Beijing University Center for Women’s Law Studies and Legal Services

Above is a picture of a visit by a Ford Foundation Representative to the Beijing University Women's Law Studies and Legal Aid Center in August of 2007.

The Center for Women’s Law Studies and Legal Services (hereafter referred to as the Center) was founded in December of 1995 by the Law School of Beijing University with funds provided by the Ford Foundation. The Center is a nongovernmental, non-profit organization devoted to serving the legal needs of Chinese women. The Center has made significant progress in providing legal aid to women, taking on various cases, conducting research on legal affairs, and organizing and participating in conferences on women’s issues. It has received extensive press coverage from the People’s Daily, Worker’s Daily, CCTV, Beijing TV and many other newspapers and magazines. But the Center also operates with a shortage of funds and personnel and must carry out its work in a society that has little understanding of the concept of legal aid.

The Center’s origins go back to the early 1990s when several events gave greater attention to women’s issues. One was the Women’s Rights Protection Law which was passed in 1992. An even more important event was the 4^th World Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995 when women’s issues and NGOs were given a great deal of exposure. Many international NGOs and women activists attended that meeting and their presence had a big impact on Chinese women. One other factor instrumental in the establishment of the Center was the involvement of three women who became the center’s leaders: Yang Dawen, a law professor at People’s University; Ma Yinan, a law professor at Beijing University; and Guo Jianmei, who was both a Beijing University law professor and a practicing lawyer.

These three professors had the idea for the center which became a reality due to financial help from the Ford Foundation. Intially, the Center was associated with the Beijing Tonghe law office, but for political reasons and because of interference from the Beijing city government, the Center had to move. For half a year, the Center went through various negotiations before it separated from the Tonghe law office and associated with the Beijing University Law School with which it still maintains a relationship.

The Center has an informative English-language website at http://www.woman-legalaid.org/index.php where you can look at an overview of the Center’s evolution (with pictures), and of the Center’s staff, and articles about different women’s issues in China.