“'Support them, not silence
them,' Kerry tells China over 5 detained feminists”
By: Faith Karimi
Source: CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/11/china/china-kerry-women-activists/index.html
March
8 is International Women’s Day, a day devoted to fortifying the bonds of women
beyond borders and upholding their collective rights. However, a few days
preceding this day, a group of five feminists was detained in the Chinese
cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. The five women were all a part of
China’s Women’s Rights Action Group and were planning on running a campaign for
gender equality and an end to sexual harassment. The campaign involved passing
out stickers with slogans that encouraged police to help in the fight against
sexual harassment; their plans were not violent nor were they “picking quarrels
and provoking trouble” as the initial charge of the arrests of Wei Tingting, Wu
Rongrong, Li Tingting, Wang Man, and Zheng Churan state. “…police recommended
Monday that prosecutors press charges of ‘assembling a crowd to disturb public
order,’” (Karimi, 1). The women clearly had no such intents, but if prosecutors
choose to go forth with these charges, the group of five potentially faces five
years or more of prison time. The international community and Amnesty
International have stood in solidarity with these five women, urging Chinese
authorities to let them go, much to the displeasure of the Chinese government.
This
news is of utmost importance because there is no just reason that the women
were detained. These five women with completely non-violent intentions were not
a threat. Chinese authorities were most probably intimidated by their audacity
to speak out about a serious issue in their country. The Chinese government
also should not rebuke comments from American or other international leaders
that urge them to “free the five” because China is clearly in the wrong in this
situation.
Armine, I am glad you chose this topic because although women seem to have come so far in gaining an equal footing with men, many countries still do not let the voices of their women be heard. It is crazy that women in this day and age cannot campaign for equality without facing harassment and persecution. China definitely needs to reconsider its views toward gender equality and let these women free.
ReplyDeleteIt is vital to bring topics and specific articles such as this one into the spotlight because many are too ignorant to see what happens beyond the United States. It is unbelievable that to this day, women have a physical and mental pressure to conform to the ideals of gender inequality all over the world. Hopefully peoples' minds will begin to open up soon so that they can see what equality looks like.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Armine. This was very interesting to read. Stories concerning women's issues particularly suit you because of your understanding of the topic.
ReplyDeleteI find it absolutely ridiculous that women's rights continues to be an issue in this day and age. It seems so primitive, so conservative, so anti-progression to arrest women's rights' activists who were attempting to put an end the problem of sexual harassment. Many popular songs and many stereotypes of women today seem to promote rape culture and sexual objectification, and the people who are trying to stand up against it are the ones being oppressed. Does that not send a "bad" message to the public? You did an amazing job reporting the story, Armine. I do hope this issue gets resolved soon, and that China realizes what a grave mistake it has made.
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