Trafficking of women for marriage in China
| Author | Gracie Ming Zhao |
| Date | 01 February 2003 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1466802503003001457 |
| Published date | 01 February 2003 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Trafficking of women for
marriage in China:
Policy and practice
GRACIE MING ZHAO
Simon Fraser University, Canada
Abstract
Trafficking of women for marriage is recognized as a modern-day
slave trade, although it has a long history in China. The reasons for
its resurgence in China include, but are not limited to, patriarchal
values, state-tolerated sex discrimination, vulnerability of women
and the transformation of socio-economic situations. Accordingly,
the task of eradicating the trafficking in women involves combating
feudal and patriarchal assumptions about male dominance and male
supremacy; building up the confidence and dignity of the gender of
female; systematic governmental and international support of issues
of importance to women; restructuring legal systems where they are
still imperfect; adjusting economic systems so that women are never
exploited economically; strengthening fundamental and higher
education of women; regulating objectifying and pornographic
media images of women; and developing ways in which men and
women can relate without either dependency or dominance. The
author examines and evaluates both the strengths and weaknesses
of the current criminal justice policy of the Chinese government
against trafficking practices. She then argues that the existing policy
against trafficking is insufficient and ineffective and needs to be
reformed in a number of aspects as suggested. In this article, the
author takes a multi-disciplinary approach, including historical,
cultural, economic, ideological, sociological and legal study.
Key Words
China • marriage • policy • trafficking • women
Criminal Justice
© 2003 SAGE Publications
London, Thousand Oaks
and New Delhi.
1466–8025(200302) 3:1;
Vol. 3(1): 83–102; 030457
83
Introduction
In any given year, many thousands of women and young girls around the
world are lured, abducted or sold into coerced marriages and forced
prostitution. They are bartered at a price that varies depending on their
age, beauty and virginity, and exploited under conditions that amount to a
modern form of slavery (Human Rights Watch, 1995). It is hard to know
exactly how many women are involved in this particular trafficking trade
annually, because the trade is secretive, the women are usually silent and
the traffickers are dangerous and not many agencies are able to provide an
accurate count. It is estimated, however, that the ‘profits accumulated from
trafficking human beings exceeds $7 billion annually, rivaling the lucrative
trade in guns and drugs’ (Xinhua News Agency, China, 1999).
Due to its nature—a fundamental infringement of human rights, and its
burgeoning tendency, trafficking of women has drawn more and more
attention from individual states, non-governmental organizations, as well
as the United Nations. The 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in
Vienna, the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 and the
First World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children in Stockholm, Sweden, 1996, for example, all focused on issues of
trafficking in women and girls and the advancement of women’s human
rights. The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action adopted by the
World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 states:
Gender-based violence and all forms of sexual harassment and exploitation,
including those resulting from cultural prejudice and international traffick-
ing are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human being, and
must be eliminated. This can be achieved by legal measures and through
national action and international cooperation in such fields as economic and
social development, education, safe maternity and health care and social
support.
(para. 1/18)
Actually, this particular type of trafficking assumes many different forms.
However, there are primarily three distinct forms: (a) trafficking for sexual
industry, ranging from prostitution at the street level or confinement in
bawdy houses, to pornography, sex tourism and militarized sexual services;
(b) trafficking for cheap labor force; and (c) trafficking for coerced mar-
riage. There are numerous contemporary academic studies that examine
the problem of trafficking in women now, but few focus on the specific
form of trafficking for coerced marriage (Chew, 1999). This article, how-
ever, will focus on this type of trafficking as it occurs within the borders of
China.
The trafficking of women for marriage had a long history in China until
the Communist government stamped it out in the 1950s during campaigns
for the emancipation of women. However, the past two decades in China
have been a time of substantial social transformation, a blending of the new
Criminal Justice 3(1)
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