More than 20 eye-catching billboards have been erected in Beijing's downtown areas promote the rejection of domestic violence and protection of women's rights.
The billboards depict a stern-looking young woman with an outstretched arm gesturing "no" or "stop," and a caption reading "Say no to domestic violence."
Sponsored by the Beijing Women's Federation and the family violence research institute of the China Law Society, the 22 billboards have been placed in Dongdan, Dongsi, Qianmen and Xuanwumen, all major commercial districts and tourist areas. The campaign is intended to call attention to the seriousness of domestic violence, said Zhao Shuhua, a staff member of the Beijing Women's Federation.
"Nowadays many Chinese still believe conflict between a husband and wife is a normal thing and private family business," said Zhao. A recent survey by the All-China Women's Federation revealed that domestic violence occurs in about 30 percent of China's 270 million households and that in 90 percent of the cases the husband is the perpetrator.
"Chinese women are often in a position of weakness in cases of family violence because many are financially reliant on their husbands," said Zheng Liyi, a Beijing sociologist. Many women also choose to tolerate violence because of the traditional idea that women should be obedient and loyal to their husbands still prevails, Zheng said. In the past, cases of domestic violence were more common in rural areas. However, the number of urban cases has begun to rise in recent years. A survey by the Women's Federation in Guangzhou, southern Guangdong Province, indicated that 51.7 percent of wife-beating husbands had an average education level above high school. Many of the husbands were college graduates or had doctoral degrees.
The country's new Marriage Law has defined domestic violence as a criminal act. In February, a special work group on combating domestic violence was formed in Beijing. It aims to establish a network providing medical service and legal aid for victims of family violence. A base was also set up in the suburban county of Yanqing to have wife-beaters referred to psychologists and law experts, said Zhao.
(eastday.com August 9, 2002)
