Chinese society needs to support women’s decision making, say experts

The recent decision by Guangzhou, in southern China, to introduce women-only carriages on the metro has triggered controversy about whether the move protects women’s rights or stigmatizes women as a vulnerable group.

Some men have also complained about being discriminated against.

But “if the men are inconvenienced slightly because they might have to wait a few minutes to get on a bus, I think that’s a fair and reasonable accommodation for the women who are given a safe space where they don’t have to worry about being sexually harassed,” Sara MacDonald, professor at St. Thomas University in Canada, told CGTN’s Dialogue.

“No one’s rights are absolute, you have to think about an individual’s rights in relationship to the safety and security of everyone in society, particularly those vulnerable populations,” she noted.

Others have argued that running women-only carriages is gender discrimination, because the assumption is that women are the weaker gender, according to Li Jinzhao, professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

A number of countries, such as Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt and the UK, already have women-only transportation.

This is part of a wider trend of women gaining more visibility and influence in areas such as business and politics. But there is still work to be done.

"Currently the issue in the West has to do with finding ways to change the entire culture of how society view women,” said MacDonald.

“The real problem in the US and Canada, and I think probably in Europe as well, is to find ways to re-educate the entire populations of people, so that position or that view is no longer at the forefront of people's mind," she added.

In China, a small number of activists — most of them outspoken, social media-savvy women in their 20s — have used creative campaigns to protest strains of male chauvinism that run through contemporary Chinese society.

“Going to the street is just the beginning, it is not the end, the end is getting things done,” Li argued however.

The term feminism actually includes different types of feminism, and not all agree with each other, she noted.

Some put the emphasis on equal pay and equal job opportunities, while others focus on sexual minority rights.

“The bottom line is to respect women’s decision-making process and… giving women equal opportunities and equal chances,” she emphasized.