On Monday, December 11, 2017, 6 pm- 8pm, Fordham Law School’s Leitner Center for International Law & Justice will be hosting panel discussion with two of China’s preeminent feminist activists, Guan Er and Xiaowen Liang.  They will discuss their work in China and feminist scholar and author, Leta Hong Fincher (author of Leftover Women:  The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China) will place their work in the historical and cultural context.  Elizabeth M. Lynch of China Law & Policy will moderate. Details about the event – from the Leitner Center’s website (http://www.leitnercenter.org/events/1259/) – are below.

Challenging Authoritarianism through Feminist Activism: Insights From China

December 11, 2017 6:00PM – 8:00PM
Location: Bateman, Fordham Law School, 150 W. 62nd St., New York, NY 10023
Contact: LeitnerCenter@law.fordham.edu

The rise of China’s economic and political power does not bring its society gender equality. There is a general demand for more feminist approaches to social issues, which have not yet been well known outside China. Regardless of the hostile political environment, Chinese feminist activists have worked collectively to fight against inequality and discrimination through all kinds of legal strategies, and to channel social grievance towards effort for social changes. Their fights are invaluable expertise for any social movement that wants to survive in difficult situations. This event aims at delivering these feminist insights from the frontline, and bridge better communication among different feminist perspectives.

Speakers:

Guan Er, Young Feminist Activist

Guan Er is one of the leading young feminist activists in China. She has been active in Chinese young feminist activism since 2012, and initiated multiple well-received campaigns for advocacy and public education. At this talk, she will introduce contemporary feminist activist action in China, and how to negotiate with the state for movement space.

Dr. Leta Hong Fincher, Feminist Author  

Dr. Leta Hong Fincher is author of “Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China” (2014) and her new book, “Betraying Big Brother: The Rise of China’s Feminist Resistance” will be published next year by Verso. She will give an overview of the underlying social and economic factors behind the emergence of feminist activism today.

Xiaowen Liang, Young Feminist Activist

Xiaowen Liang is a Chinese feminist activist. She started her activism work in LGBT movement and feminist movement in 2012. After graduation, Xiaowen worked as a legal project manager of a feminist activist group. She has initiated and participated in several successful campaigns by using legal strategies and network building with women lawyers. During her studies at Fordham Law School, she initiated a Chinese feminist group in New York and put on a theater play called “Our Vaginas, Ourselves” at Times Square. She will share her experiences on being an activist in China and how to support China’s activism while in the U.S.

Moderator:

Elizabeth M. Lynch, Attorney and China Watcher

Elizabeth M. Lynch is a legal aid attorney in New York City and the founder of China Law & Policy. She was named a New York Law Journal “Rising Star” in 2015, and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Huffington Post and the George Washington International Law Review. From 2007 to 2009, Elizabeth was a research fellow at NYU Law School’s US-Asia Law Institute where she worked with Professor Jerome Cohen on criminal justice reform projects in China.