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Wei Jingsheng Foundation
News and Article Release Issue Number: A10-G3
中国民主运动海外联席会议新闻与文章发布号：A10-G3
Release Date: March 27, 2003
发布日：2003年3月27日
Topic: Ms. Ciping HUANG Spoke for Chinese Women's Rights in US Congress
标题：黄慈萍代给美国国会中国委员会就中国妇女权益问题的讲话
Original Language Version: English/Chinese
(English at beginning, Chinese version at the end)
Please visit our website if you have problem to read Chinese in this issue
此号以中英文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
The Wei Jingsheng Foundation and the Overseas Chinese Democracy
Coalition are dedicated to the promotion of human rights and democratization
in
China. We appreciate your assistance and help in any means.
We pledge solidarity to all who struggle for human rights and democratic
governance on this planet.
You are welcome to use or distribute this release. However, please credit
with this foundation and its website at: www.weijingsheng.org
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March 10, 2003
Dear Congressional Executive Commission on China,
My name is Ciping Huang, I am the Secretary General for the Overseas Chinese
Democracy Coalition and a Council member and Human Rights Committee chair for
the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars. I am speaking
on behalf of these two organizations today.
My topic today is about Women's Issues in China, which I have wanted to make
since I attended the round table discussion on the same subject organized by
this Commission on February 24, 2003. I was not satisfied with the way the
subject was presented on that date, which was on a similar path with the
other subjects that were presented at this Commission.
As I have talked to your staff before (see the first attachment), I feel
strongly that this Commission should concentrate more on the Chinese human
rights issues due to its founding background in the PNTR debate and its
mission to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in
China. Despite this mission, although I understand the conditions and
limitations, I feel the Commission has focused more on other issues such as
the Chinese economic situation with respect to American business enterprises,
instead of the Chinese human rights condition and the needs and demands of
the Chinese people. I feel it is extremely important for the Commission to
have more of our fellow Chinese testify on the human rights abuse conducted
by the Chinese government and its officials, testimony which the Commission
has been short of. Here again, I would like to offer assistance and help
when you need to locate victims and witnesses to testify in this regard.
Coming back to the women's issues in China, I want to point out that the
conditions described in your February 24, 2003
discussion are not quite to the essence of the problem. On one side, I
understand there is a time limit to discuss such a big and complicated
problem and I do understand the scholars' and experts' insight and detail on
certain aspects. On the other side, I have learned that many scholars have
restricted themselves from a harsh criticism of the Chinese government in
concern for the typical retaliation from that government, which would simply
not allow them to go back to China or sabotage their studies and discredit
them afterwards. The Chinese government has arrested and harassed Chinese
born scholars in the past; they have upgraded this harassment from green-card
holders to US citizens, and now the threat and fear has reached even
further. The arrest and trial of several scholars such as GAO Zhan, LI
ShaoMin and XU ZeRun are just few of their escalated episodes that have
received media attention. Their ten months of detention of Dr. YANG JianLi
without any communication by him to the outside, even to his family, nor any
other legal proceeding nor trial is not just violating international
standard, but also Chinese law itself.
Under this type of harsh environment for the scholars, I feel more than ever
a responsibility to stand out to speak for our fellow Chinese people,
especially the unfortunate Chinese women. As a second daughter, I have
experienced sexual discrimination myself from the birth. Even as the most
outstanding student, I had to take a lesser job or other position due to the
fact that I was a woman. My boss told me to my face that he must place me in
a less desirable position because I was a woman. Even now, my female
classmates and friends have lost their jobs to the male counterparts because
of their sex.
Of course, there is a social background supporting this issue. However, for
a government boasting perfect equality such as "women will hold half the sky"
and a government that is so successful carrying out their policy of
suppressing dissidents and religious believers, one has to wonder why they
could not carry out their slogans and policies for women. Women lack not
just social and economic status but also political status in
China.
Taking the recently opened People's Congress as an example, only about 20%
are women. There was an even smaller fraction of women in the main decision
making body of the Chinese Communist Party Congress that was just closed last
November.
There have been very limited yet well revealed stories in the press about how
women are treated in China. They were the victims of ignorance in the past.
With the economic development in China, they are further and further dragging
behind the men and have become victims of cheap labor and exploitation, not
just economically, socially, but also sexually. The highest suicide rate for
women in the world is in China. This fact alone is one of best pieces of
evidence.
There is widespread knowledge of the present surge of prostitution, women
trafficking, female fetus abortion, and abortion and sterilization of women.
However, let me summarize the areas of my greatest concern for Chinese women
in regarding their rights:
1. The growth of
China's
economy is built on the abuse of human rights, especially of women, via the
parity of lack of unemployment opportunity for woman and cheap labor
exploitation of young girls.
a) Engaged in "Little-sister labor," many teenager girls who go to the city
for a job in a factory not only lose their opportunity for education, but
also become vulnerable for lower pay and unfair treatment without protection,
even sexual harassment.
Take the quote (which is not the worst of all) from the report a few months
ago (as my second attachment), about young girls working in foreign ventures
making 30 cents an hour for 16 hours a day, with only two days off every
month. In these kinds of places, these young girls are not just exploited
economically; some were taken advantage of sexually and even raped by the
managers and owners of the factories.
b) With the diminishing of State Owned Enterprises (SOE), women are losing
their social warfare and health benefits altogether.
Even according to data permitted by the Chinese government, nearly half of
the unemployed female laid off workers experience age and sex discrimination
when they try to find a new job. A women over 35 years old usually has no
hope of finding a job unless she has strong connections or excellent skill.
My sister was thrilled to get a senior engineer job which specifically
required: "male and younger than 35 years old", she was the only exception
for that company, which is the biggest one in my hometown of more than
300,000 population.
c) If one thinks these kinds of job ads are not respecting women, one will
find that the ones seeking women specifically are only worse.
Take as an example, a newspaper ad to recruit a janitor: "Female, under 25
years old, pretty, slight, over 160cm in height, no education required." My
friend read me another ad seeking flight attendants who must be "virgin".
2. Women's rights are worsened along with the "free market economy", which
including lost their own freedom and liberty, even social status.
I want to emphasize to this Commission that, although many perceive the
economic growth in China, nevertheless, it has not helped to improve women's
condition. As a matter of the fact, it only opened more cracks to make women
fell into as victims. The system under the Chinese government only lets such
a "free market economy" to be free to abuse women's rights.
a) In worsening family violence, sexual annoyance, and sexual assaults, many
women find themselves to be in abusive positions, and some fall into the
victimization of human trafficking.
b) Young prostitutes are in the millions. In poverty-stricken areas, girls
specifically have lost their education rights as a result of the collapse of
the iron rice bowl. Many go to cities for a rosy promise, but only find
themselves working as "Little-sister laborers", or even as prostitutes. Some
are sold to cities or even abroad as prostitutes. For example, the number of
prostitutes in Malaysia has increased dramatically since 2000. Most of them
come from China.
Women become the victim of AIDS due to the sexual exploitation. These women
infected with AIDS do not dare to reveal their disease, not to mention having
any hope to be taken care of.
A recently story was about a father who had to pretend to be a customer to
meet his kidnapped teenage daughter who had disappeared for three months and
was already forced to receive about 700 customers!
How outrageous this kind of crime is! Yet the Chinese government seems so
weak to wipe out this "social virus" as effectively as they wipe out the
dissidents' voice? Why? The ones conducting these types of crime are often
local officials, police, or at least associated with these governmental
authorities, so unlike the powerless young girls, they make money and escape
law without punishment. Recently, there were several cases of police
brutality in China. Young girls were forced to make confession of
prostituting and paying fines and go to jail. They were more fortunate
because eventually they were freed to claim their innocence after getting
examinations to prove that they were virgins.
c) "Er Nai", a new term for concubines, has not only become the most popular
term in China, but is more in practice for wealthy and powerful men in the
last few years.
When I was visiting China in 1998, once I mistakenly went to a bathhouse,
which had a massage center that turned out to be a place for men to pick up
young girls for the night. As I was wondering why there were no female
customers, I got my opportunity to learn the sobbing conditions and
environment these homeless girls have. Now, I have learned that the
situation has only gotten worse for these girls with the further economic
development in China. Nevertheless, when I was talking to these hopeless
girls, to be some well off man's "Er Nai" was a better outlet for them.
3. Along with the loss of women's rights is the loss of rights and even lives
of baby girls and unborn female fetuses.
a) There is a high rate of female infanticide and baby girl abandonment.
Under the Chinese government's One Child Policy, this issue really became
aggravated. Millions of baby girls and fetuses have been killed and
aborted. If we say this issue reveals the low status of women in China, then
the government's capacity of being able to carry out the One-Child Policy yet
unable to protect the lives and happiness of the innocent female babies and
fetuses is the indication that their strict policy is very selective. It is
the government that forced such policy on the unwilling citizens who do not
have many other choices. It is the government that forced the women to have
sterilization. It is very clear that they to ignore human lives, which is in
coherence with their abuse of human rights.
An official datum is that, for every one hundred girls in China, there are
more than 120 boys. Some suggest that the number of boys is even higher.
Along with the birth or just pregnancy of female infants, is the lost status
of the mothers who do not bear sons. Some women are discriminated against
for that reason, or even become an excuse for the husbands to file for
divorce and/or seek other women. Some of them are driven to suicide,
contributing to the previously mentioned highest world rate.
b) The position and value of female children is decreasing.
Especially in poor areas and for poor families, female children are under
greater pressure than their male siblings to discontinue schooling. The
subsequent neglect of the care and education for a female child is still
prevalent. Girls have very difficult chances to get into competitive and
reputable colleges for higher education. In my class, only 10% of the
students were girls.
4. Women's social, economic and health benefits are decreasing.
a) Women do not have their adequate health benefits, along with other social
benefits. Sometimes, the minimum "benefit" was built on the fact that their
human rights were violated. As an example, in a factory in WuXi, a
well-developed city close to Shanghai, the female workers received free
feminine napkins but were required to submit evidence of their menstruation
and were subject to search and examination of their private parts in order to
get a fair pay. Termination was the likely result if one was discovered to
be pregnant.
I know of women who wait to die instead of seeking treatment because they
cannot pay the hospital bills. The lady (with the enlarged neck due to lack
of iodine) presented in the recent PBS show "China in Red" is one of them.
b) For the women experiencing domestic violence, the government and the
society do not provide adequate protection. When some women report men's
brutality to the police, the answer is like: "Men do what men do."
Just on February 10, Ms. SU ChunMei, a 33-year-old woman, was critically
injured when her husband threw her out from the third floor. According to
official Chinese government data, at least 34% of Chinese families have
different degrees of domestic violence. 32% of people (mostly men) admitted
violent behavior against their spouses.
c) Unfair divorce and child custody is increasing.
The divorce rate is climbing in China. Not only do the divorced women get a
smaller or even virtually no share of their property and housing, but also
lack protection from the abusive husbands future abuses. There are reports
about revengeful husbands killing the ex-wives. Yet, in contrast, women do
not have much to say, nor much to take when husbands leave them for whatever
reason, even a new women.
5. Last but not the least, Chinese government systematically suppresses the
human rights of our fellow Chinese, especially of religious believers and
political dissidents.
In particular, there are large-scale abuses and torture against female
FaLunGong members and underground church members, not to mention ordinary
female prisoners. Besides being refused food and water, female detainees are
often sexually abused, even gang raped by male jail mates and officers.
There are incidents where the officers intentionally throw the female
prisoner into all male cells for hours of sexual abuse even rape. There is
police brutality of not only taking female prisoners clothes off, but also
using electric shock and hot iron bars to burn nipples and lower body parts.
Of course, there is some limited struggle for the suppressed. One such
effort is by a group of TianAnMen mothers who spend painstaking effort to
collect names and details about the victims of the June 4, 1989 students
movement. Lost their own loved ones to that massacre, they recorded deaths,
seek justice, and speak out for the rights of others such as the Tibetans and
have left a bright mark for the Chinese women's record of defending their
human rights.
I speak here not just for these women whose rights are offended, but also for
these people who defend their rights. I am speaking here not just to let
this commission to know the terrible human rights condition in China, but
also to seek this commission's sympathy and help to push for Chinese human
rights in your capacity. Hereby, I want to urge the Commission not to forget
these powerless and voiceless youth and not to let the superficial economic
development details cover up the very fact of the severe Chinese human rights
abuses.
I also want to point out the wrong approach of a suggestion to take the All
China Women's Federation as an NGO, or at least treat it as such even though
knowing it is really a Chinese government agency. It is well known that
there is no real workers' union in China that is permitted and admitted by
the Chinese government. The so-called the All China Workers' Union is really
an organ of the Chinese government to support their effort of exploiting
workers' rights rather than to protect the workers and promote their rights
and benefits. Well, the All China Women's Federation fares no better than
the All China Workers' Union. To work, to associate with, even to help and
fund these types of organization not only contributes to suppression of the
Chinese, but also deceives freedom loving American taxpayers.
Finally, I want to thank this Commission for paying attention to women's
issues. However, I must decry an effort to isolate these problems without
emphasizing their connection to the Chinese human rights problem. Hereby, I
want to emphasize that the women's problem in China is very much a human
rights problem. I wish this Commission will pay attention to this issue and
play a positive role in the improvement of women's rights in China.
Due to the limitation of time, I am submitting you the full text of my speech
and the other materials as reference and supplement. Attachment 1 is my
suggestion to the commissioners and staff of CECC on February 3, 2003 via
Chris Billing, CECC communication director. Attachment 2 is an article by
Jasper Becker in Beijing that was published right before Christmas: "China's
exploited toy workers still toil in toxic sweatshops". Attachment 3 is a
Chinese article from the web, which details the reality in China wherein
women's rights are not protected but exploited. There is much more material
both in English, more in Chinese on the subject, both in the traditional news
media and on the web that I will not submit at this time.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.
Ciping Huang
Secretary General
Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition
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Attachment 1: My suggestion to the commissioners and staff of CECC on
February 3, 2003 (via means of Chris Billing, CECC communications director)
1. CECC is a commission established after the PNTR debate in the Congress in
2002. Its primary mission is and should be "to monitor human rights and the
development of the rule of law in China". Unfortunately, since the
Commission officially got functioning one year ago, it has focused much more
on the Chinese economic details than its human rights conditions.
2. In an effort to monitor the Chinese human rights condition, I suggest the
Commission to get more Chinese to testify on the Chinese human rights abuse
reality, instead concentrating on American scholars and American business
associates' detailing the Chinese economic situation. As I have offered
before, I will be happy to assist the staff if you do not know enough of
Chinese contacts and I will be happy to help you to establish communication
and provide potential candidates within the Chinese dissidents community and
victims who have suffered human rights abuses in China.
3. On CECC's web page, there is a victims registry part that has provided
nothing on it. Well, we surely could have many contributions, either from
the political prisoners, or Falungong members, or underground church members,
etc . If the commission needs help to collect data and detail, we will be
glad to help.
4. At end of the each session, it is nice to have a Q&A session from the
Commission representatives and staff. What I would like to know is if it is
possible for the attendees (with positive ID and credentials) to ask
questions as well, in case of oversight. I think this would help the session
to be more well covered and balanced and provide motivation and sense of
participation for those who care about the Chinese human rights condition, as
well as the well being of this Commission.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Humbly requested,
Ciping Huang
Secretary General
Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition
Council member and Human Rights Committee chair
Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars
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Attachment 2:
China's exploited toy workers still toil in toxic sweatshops
By Jasper Becker in Beijing
24 December 2002
In the crowded sweatshops of China's Pearl River delta, the world's toys are
churned out not by Santa's elves, but by 1.5 million peasant girls toiling
through shifts of 12 or 14 hours, inhaling toxic fumes.
A 10-year campaign to introduce basic workers' rights has barely begun to
improve the shabby treatment of the girls, new research shows.
"The Chinese toy factory workers are more exploited than before," said May
Wong of the Asia Monitor Resource Centre who investigated the toy industry,
with the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee. Another investigator,
Monina Wong, author of a soon-to- be-published report for the Hong Kong
Coalition for the Charter on the Safe Production of Toys, said: "Wages have
actually gone down, there is so much surplus labour. Conditions have improved
alittle, especially in overtime because big buyers are putting pressure on
sub-contractors."
But workers still have no contracts or unions, and little protection from
owners who sometimes withhold part or even all of the wages due.
China makes 70 per cent of the world's toys and its exports, now worth $7.5bn
(￡4.7bn)
annually, have doubled in eight years. In addition, China exports nearly $1bn
of plastic Christmas trees, ornaments and lights, tinsel, plastic angels and
bells, Santa suits, framed pictures of Jesus and Bible scenes. Hong Kong and
Taiwanese companies that make goods for the likes of Hasbro (whose brands
include Action Man and Bob the Builder), Mattel (makers of Barbie) and Disney
have shifted production to the Chinese mainland, lured by the plentiful
supply of cheap, unregulated labour.
China has 6,000 manufacturers, largely funded by foreign companies and
clustered in the Pearl River delta, or Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.
Dr Anita Chan, an expert on Chinese labour issues at the Austrian National
University, said: "People who buy toys should care, [because] conditions in
the toy sector are probably worse than other factories." Sixty per cent of
the toy workers are women between 17 and 23 who live in cramped company
dormitories, 15 to a room, earning 30 cents an hour painting colours with a
brush or spraying, or clipping the pieces together. Most get only two days
off a month.
Inhaling the spray paints, glue fumes and toxic dust is a health hazard,
causing dizziness, headaches and rashes. Over time, it can be fatal. The case
of 19-year-old Li Chunmei, who fainted on the production line and died hours
later, was reported by The Washington Post this year and taken up by trade
unions in America. But such deaths are common in the Pearl river delta. This
year, China introduced laws on health and safety but campaigners say these
make the workers responsible for compliance and are hard to enforce.
Of the remaining $2, $1 is shared by the management and transportation in
Hong Kong, and 65 cents goes to the raw materials. The remaining 35 cents is
earned by producers in China for providing the factory sites, labour and
electricity.
Although big companies including Disney have drawn up codes of conduct,
enforcing them in China is not easy. Dr Chan said: "My guess is that big
factories might have shown improvement, but not the smaller
sub-subcontractor."
Chinese workers had the right to strike in the 1954 constitution but this was
taken away when it was amended in 1982. Now that the Communist Party is
privatising the means of production, legal experts say the only logical step
is for the workers to be allowed trade union freedoms.
http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=364245&host=3&dir=71
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尊敬的美国国会暨行政当局中国委员会：
我是黄慈萍，我是中国民主运动海外联席会议秘书长，全美学自联理事及人权委员会主席。今天，我代表这两个组织在这里发言。
我今天要讲的主题是中国妇女问题。这是自从2003年2月24日的圆桌会议讨论之后我一直想说的议题。那天的圆桌会议让我多少有些失望，坦率地说，您们在这问题上，和在其他议题上一样，不幸地延循着相同的歧路。
您们这个委员会是在有关与中国的"永久正常贸易关系"在美国国会的争论的背景下成立的。它的目标是有关中国的人权与法制。因而，我强烈地感到我们应该集中讨论人权问题，以便监督中国的基本人权，促进法制的健全。虽然我理解现状的局限性，我还是认为您们花费了太多的精力在其他议题上，比如和美国商界相关的中国经济环境，而没有在中国人权状况以及百姓的基本需求上有所关注。我觉得应当让更多的中国人为中国政府及其官员践踏人权的事实作证，这是过去您们比较忽视、今后应当特别重视的一面。在这里，我愿意协作和帮助你们找到与此相关的证人和受害者。
回到中国妇女问题方面，我要指出，2003年2月24日圆桌讨论上所说的，并没有击中要害。一方面，我理解讨论这个重大复杂的议题时所受的时间限制，同时理解学者专家们的思考和对某些方面的详尽分析，另一方面，我也看出许多学者不愿意跨越一个门槛，以为这个门槛一跨过去，会被认为是对中国政府的"严厉批评"，从而惹恼中国当权者。学者们担心这样一来，中国政府对他们的不信任、不欢迎，直接影响了学者本身的利益，比如可能进入中国境内受阻，影响研究项目的进展等等。中国政府曾经多次逮捕和骚扰持不同政见的华籍学者，现在又把这种行为升级到对待持有绿卡和美国公民身份的人们，威胁和恐惧的阴影空前灰暗。对学者高瞻、李少民和徐则荣的逮捕和审判，只是这种升级的几个可以被媒介接触的例子。杨建利博士在他十个月的拘留中，丝毫没有机会和外界甚至他的家人接触，这不仅不符合国际公认的法律程序，甚至也不符合中国自身的法律规定。
面对学者们面临的严酷现状，我觉得自己更有责任站出来为我的中国同胞说话，特别是为我的不幸的中国妇女姐妹。作为我家的第二个女孩，我从出生的那天起就经历了性别歧视。尽管是个品学兼优的毕业生，但是我的女人身份让我不得不同意接受另一个位置。我的老板直接告诉我，他不得不把我安置在别人不想要的位置上，因为我是个女人。即使是今天，我过去的女同学和女友，也因为她们的性别而在中国丢失了工作。
当然目前的妇女问题有社会文化历史的背景。不过，对于一贯标榜男女绝对平等、"妇女能顶半边天"的中国政府，对于可以成功地执行压制异议分子和"邪教徒"的中国当权者，人们不由地要问，为什么他们不能把男女平等的口号和政策实施到中国妇女身上呢？中国妇女不仅缺少社会和经济地位，而且缺少政治地位。众所周知，多年来政府各阶层的"妇女席位"一直是一个摆设、装饰，被"挑选"出来的妇女，加入政界，基本上是人云亦云，对政策决定的影响力微乎甚微。但是就是当"摆设"，妇女席位近年来也是有所下降。最近几年的中国人民代表大会、党代表大会上，妇女的席位的数量说明了这点。
中国妇女待遇的真实情况的揭示也受到了限制。她们多年来是被忽略的牺牲品。随着中国经济的发展，她们落在男人后面越来越远了。有的人成了廉价劳力和剥削的对象，不仅在经济社会上，而且在性方面也是如此。中国具有世界最高的妇女自杀率，这个事实本身就是众多有力证据的一个。
妓女、弃女婴、妇女买卖的数量已引起公众的注意。现在让我综述一下我所关注的几个有关妇女人权的问题。
一、中国经济的增长建立在对人权践踏，特别是对妇女人权践踏的基础上。妇女寻职困难，年轻"打工妹"甚至童工被压榨的事例是最好的佐证。
1）"打工妹"的队伍多由十几岁的女孩组成，她们从农村来到城市，多在工厂做工。不仅失去了应有的教育机会，而且酬劳低下，待遇不公，性骚扰和被欺侮的状况得不到应有的保护。
几个月前这方面的报告（见附件二）说明，打工妹在中外合资的工厂每小时挣30美分，一天工作16小时，每个月两天休假。在这些地方，打工妹不仅经济上被压榨，而且还要忍受被工头上司的性骚扰，甚至强奸。
2）随着国营企业的销减，妇女在失去工作、丢失了一生积累的福利和医疗保险的同时，在再寻工作上饱受性别、年龄的双重歧视。
甚至中国政府自己提供的资料也说明，半数以上的失业妇女在再寻职的过程中经历了性别和年龄的双重歧视。虽然女性占中国职工人口的39%，女性却占全国下岗工人的50%。
在辽宁和其它一些地区，女性下岗工人达61%。而35以上的妇女，若是没有强有力的关系网，或是突出的技能，几乎没有希望找到工作。我姐姐得到一个高级工程师职称，那个职位要求"35岁以下的男性"，这让我姐姐欣喜若狂。她是他们公司的特例，而他们公司在我30万人口的家乡是最大的公司。
要是有那么一条招工启事不那么正经，那么这项工作差不多是和半卖半娼相去不远。不难在报纸上看到这么一条广告："招聘清洁工，25岁以下，160公分以上，身材相貌娇好，学历不限。"我的朋友甚至告诉我有那么一条广告，寻求飞机乘务员的条件是"处女"。
令人忧虑的还在于这种歧视的明目张胆。报纸网络上公开刊登雇佣男性和年轻女性的广告，舆论上也有公开的支持，比如常有男性被调查者对记者说："三十五岁的女人回家相夫教子，蛮好。"政府在这种事情上，基本上是充耳不闻、无动于衷。
二、随着自由市场经济的发展，妇女人权状况恶化，其中表现在失去自身应有的自由和保障，甚至原有的社会地位。
我要强调的是，中国经济的快速增长，并没有对改善妇女状况有所帮助，相反地，它出现了更多的裂痕，让妇女沦落为牺牲品。中国政府掌权下的社会系统只是让"自由市场经济"更自由地践踏妇女的权益。
1）
家庭暴力和性骚扰使许多妇女置身于被虐地位，有的人沦陷为被践踏的牺牲品。
对于那些遭受家庭暴力的妇女，政府和社会不能够提供足够的保护。当妇女向当地警察报告挨丈夫毒打时，她可能得到这样的回音："男人总是做男人要做的事情。"
就在今年二月，33岁的苏纯美竟然被她的丈夫从三层楼上扔了出去。根据官方最近的数据，至少34%的中国家庭有不同程度的家庭暴力事件。32%的人们（大部分是男人）承认他们对配偶使用过暴力。
2）卖淫现象到了令人发指的地步，雏妓的数字惊人。
来自西方和官方的报道多次说明，卖淫现象已经相当严重，犯罪集团官卖女人的数字已经多的惊人，其中最小的有12岁的孩子。
在边缘贫穷地区，女孩子常常因为家庭经济困难而失学。失学了的少女奔向城市寻找光明，但是发现最光明不过是做一个"打工妹"，弄不好就会沦落为令人不耻的娼妓。有些女孩被人骗卖到其他城市甚至国外当娼妓。据马拉西亚报道，自2000年以来当地妓女骤然增加，其中大部分是被拐卖的中国女孩。
充当娼妓的女孩同时也最容易成为艾滋病的牺牲品。那些感染了艾滋病的妇女不敢声张，更不敢对治疗抱有希望。
近来有报道说，一个父亲不得已装成嫖客，才得以见到被拐骗了的十几岁女儿。让他心碎的是，女儿三个月失踪期间，竟已被强迫接客700多次。
这是什么样的罪恶！中国政府那么强有力地清除持不同政见者的声音，却对这种典型的社会病毒如此软弱无力。为什么？因为许多嫖娼者是地方官员和警察，或是和地府官员有关的人士，他们可以金钱买通关节，逃脱法律的制裁。最近中国出现了好几起警察施暴、"处女卖淫"的事件。年轻女孩被逼供承认自己勾引别人，她们"认罪"了以后还要罚款进监狱。幸运的是，她们最终得到释放和重审，验身结果是处女，从而证明了自己的清白。
3）"二奶"这个"妾"的新用语已经风行全中国，它不仅是一个新名词，而且是高位、富有的男人们最近几年倾之热情身体力行的具体对象。
当我1998年访问中国的时候，一次误入一家浴室。那个浴室实际上是专门为男人提供年轻女孩的地方。当我正在疑惑怎么没有女顾客的时候，我看到了无家可归的女孩子们令人泣唳的处境。几年过去了，我发现经济发展只是使这些女孩的处境更加悲惨。这些女还最好的"出头之日"恐怕就是给别人当二奶了。
随着经济的发展，性交易日益盛行，女性在原有传统的"被享用"的意识上，"更上一层楼"，变成了现代性奴隶，实在让人触目惊心。这种现象又给整个社会的道德沦丧注入了加强剂，使得女人在"性游戏"，比如一夜情、露水夫妻、性伴侣交换之中，成为精神肉体的受害者，女人如今的地位多么昏暗也就不在言中了。
三、妇女权益的破坏伴随着弃女婴和女胎流产
1）高比例的弃女婴和流产杀女胎
在政府"独生子女"的政策下，这个问题日益严重。成千上万的女童被抛弃，或是在出生之前就被扼杀。如果说这个现象说明了中国妇女地位的低下，那么政府可以顺利贯彻独生子女政策，却不能提供对无辜女婴生命的保护，只能说明它的严酷性厉和任意性。没有选择的平民百姓被迫使接受这项政策，妇女们被强制性地施行节育甚至绝育。很明显，这是忽视人权的具体表现，和对人权的践踏遥相呼应。
目前中国男女比例已经失调。中国官方的统计是每100个女孩就有117个男孩。有人认为这个比例甚至更高。
只生了女孩的妇女，地位骤然下降。有些妇女仅仅因为这个原因遭到歧视，没有生女孩甚至成了丈夫离婚或高外遇的理由。在这种情形下，有些妇女不得已自杀，这是前面所说的中国妇女高自杀率的因素之一。
2)
女孩的地位和价值低下
这个问题在贫困地区特别突出。在能否继续上学的问题上，女孩子和她们的兄弟相比，所受的压力要大得多。通常她们要让位于家中的兄弟，不得不辍学，回家或外出充当挣钱的工具。随之而来的是女孩受教育和受关爱的程度相应较低，因而能够上好大学的机会也相应减少。
四、妇女的社会、经济和医疗保险状况在恶化。
1）妇女通常没有足够的医疗保险和社会福利。
有的时候，基本的"福利"是建立在对人权的侵犯上。比如靠近上海的无锡是中国发展先进的城市，那里有个工厂女工可以接受免费月经纸，但是这个福利的享用必须取决于女工本人提供正常月经的证据，而且随时要准备接受私处被检查。如果被发现已经怀孕了，这个福利就立即取消。
没有足够医疗保险的妇女，生病以后的命运就非常悲惨了。她们有的人只能等死，因为口袋里没有钱进医院。最近PBS电视节目<China
in Red>中那个患甲状腺的大脖子妇女就是众多这样的悲惨妇女之一。
2）离婚和孩子抚养权的不公平
离婚率在中国直线上升，据报道，中国的离婚案件比前五年增加了14%，其中提出诉讼的原告70%是女性。据中华全国妇女联合会统计，离婚诉讼案件中30%以上跟家庭暴力有关。离婚中的妇女通常不仅不能够平分夫妻共同的财产，比如钱财和房屋，而且还极有可能丧失孩子的抚养权。不仅如此，离婚后若是前夫继续虐待，她们通常还受不到应有的保护。前夫杀害前妻的例子屡屡发生。可是，当丈夫另寻新欢要求离婚的时候，妻子就没有太多的机会为自己声辩和争取公平待遇。
五、中国政府系统化地镇压中国同胞的人权，特别是持不同政见者和不同宗教信仰的人们的人权。
对于法轮功以及地下教会女成员的迫害非常严重。如果她们被关押，除了在饮食起居上被虐待以外，她们还要承受性骚扰，甚至被男囚犯奸淫。有监狱将被捕的女犯人有意扔进男监，让她们遭到长达数小时的性骚扰甚至奸淫。有些警察不仅把女犯的衣服扒光，而且用电棒和烙铁烫她们的乳头和阴部。
在这种情形下，人们当然要有反抗。反抗之一是由一个叫做"天安门母亲"的群体进行的。她们花费了巨大的力气收集天安门事件牺牲者的名单和死亡详情。她们在天安门惨案中失去了自己的孩子，现在她们化悲痛为力量，寻找死亡人数和实力，勇敢地为事实说话，寻找公正。为中国妇女人权利运动历史上留下了光辉的一页。
我在这里不仅为那些基本人权被践踏的妇女同胞们说话，而且为那些为维护自己人权的人们说话。我的发言不仅仅是在陈述中国人权的现状，而且在希望中国委员会给与同情并尽你们的力量伸出援助之手。我热切希望中国委员会不要忘记那些没有权利没有声音的百姓，不要让经济表面的繁荣覆盖了中国人权遭践踏的严重事实。
我还想指出，把全国妇联当成非官方组织是非常可笑的。它是官方组织，这是全中国人们的共识。人们都知道，工会是名存实亡，一切活动都在政府的允许和监督下才能进行。所谓的"全国总工会"不过是在帮助政府欺压工人，而不是站在工人的立场上保护他们。实际上在这方面"全国妇联"和"全国总工会"异曲同工。与这些组织合作，甚至给与财力人力的支援，无疑是在帮助中国政府欺压老百姓，这也是对酷爱自由的美国纳税人的背叛。
最后，我要感谢中国委员会对妇女问题的关注。但是我不同意把这个问题孤立起来，而不和中国人权的状况相联系。我要强调的是，中国妇女问题本身就是中国人权问题的一部分。我希望中国委员会真正倾注你们的关切，在促进中国妇女与人权的进步方面起到正面的作用。
本发言附附件若干，请查收。谢谢！
黄慈萍
于2003年3月10日
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