Feminists with disabilities speak about growing up, building a life, and advocacy in the face of physical and social barriers
When 23-year-old Fang Yangyang lost her short life to starvation, abuse, and torture for allegedly being infertile, the perpetrators—her husband and in-laws—were sentenced to just two to three years in prison with probation by their municipal court in Shandong province.
Born with slight intellectual impairments that made it “extra difficult” for her to find a husband in rural Shandong, Fang had married Zhang Bing, a man from a neighboring village 11 years her senior, in an arranged marriage in 2016. Her story echoed that of her mother, an “intellectually troubled” woman whom Fang’s uncle picked up at a train station and brought home as a bride for Fang’s father—likely a victim of trafficking.
Sexual, physical, and emotional violence are a reality for disabled women in China, who often lack economic autonomy, self-defense ability, and awareness of danger. Women and girls with disabilities face greater danger of domestic violence and have lower access to sexual and reproductive health services, with girls living with multiple disabilities being the most vulnerable, according to a national-level analysis of China in 2019 by both the UN’s Population Fund and Handicap International.
China has made some progress in disability inclusion planning and services, but disabled women, amounting to 48 percent of China’s 100 million people with disabilities, remain at the bottom of lawmakers’ priorities. There are currently no national laws dedicated to women with disabilities, or specific protocols to the dangers confronting them, such as being confined, trafficked, and abused.
The neglect from government departments responsible for women and the disabled creates a double burden borne by disabled women due to both their gender and disability. They also create a vacuum of accountability, when the unique needs of women with disabilities are both overlooked by the “women’s matters” agenda and de-prioritized from disability issues.
What It’s Like to Grow Up Female and Disabled in China is a story from our issue, “Dawn of the Debt.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine.
Peixuan Xie is a contributing author at The World of Chinese. She aspires to make the marginalised voices heard through her writing and has so far touched on issues including feminism, disability inclusion, and HIV stigmatization. Alongside her engagement with TWOC, Peixuan also writes about the gender dynamics of conflict, but mostly she fumbles.
