Women and Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) in China

When the Communists came to power in 1949, they sought to abolish what they saw as feudal, patriarchal practices such as foot-binding and female infanticide. They passed a Marriage Law and other laws that gave equal rights to women, and promoted women’s participation in the workplace. Women were said to hold up half the sky in this new communist utopia. While all independent social organizations were abolished, the Communist Party created its own organizations to represent the interests of women, workers, and peasants. The Women’s Federation was the official party organization representing the interests of women for most of the Communist period.

Only in the last 20 years, have other social organizations – what we would call nongovernmental or nonprofit organizations (NGOs or NPOs) been allowed. These organizations have grown rapidly since the 1990s. For women’s NGOs, 1995 was a watershed year because the 4^th World Women’s Conference was held in Beijing that year. Many NGOs and women activists came to Beijing that year to share their experiences, and their presence stimulated a wave of interest in women’s issues and NGOs.

Now there are many NGOs devoted to women’s issues, not just the Women’s Federation. Some examples include the Beijing University Women’s Law Studies and Legal Aid Center, Rural Women Knowing All, and the Maple Women Psychological Counseling Center of Beijing.

The growth of NGOs in China is significant for two reasons. One is because almost all political and social organizations in China were controlled by the Communist Party, so this is a very new trend. The other reason is because these organizations are contributing to a growing civil society in China. Some observers feel this civil society will create pressures for democratization.

Before we get too optimistic about civil society and the possibilities for democratization in China, we should keep in mind that many of these so-called NGOs are not completely independent of the Communist Party-controlled government. Many were actually created by various Party or government offices. They are referred to as GONGOs (government-organized NGOs). This may sound like a paradox, but keep in mind that GONGOs do have some independence from the government.

Take the Beijing University Women’s Law Studies and Legal Aid Center for example. It is under Beijing University, which is a public university, but it is also independent of Beijing University when it comes to their funding and staff. Almost all their funds come from Ford Foundation grants, and their staff draws from various law professors and lawyers in Beijing.

There are increasingly more and more grassroots NGOs in China that have little connection with the Party or government, but at this point, China is in a transition period whereby many NGOs need to maintain ties with Party or government organizations, if for no other reasons than political protection. Truly independent, grassroots NGOs are more vulnerable to being shut down, especially if they are involved with activities that the government does not like. For example, some HIV/AIDs NGO activists wanted to convene a meeting about the AIDS situation in China recently, but the meeting was shut down because AIDS is viewed as a sensitive political problem.