Citation

Kuo SY, Zhang H, Zhao R. J. Fam. Violence 2021; 36(6): 637-641.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10896-021-00295-0

PMID

34149162

Abstract

Family violence has been among the most multifaceted phenomena across countries and regions (Tang & Lai, 2008). China, a conventionally male-dominated society, is no exception. Starting from the late 1970s, China implemented the Open Door economic policy. Accompanying the rapid economic growth since then, women's social status has gained significant improvements. For example, the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Bejing, the capital city of China, in 1995. The Conference passed a declaration to empower women and to advance gender equality. Women nowadays are believed to be able to hold up colloquially "half of the sky." Nevertheless, family violence in greater China remains an understudied area of research.

In mainland China, for instance, the All China Women's Federation (2011) revealed in 2011 that approximately one quarter of married women had experienced family violence of various kinds. The first Anti-domestic Violence Law (hereafter called the Law) that specifically deals with family violence, however, was not passed until December 2015. The Law officially came into effect on March 1, 2016. Although the Law marks a significant milestone for protection of victims in family violence, its effects remain unknown.

A recently published report on court cases concerning family violence in Beijing city reveals a total of 320 court verdicts (including civil, criminal, and administrative cases) between March 1, 2016 and the end of February, 2021. There was an average of only 64 verdicts per year. The number of verdicts reached 200 (62.5%) in 2016, the year that the Law came into effect. It then dropped dramatically to less than 60 cases per year starting in 2017. There was only one verdict during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020...

Language: en