The Future of Women in China: #MeToo, Censorship, and Gender Inequality

562 Dirksen Senate Office Building | Tuesday, March 1, 2022 - 10:00am

Recent high-profile reporting on Peng Shuai’s public sexual abuse allegations and the discovery of a mother of eight chained by the neck outside her home, as well as the Chinese government’s shocking efforts to suppress these stories, epitomizes broad trends for the status of women in China. With International Women’s Day approaching, this hearing will reflect upon the rise of the #MeToo movement in China, sexual violence and coercive population policies, including forced sterilizations and abortions in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and censorship of feminist and other civil society groups promoting women’s rights. 

Witnesses will discuss these issues and provide recommendations for action to help Congress better monitor and understand the status of women’s rights in China.  

The archived hearing lilnk can be found on the CECC’s YouTube Channel.

Hearing Transcript (PDF)

Opening Statements

Senator Jeff Merkley, Chair

[opening statement]

Representative James McGovern, Cochair

[opening statement]

Witnesses

Leta Hong Fincher, Author of Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China

[testimony]

Aaron Halegua, Research Fellow at the U.S.-Asia Law Institute, New York University School of Law

[testimony]

Mei Fong, Chief Communications Officer, Human Rights Watch and author of One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment

[testimony]

Tursunay Ziyawudun, Former Xinjiang camp detainee

[testimony]