THE most recent occasion when Ms Fan’s husband beat her until her eyes were black and blue was a row over 100 yuan ($16). Ms Fan, who did not want to reveal her full name, is a 37-year-old cleaner. She helped her husband deliver gas canisters on the outskirts of Shanghai but hid some of the proceeds lest he fritter them away on gambling and booze. When he noticed the missing money, her lies did not convince him. “He hit me in the mouth until my lips split against my teeth,” she says.
For more than a decade women’s rights advocates in China have lobbied for a law to afford women better protection. On November 25th an office of the State Council, or cabinet, released a draft of China’s first anti-domestic violence law. At last, the government seems serious about confronting an endemic problem.
Many Chinese families suffer violence. According to a report by the All-China Women’s Federation, a state-controlled NGO, nearly 40% of women who are married or have a boyfriend have experienced physical or sexual violence. And it found that about 53% of boys and 34% of girls are physically abused by their parents. Only 7% of those...Continue reading
No comments:
Post a Comment