unfamiliar concept to many people. In the eyes of many people, it is synonymous with gender struggle, that is, women knock men down to establish their supremacy, or make men become effeminate. Others view feminism as a theory aimed at cultivating good wives and mothers. Domestically, we focus on talking about feminism in a matter-of-fact way, rather than integrating it with the broader social background. Feminist thought is usually alienated from social thought as a whole. Nowadays, judging from the development of feminism in China, it seems that it has encountered a new problem, that is, China's rapid economic development has caused some people to fall into a moral vacuum. Some people seem to be under the guise of feminism and sexual liberation, but in fact they are This kind of moral nihilism is a distortion of the original intention of feminism and actually hurts some women. Therefore, how to determine the goals of feminism development in China is a top priority.

Li Yinhe: In my opinion, this can at least be divided into short-term goals and long-term goals. From the perspective of short-term goals, it is to solve whatever problems there are. For example, the issue of female political participation is relatively poor in our society. Female political participation has clear regulations on what proportion of women must reach. If there is no such ratio regulation, what will happen to women's participation in politics? Also, the proportion of women among the administrative staff of major enterprises in our society is relatively small. Do women really lack management talents? In addition, there are the problems of girls out of school; the problem of the proportion of female students in universities, female employment opportunities, and low remuneration for female labor; the problem of the high proportion of women being laid off and unemployed; the problems of female infanticide, female infanticide, and abandonment of female infants; and the problem of poor nutrition of girls. ; The problem of inequality between men and women caused by living in the man's house after marriage; the problem of men not sharing the double burden of housework and women's work and housework; the problem of gender stereotypes in social concepts; the residual problems of patriarchal ideology in various media, etc. .

From the long-term goal, we should strive for the harmonious development of the sexes, to the blurring of gender boundaries, and ultimately make gender as a social stratification factor less and less important, so that all individuals can To enable their personalities to be fully developed and realized, thereby achieving not only true equality between men and women, but also complete equality in status for all individuals. At the same time, the differences in personality are preserved to the greatest extent, and no one will feel any oppression because of their gender.