COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN CHINA: IMPLICATIONS TO PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION WORK

Abstract

Domestic violence in marital relationships is against the law in the People's Republic of China (hereafter "China" is used), where progressive development to address domestic violence began after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. In this article, domestic violence is referred to as violence against women by their male partners and the complexity of domestic violence is seen to be influenced by socio-cultural, economic, psychological, and environmental factors. Community responses to domestic violence are largely led by the "residents' committees" under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the All Women's Federation in China. However, literature has documented the inadequacy of these community responses to prevent and intervene on domestic violence. A feminist perspective is used to examine the prevalence and perception of domestic violence in the local context, and discusses implications for prevention and intervention work in China.