Columbia Global Centers East Asia Beijing+20 2nd Roundtable Report - English FULL version

Beijing+20: Roundtable Discussion on the Progress of
Women in China
—Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the 1995 Fourth
World Conference on Women in Beijing
Report on the Second Roundtable
Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
December 3, 2014

Columbia Global Centers | East Asia, Beijing+20: Report on the Second Roundtable
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Content
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND......................................................................................2
1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................2
2. Background.......................................................................................................................2
3. Preparations.......................................................................................................................3
OPENING REMARKS.....................................................................................................................4
SESSION ONE: Status of Beijing+20 for China and the Asia Pacific .............................................4
1. Update on the Asia Pacific Civil Society Forum on Beijing+20 Review in Bangkok, and
the status of Beijing+20 preparations and work, especially for China..............................4
2. Discussion and additional information on the Asia Pacific Conference on Gender
Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Bangkok ..........................................................5
SESSION TWO: The New Sustainable Development Goals on Gender Equality and the Gap in the
China Context ...................................................................................................................................8
1. Brief update on the United Nations’ new post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and indicators on gender equality ........................................................................8
2. Global Women Issues — Comparing China and Other Regions.......................................9
3. Open Discussion ...............................................................................................................9
SESSION THREE: Strategies to narrow the gap between China and SDGs on gender equality
incorporating with China’s update on CEDAW principles .............................................................12
1. Update on China’s progress on the Platform for Action and the Committee of CEDAW’s
concluding observations on the combined seventh and eight periodic reports of China 12
2. Open Discussion .............................................................................................................13
OUTCOMES AND LOOKING FORWARD..................................................................................16
Appendix 1: Roundtable Agenda ....................................................................................................17
Appendix 2: List of Participants .....................................................................................................20
Appendix 3: Inventory of Roundtable Materials.............................................................................28
This report has been prepared by Columbia Global Centers | East Asia’s researcher Shuang Lin
based on the discussions at the roundtable, and has been reviewed and edited by the Center’s
director Joan Kaufman and program officer Eyra Xiong. The report has been reviewed and
approved by the participants to the roundtable discussion.

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Meeting Report
Beijing+20 Second Roundtable
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1. Introduction
The Second Beijing+20 Roundtable Discussion on the Progress of Women in China took
place on December 3, 2014 in Beijing, China, convened by Columbia Global Centers| East
Asia (CGCEA) with support from the Ford Foundation.
The Second Roundtable aimed:
 to provide an update on the regional and China process so far, facilitated by
speakers who attended the Asia Pacific Beijing+20 Civil Society Forum and the
recent Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) discussions;
 to review the global process of developing Post-2015 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including its
gender goals, and compare those to China’s issues and issues from other regions;
 to bring networks together again for discussions and strategizing on next steps for
advancing gender equity in China.
The roundtable was organized into three sessions, each chaired by a speaker presenting an
update on the topic of the session and followed by discussion:
 Status of the Beijing+20 review process for China and the Asia Pacific;
 The New Sustainable Development Goals on Gender Equality and the Gap in the
China Context and strategies to narrow the gap
 An update on China’s CEDAW progress and principles.
20 speakers together with five observers joined the second roundtable, bringing expertise from
gender and women’s studies, law, young feminist groups, the media, local and regional CSOs
working on legal aid, economic empowerment and women’s rights.
2. Background
Columbia Global Centers | East Asia is one of eight centers set up by Columbia University
around the world to work on global issues, as platforms for faculty and students, and to bring
knowledge from the regions to each other and to and from campus.
In 2014, the Columbia Global Center | East Asia launched Beijing+20: Roundtable
Discussions on the Progress of Women in China, commemorating the 20th
anniversary of the
Fourth World Congress on Women, which took place in Beijing in 1995. The objective of the
roundtables has been to convene a wide and diverse range of activists, scholars, practitioners,

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and leaders working on gender issues in China to reflect on the status of women’s and gender
rights in China today and provide an opportunity to discuss continuing challenges and how to
move forward to address them.
The First Roundtable was held on May 22, 2014. It brought together fourteen participants to
review achievements, identify persistent obstacles and shed light on a future agenda. Panel
and open discussions identified major issues and key actors, and proposals to form alliances
among and between domestic and global partners were put forward. A post roundtable survey
was circulated to collect additional information and to inform future roundtable(s). (The First
Roundtable Report: English version; Chinese version)
The Second Roundtable was organized in the aftermath of this year’s International Day for the
Elimination of Violence against Women, against a broader context of three interlinked global
efforts advancing gender equality and women’s rights: The 20-year anniversary of the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action, the ongoing process to develop SDGs gender goals, and
the review of China’s CEDAW report. Recognizing the significance of Beijing’s role around
these three pillars, the roundtable was designed to update and discuss the outlook for each
individual process, from primarily a China perspective as well as a global/regional
perspective.
3. Preparations
Preparations for the Second Roundtable took place, with guidance from participants, input
from several key activists, as well as help from Columbia Global Centers’ other global
centers located in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, South Asia.
Background materials developed by CGCEA to facilitate the discussions included:
 Timeline of China’s Major Gender Events Post 1995 (draft);
 List of Organizations and Networks in China Working on Women and Gender Issues
(draft);
 Top 5 Key Women’s and Gender Issues in 5 Other Regions (English version;
Chinese version);
 Selected Data of China’s Gender Status (Bilingual version)

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OPENING REMARKS
Joan Kaufman, Director of Columbia Global Centers | East Asia (hereafter, abbreviated as
CGCEA), opened the roundtable by welcoming the participants. Kaufman extended thanks to
the Ford Foundation for supporting the project, and to participants whose advice and guidance
helped shape the agenda and goals of this roundtable. She also thanked the CGCEA team who
prepared for the roundtable.
Joan Kaufman provided a short introduction to the CGCEA’s mission and commitments to
advancing gender equality. She highlighted that many Columbia Global Centers committed
considerable effort to women’s rights programming and the CGCEA drew on the network to
prepare for this meeting by asking them to identify the top five women’s rights challenges in
their regions. She then briefed the participants on the objectives and agenda of the second
roundtable.
SESSION ONE: Status of Beijing+20 for China and the Asia Pacific
The objective of Session One was to provide an update on the status of the Beijing+20 formal
process both regionally and in China, drawing experiences from the Asia Pacific Beijing+20
Civil Society Forum and the Asia and Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and Women's
Empowerment: Beijing+20 Review, both of which took place in Bangkok in November 2014.
Chinese participants who attended the meetings offered comments. Background documents
prepared for the session were a “Timeline of China’s Major Gender Events Post 1995”, and a
“List of Organizations and Networks Working on Women and Gender Issues in China”, both
in draft form awaiting participants’ feedback and comments.
1. Update on the Asia Pacific Civil Society Forum on Beijing+20 Review in
Bangkok, and the status of Beijing+20 preparations and work, especially
for China
Xiong Jing, Project Manager of Beijing Gender Culture Communication Center, Editor of
Weibo@FeministVoice, chaired session one by first sharing her experience and observations
from the Civil Society Forum. The Forum gathered more than 480 CSOs from across
Asia-Pacific, including 13 from China, to call on governments for accountability for the
commitments to advance gender equality and the rights of women and girls. Xiong briefed the
roundtable participants on the agenda of the Forum. The three-day meeting (November 17-19,
2014) was aimed at producing a final Statement directed at influencing the Review
Conference which commenced right after the closing of the Civil Society Forum.
Xiong spoke about the wide coverage of issues during the 18 workshops on the second day,
featuring topics ranging from more traditional ones such as women and migration, economy,
trade, violence, media, to more marginalized ones such as environment, sexual minorities,
sexual rights, lesbians and the disabled. She also noted that certain issues remained untouched
like the safety and freedom of feminist activists. In November 2014, two activists from the
Chinese delegation encountered travel restrictions and were unable to attend the Forum. The
young activists who managed to go to Bangkok did performance art on this issue during the
meeting, attracting a lot of attention.

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Cai Yiping, Executive Committee member of Development Alternatives with Women for a
New Era (DAWN), Member of UN Women Asia Pacific Civil Society Advisory Group and
Member of the Asia Pacific Regional Engagement Mechanism added her own experience
attending the official government meeting in Bangkok: the Asia and Pacific Conference on
Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: Beijing+20 Review. She noted the UN
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) held a four-day
inter-governmental conference to celebrate Beijing+20 and reached a negotiated declaration to,
whereas other regions chose to issue a joint statement.
Cai commented that a “declaration” as an outcome of the Asia-Pacific governmental
negotiation is a more concrete document, containing review, analysis, and commitments, and
thus strengthens the binding power. Some contents of the declaration was seen as more
inclusive and progressive compared to the Beijing Declaration, covering issues such as war
and peace, gender-based violence, women and migration, the disabled, HIV, women and
climate change etc. She emphasized the use of “ALL women and girls” in the documents
when addressing discrimination. However, the declaration failed to state the importance of
women’s reproductive health and sexual health, as well as new issues related to globalization
and women.
2. Discussion and additional information on the Asia Pacific Conference on
Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Bangkok
Ai Ke, Coordinator of BCome, an action-oriented feminist youth group, who attended the
CSO Forum in Bangkok, agreed that topics such as sexual rights were still sensitive and
marginalized in the discussions. In one of the Bangkok Forum workshops Ai presented
Bcome’s awareness-raising activities about sexual rights and gender-based violence. Bcome
was established in 2009. A major event was their play “Our Vaginas, OurSelves”, re-casted
from the famous play “Vagina Monologues”. The play has been staged 16 times across China,
attracting over 2000 people in audiences. In Bangkok, Ai was able to collect very positive
feedback of her presentation from the CSO community and was offered advice from regional
CSOs on program evaluation and group management strategies. Forming such alliances with
other organizations in the region will boost the development of Chinese CSOs.
Lin Lixia, Secretary-General of the “Women Watch” program with Beijing Zhong Ze Legal
Aid Center, shared her experience participating in a workshop on program evaluation. The
participatory approach of the workshop allowed the discussion to be substantive and extensive,
covering topics including violence in common-law relationships, sexual abuse of children,
rights of domestic workers, living wage, transnational trafficking and so on. The workshop
paid special attention to the accuracy of concepts in the statement submitted (The Asia Pacific
Beijing+20 Civil Society Forum Statement), such as equality/equity, women’s rights/rights of
women and girls, LGBT/sexual orientation, gender identity/rights of gender expression etc.
Susie Jolly, Program Officer/Sexuality and Reproductive Health Education, Ford Foundation
KEY DISCUSSION QUESTION OF THE SESSION
 Are the voices of the Chinese women’s movement sufficiently heard
in the regional meetings and in the China discussions?

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in China, asked whether Chinese representatives from CSOs and those from the government
communicated with each other in Bangkok. Xiong Jing responded saying there was no
personal interaction between representatives from CSOs and those from the All China
Women’s Federation. Cai Yi Ping added her observation that the All China Women’s
Federation delegates seemed insufficiently prepared in terms of familiarizing themselves with
the public discourse related to the conference issues. . Evidence of this was that their delegate
requested deleting the word “ALL” in “all women and girls” because they considered it as a
grammatical mistake.
Gao Xiaoxian, General Secretary & Chairman of Shanxi Research Association for Women
and Family, Director of Shanxi Gender Development Solution, raised the question of
“who/which organizations obtained the right to attend the Forum?” She noted that same as 20
years ago, today’s Chinese CSOs did not have the resources to participate in international
conferences which still largely depend on international funding. Strong commitment on the
part of the government has always been required to increase resources available for
strengthening the capacity and participation of CSOs in such international meetings. Gao’s
observation was echoed by other participants.
Member of the Asia Pacific Regional Engagement Mechanism, explained that the CSO Forum
was open to all organizations, while CSO observer status applications to participate in the
Governmental conference and the review of reports from States must be approved by the
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and only
organizations with a regional focus rather than domestic or national focus were allowed to
nominate the CSO observers.
Other participants also pointed out issues of importance but to which little attention was given.
Fang Jing, Professor and Director of the Institute for Health Sciences, Kunming Medical
University, argued that the sex ratio at birth and integrated sexual and reproductive health
services were rarely discussed. In China, few sexual and reproductive health services were
available for adolescents, which should be. Cai Yiping reported that in the CSO Forum,
Chinese CSOs prepared a briefing paper to lobby on issues including sexual and reproductive
health services for adolescents in the Forum. She also noted that another barrier was states’
willingness to engage in advocacy---some states feel hesitant to speak out due to political
considerations. Lack of legal definition of discrimination and neglect of girls’ rights were
raised respectively by Liu Minghui, Professor of Law at China Women’s University, and Bu
Wei, Professor at the Institute of Journalism and Communication (IJC) in the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and Director of the Research Center for Children and
Media in IJC of CASS.

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MAIN DISCUSSION OUTCOMES OF THIS SESSION:
POSITIVE:
 Chinese CSO’s lobbying/advocacy ability demonstrated by
preparing briefing paper and doing performance art;
 Extensive coverage of issues and topics occurred at the Bangkok
CSO meeting;
 Regional coordination was improved at the Bangkok meeting.
NEGATIVE:
 Lack of communication and coordination between Chinese
representatives from CSOs and government;
 Lack of resources thus weak representing power of mainland CSOs;
 Lack of real understanding of some of the issues by All China
Women’s Federation representatives;
 Some issues still marginalized in the meeting, including sexual
rights, reproductive health services for adolescents, girls’rights etc.

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SESSION TWO: The New Sustainable Development Goals on
Gender Equality and the Gap in the China Context
Session Two was chaired by Cai Yiping and aimed to look at the new gender goals that will be
included in the post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also featured in this
session were major challenges facing women in other parts of the world. The objective was to
compare China’s issues with global ones and examine the newly proposed SDGs to see if they
adequately cover real pressing issues of women’s rights. Materials prepared for this sessions
were the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) goals (updated
on May 5, 2014) and targets on gender equality and corresponding indicators, United Nations
Open Working Group (OWG) proposals for the gender equality goals, summary documents of
the top 5 issues in women’s rights from other regions where the Columbia Global Centers are
located, and China Gender data compiled by the Columbia Global Center’s researcher.
1. Brief update on the United Nations’ new post 2015 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and indicators on gender equality
Cai Yiping, Executive Committee member of Development Alternatives for Women for a
Member of the Asia Pacific Regional Engagement Mechanism, presented the process and
organizations involved in developing post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. The
international community has set 2015 as the deadline for achieving the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) adopted in 2000. There were basically two tracks for
establishing a successor framework to the MDGs which have framed the priorities of
development agencies, donors and other development actors in developing countries since
2000. One derived its mandate from the 2010 MDG Summit, and another derived its mandate
from the recently concluded 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).
The timeline was from 2012 onwards, and through discussion, content consideration,
negotiation and debate, a global agreement would be reached in 2015 on the new SDGs.
Included in the post 2015 SDGs is a goal to “achieve gender equality and empower all women
and girls” (from OWG). Challenging the current development model that “perpetuates
inequalities of wealth, power and resources between countries, within countries and between
men and women”, feminists around the world issued “A Feminist Declaration for Post 2015”,
demanding a paradigm transformation from the current model to approaches that “are firmly
rooted in principles of human rights and environmental sustainability”. They called for gender
equality to be cross-cutting across all sustainable development goals and strategies, and the
inclusion of specific objectives regarding education, health, economic justice, ecological
justice, governance and accountability.
Cai also called upon CSOs to proactively join international discussions and consultations on
SDGs. Efforts should be directed towards integrating the spirit of the Cairo International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the Beijing Platform for Action into
SDGs, bringing the concept of women’s rights as human rights/women’s empowerment into
line with the SDGs, setting valid indicators to measure empowerment not just development,
and ensuring full participation of CSOs.

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2. Global Women Issues — Comparing China and Other Regions
The second presenter, Liu Dongwei, TrustLaw Program Director for China and East Asia,
Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF), talked about comparison of women’s rights in China and
in the international community. Liu emphasized that the standards and content of women’s
rights varies across history, cultures and development stages, and that men’s rights should also
be integrated into the gender discourse. Challenges against women’s rights in China that Liu
identified resided in violence, discrimination, economic rights, feminization in agriculture,
common law relationships, and the distorted sex ratio at birth in favor of boys. According to a
perception poll of gender experts by TRF, among East Asian countries China ranked behind
Japan and Korea in terms of how well women in these countries fared, and China held the
highest male-to-female sex ratio at birth among G20 countries. According to study in 2010 by
World Values Survey Association, about a quarter of Chinese think it’s somewhat or always
justifiable for a man to beat his wife.
Looking beyond China, Liu shared the gender situation in other countries/regions revealed by
TRF polls. In the most dangerous countries, rape, trafficking, sexual slavery, epidemic
diseases and war are the most pressing issues facing women and girls. In G20 countries, child
marriage, illegal/private punishment, domestic violence, sexual violence, female genital
mutilation, unemployment, underage prostitution, and housework burden are perpetuating
inequalities between men and women. To tackle women’s issues, everyone including the
private sector should be involved.
3. Open Discussion
Tong Xin, Professor, Department of Sociology, Director of Labor Studies Center and Vice
Director of Department of Sociology in Peking University began the open discussion by
asking how to bring gender equality into school textbooks in order to raise awareness. Social
stigma and weak gender awareness were eroding the achievements reached by activists. The
problem was especially serious among men (and even those well-educated). Liu Minghui
echoed this point and added that a textbook on gender and law she published discussed this
issue.
Susie Jolly, Program Officer/Sexuality and Reproductive Health Education, Ford Foundation
inquired about the mission of Thomson Reuters Foundation. Liu Dongwei explained that
Thomson Reuters Foundation is a corporate charity initiated by Thomson Reuters Corporation,
a major multinational mass media and information firm. TRC’s TrustLaw project connects
KEY DISCUSSION QUESTION OF THE SESSION
 Do the SDGs sufficiently include the main problems in China? (such
as gender discrimination for female college students entering the work force
and gender discrimination in advancement to senior management, and rural
women’s land and property rights)
 What can be done to ensure that the real issues facing Chinese
women get into the formal review process and are set as goals with indicators
for the next phase SDGs and are actually implemented/enforced?

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high-impact social organizations with the best law firms in the world willing to provide free
legal assistance. Its Trust Women program launched in 2012, apart from other activities, holds
annual conferences that brings together global corporations, lawyers and pioneers in the field
of women's rights.
Joan Kaufman, Director of Columbia Global Centers | East Asia returned to the theme of
CSOs participating in the development of SDG gender goals, inquiring about the process in
China in developing SDG gender goals. Cai Yiping, Executive Committee member of
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Member of UN Women Asia
Pacific Civil Society Advisory Group and Member of the Asia Pacific Regional Engagement
Mechanism, added that UNDP China office organized a round of country consultations, which
Liu Bohong, Professor of China Women’s University, Senior Research Fellow and Former
Deputy Director-General of Women’s Studies Institute of China, and another professor both
participated in. In addition, studies on the post-2015 women’s agenda in China, India and
Indonesia were supported by the Ford Foundation. Cai Yiping is currently serving as the focal
point for Northeast Asia for a CSO participatory mechanism established by The United
Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. CSOs were encouraged to
take an active part in the process.
Many countries in the Asia Pacific region have created government mechanisms to get civil
society to participate in representing the country, pointed out Joan Kaufman, Director of
Columbia Global Centers | East Asia. How should China build such a formal channel of
representation, learning from neighboring countries? The main issue was to identify reliable
organizations/people to serve as representatives of their communities. Fang Jing, Professor
and Director of the Institute for Health Science, Kunming Medical University, also raised her
question: Who should be that representative organization? Should it be the All China
Women’s Federation? Or is there an existing organization that can better represent Chinese
women’s interests? Participants also referred to the National Working Committee on Children
and Women of the State Council (NWCCW), which should be strengthened to take on more
substantive tasks. Liu Minghui, Professor of Law at China Women’s University noted that the
CEDAW concluding observations had pointed out the weakness of the NWCCW. The
NWCCW was only a coordinating agency with no mandate or budget to implement policies,
and that it was not mandated to make gender-assessments of laws and policies. The CEDAW
Committee was also concerned about the limited cooperation between the NWCCW and a
broad range of CSOs working on women’s rights issues. Liu argued that the comments by the
CEDAW Committee should be strategically used to urge the NWCCW to undertake gender
impact assessment across the country and work more closely with CSOs in doing so.
Transnational working mechanisms played a major role in making the Beijing 1995
Conference a big success. The connection of the global women’s movement to China, the
pressure from the UN system and international organizations and from the grassroots level
combined to create a momentum for change. How, asked Joan Kaufman, Director of
Columbia Global Centers | East Asia, to sustain the momentum? Is it stronger or weaker now?
Member of the Asia Pacific Regional Engagement Mechanism, shared her opinion. Compared

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to the situation 20 years ago, Chinese CSOs have accelerated achievements, increased
participation, capacity and organizational development. Moreover, she acknowledged the
achievements of the growing group of young activists, saying they have succeeded in
directing attention to a wider range of topics including sexual rights. However, conservatism
has created a shadow of negative impacts on the development of women’s CSOs. Compared
to CSOs on environmental protection or AIDS/HIV, women’s CSOs face greater challenges.
 It is necessary to create a formal representation mechanism and
channel for NGOs to participate in global consultations of SDGs gender goals
and other international/regional conversations;
 It is important to also bring smaller & marginalized NGOs into
discussions;
 It is critical for NGOs to better coordinate to urge the government to
implement the concluding observations of CEDAW and accelerate progress;
 It is urgent to address issues like gender and sex education, safety of
women and girls and the glass ceiling against women.

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SESSION THREE: Strategies to narrow the gap between China and
SDGs on gender equality incorporating with China’s update on
CEDAW principles
This session focused on the CEDAW process which is more advanced and organized than the
SDGs or the Beijing +20 process. Continuing on from Session Two, this session looked at
whether the proposed global SDGs fully include China’s issues and challenges for the next
phase. Then an open discussion aimed to identify actions needed for next steps in five
domains: legal, academic research, advocacy, bringing the various networks together for joint
action and strategy, and in linkages with global organizations working on women’s rights and
the Beijing +20 action plan.
1. Update on China’s progress on the Platform for Action and the Committee
of CEDAW’s concluding observations on the combined seventh and eight
periodic reports of China
Deputy Director-General of the Women’s Studies Institute of China who has been deeply
involved in China’s CEDAW process shared her experience of attending the recent CEDAW
review meeting in Geneva, and her opinions on China’s responses to the CEDAW committee’s
questions.
China was one of the first countries to sign the CEDAW Convention, based on the suggestions
of law experts who concluded that the Convention was coherent with the Constitution and the
Marriage Law China that had just been issued. This year’ review meeting was divided into
two parts: Song Xiuyan and delegation leaders from Hong Kong and Macao gave a 40-minute
presentation on the status of women’s human rights in China; then Chinese multi sectorial
government delegation (10 ministries represented) including representatives from the
National People’s Congress responded to questions from the Committee. Liu described the
conversations as constructive. The responses by the Chinese delegation were more direct and
precise compared to previous CEDAW review meetings, citing related laws and data. But
still, irrelevant answers were given for some questions and discussion of sensitive issues was
avoided. Misinterpretation of some articles of the Convention also occurred. Even while
more CSOs attended the meeting, there was less interaction between the government and CSO
representatives than in the past.
Liu Bohong talked about the Chinese government’s responses to the Committee’s concerns
regarding: legal status of the Convention and ratification of the Optional Protocol, definition
of discrimination against women, independence of the judiciary and access to justice, national
human rights institutions, machinery for the advancement of women and data collection,
temporary special measures, stereotypes and harmful practices, trafficking and exploitation of
prostitution, participation in political and public life, human rights defenders and
non-governmental organizations, gender inequality in higher education , gender
discrimination in employment, health (sex ratio at birth, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health),
rural women, women’s property rights, multiple forms of discrimination against women and
so on . While in the past the Chinese delegation rejected outright the signing of the Optional
Protocol (which binds governments to protecting women’s human rights), this matter was left

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open for “further research” at the recent meeting. Liu noted that the Chinese delegation did
not seem to fully understand differences between direct and indirect gender discrimination
and also didn’t fully address the new expanded language of the CEDAW Committee related to
discrimination based on both gender and sexual orientation. For example, the delegation
highlighted the draft domestic violence law just released for discussion which does not cover
violence between same sex partners.
Liu commented that the review of China’s report was now more transparent. Public advocacy
for the implementation of all areas of the Convention has been strengthened. It was the first
time that CSOs from mainland China were allowed to submit shadow reports---47 shadow
reports were submitted, among them 17 were from mainland CSOs---despite the fact that the
shadow reports that finally got submitted were censored by the government, removing
references to sensitive topics before submission and not informing the CSOs that their reports
had been edited. For example, women’s land rights and the shutdown of women’s NGO
websites were not mentioned.. Liu also mentioned that in the future CSOs will be able to
submit shadow reports to the CEDAW Committee without running them by their governments
according to the recently updated submission process.
The Beijing Declaration, CEDAW, and MDGs (and subsequent SDGs) are three parallel
processes, and they should be promoted as an integral whole. According to Liu Bohong, the
CEDAW mechanism is stronger and more effective than the others. CEDAW has been
integrated into international law, but the Beijing Declaration has not, thus increasing
accountability to the CEDAW provisions. Cai Yiping agreed that due to its “policy document”
nature, the Beijing Declaration was weak in implementation and countries acted more from a
geopolitical and diplomatic perspective.
2. Open Discussion
CEDAW seems the better one for China to ensure progress, noted Joan Kaufman, Director of
Columbia Global Centers | East Asia. What is the process and timeline on the Chinese side to
implement the Convention? In particular, how to get local institutions to implement the law?
Deputy Director-General of Women’s Studies Institute of China stressed the importance of
“domesticating” the provisions of the Convention. Leaders of government agencies should be
further educated to ensure adequate efforts, and existing programs should be intensified to
train judges and officials at all levels.
Yu Yan, China Women’s News editorial board member and Senior Editor, Chief Editor of
KEY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS OF THE SESSION
 Is the CEDAW process making real progress in China? Is it fully
combined with the Beijing +20 process? Should it be?
 What main actions in China (in the five domains we discussed) will
help to mobilize attention and action for the next phase of implementation of
the Beijing Platform for Action and newly identified China women’s rights
problems?

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New Women’s Studies Weekly, Chief Editor of All-China Women’s Federation’s Analysis of
Public Opinions about Women and Children, spoke of the plans of China Women’s News for
CEDAW and Beijing+20. As a media organization under the All China Women’s Federation,
China Women’s News focuses more on constructive reports, and gives deep analysis on
gender issues from a constructive perspective. At the same time, it produces selected reports
based on hot online women and children issues for internal circulation, in order to reveal
important gender issues to the leaders and provide recommendations. China Women’s News
also works hard to train young journalists and reporters to raise their gender awareness.
Responding to Bejiing+20, it has launched series of report projects, including an oral history
project “20 people’s oral history for 20 years”. Working with partners, it endeavors to serve as
the mouthpiece and a think tank for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and promote
collaboration in goals, resources and communications. Xie Lihua, Founder and Chair of
Beijing
Cultural Development Center for Rural women (BCDCRW), Co-Founder and Council
Member of Rural Women Development Foundation Guangdong, suggested that we should use
new media strategically. She pointed out that wider acceptance of the information we spread
would help our cause. The Occupy Male Restroom activity was a good idea, but might only
be accepted by a few people. Liu Minghui, Professor of Law at China Women’s University,
added that misconceptions about gender equality in mass media remained high. Portrayals of
characters in many movies and TV shows reveal the existing bias and misunderstanding on
some gender issues, and more efforts should be put into educating people who work in the
film and television industry. Chen Mingxia, Research Scholar in the Institute of Law at the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, agreed and noted the significance of the media
industry’s social responsibility on educating the public on gender awareness. Lin Lixia,
Secretary-General of the Women Watch program in Beijing Zhong Ze Legal Aid Center, and
Li Huibo, Deputy Director of China Women and Gender Library at China Women’s University,
shared information about their organizations’ Beijing+20 documentary films and women’s
oral history projects .
Gao Xiaoxian, General Secretary& Chairman, Shanxi Research Association for Women and
Family, Director of Shanxi Gender Development Solution, called upon participants to reach
consensus on the broad social background of the Chinese women’s movement. Was there a
“women’s movement” after the Opening and Reform in 1978? What were the successes and
lessons learned? Cai Yiping argued that the word “movement” was demonized for a period,
therefore “women’s movement” was rarely mentioned. Back in 1995 it was the All China
Women’s Federation that led the movement. Now the leading agency is no longer the All
China Women’s Federation. The lack of a coordinated strategy and decline in determination is
a serious problem. There have been plenty of cases where experts oppose and contradict each
other, as in the case of banning teacher-student affairs versus sex freedom and sexual rights.
Gender mainstreaming is a major issue of concern to the participants. Many participants
joined discussion of the Anti-Domestic Violence Law, which has been opened for the public to
review and submit suggestions. Chen Min, Director and Research Scholar, Center for Gender
and Law Studies at China Institute of Applied Jurisprudence, as a law expert, provided her
reading of the draft. She regarded it as weak in incorporating a gender perspective. For

15
example, the scope of the definition of domestic violence was restricted to physical and
mental abuse, leaving out sexual violence and other forms of abuse. The article “maintaining
family ties” risked sacrificing women’s interests, and the inclusion of conciliation puts
pressure on victims to compromise. Liu Bohong reminded the participants that the deadline
for submitting suggestions on China’s draft Anti-Domestic Violence Law was December 25th
,
and that the CSO community should act quickly in coordinating their comments. Lin Lixia,
Secretary-General of the Women Watch program in Beijing Zhong Ze Legal Aid Center was
willing to share two proposals from her organization. Chen Mingxia, Research Scholars in the
Institute of Law at Chinese Academy of Social Science, mentioned that her organization was
discussing and summarizing comments and would submit their feedback to the State Council.
It was agreed that Liu Minghui, Professor of Law School in China Women’s University
would coordinate to collect ideas from all participants of this roundtable and submit a joint
comment.
At the end of the session, the participants discussed the plans for organizing a formal meeting
on Beijing+20. The All China Women’s Federation is planning to co-organize with UN
Women a domestic meeting of relatively small scale to mark the 20th
anniversary of gender
equality being incorporated into state policy. It will be an important channel to not only push
the leaders, but also empower Chinese citizens and especially women.
 CSOs should use CEDAW as an effective tool to push the
government to domesticate the provisions of the Convention, make changes
and address problems;
 The draft Anti-Domestic Violence Law is weak in gender
perspective. It requires immediate and concerted actions from the CSOs to
provide coordinated suggestions; Roundtable participants will prepare joint
comments to submit by the December 25 deadline, led by Liu Minghui.
 CSOs and media should take advantage of new media to advocate
more effectively;
 Multi-sectorial strategies, efforts, and coordination should be made
to intensify the implementation of convention and laws;
Gender education and training of women and girls, courts, police,
lawyers, and journalists should be undertaken.

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OUTCOMES AND LOOKING FORWARD
Following up on the First Roundtable in May, 2014, the objective of the Second Roundtable
was to bring different groups together again to strategize on needed networking and action for
advancing women’s rights in China, using the 20th
anniversary of the historic Beijing
Women’s conference as the springboard. Building on issues identified in the first roundtable
and recent global and regional meetings, the second roundtable provided an opportunity for
networks to share information on recent important meetings and developments, discuss
pressing issues and strategize for future actions. The discussions shed light on many
achievements throughout the 20 years after 1995, including the growth and capabilities of the
CSO sector, and identified challenges facing China’s gender equality and women’s rights. The
discussion highlighted the necessity of creating formal channels for coordination among
CSOs and better coordination between CSOs and the government. Outcomes/proposals
resulting from the meeting were:
 The participants will form an alliance for drafting combined feedback to the draft
Anti-domestic Violence Law;
 Coordinated efforts will be made to close the gap between older and new generations
of activists and NGO workers on women and gender;
 Multi-sectorial strategies should be developed to ensure the correct understanding
and efficient implementation of policies and laws by government bodies at central
and local levels;
 The participants will help review and refine the background documents prepared by
the Columbia Global Center including the Timeline and Organization List.
 Participants will stay in touch and keep each other informed about events and
important news related to women’s rights in China and Beijing +20, CEDAW, the
SDGs and gender goals and other relevant topics.
The Columbia Center is happy to continue to provide a platform, facilitate in-depth
discussions and help enhance cooperation and discussion among different groups. A seminar
series at the Center is planned for 2015 and a symposium may be planned together with other
interested organizations to help strategize on specific issues highlighted in the two
roundtables.

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Appendix 1: Roundtable Agenda
Beijng+20 Second Roundtable Agenda
December 3, 2014, 9:00AM-5:00PM
Introduction and Background to the Roundtable
By Joan Kaufman, Director of Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
Session 1: Status of Beijing+20 for China and the Asia Pacific
Chair: Xiong Jing, Project Manager of Beijing Gender Culture Communication Center,
Editor of Weibo @FeministVoices
 9:10-9:15 Introduction to Session 1, Joan Kaufman
 9:15-9:30 Update on the Asia Pacific Civil Society Forum on Beijing+20
Review in Bangkok, and the status of Beijing+20 preparations and work,
especially for China
Speaker: Xiong Jing
 9:30-9:50 Discussion and additional information on the Asia Pacific
Conference on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Bangkok
Commentators:
- Ai Ke, Coordinator of BCome, an action-oriented feminist youth group
- Cai Yiping, Executive Committee member of Develop Alternatives with
Women for a New Era (DAWN)
- Lin Lixia, Secretary-General of the “Women Watch” program, Beijing
Zhong Ze Women Legal Aid Center
- Liu Bohong, , Professor of China Women’s University; Senior Research
Fellow and Former Deputy Director-General of Women’s Studies
Institute of China
Discussion: All participants
Session 2: The New Sustainable Development Goals on Gender Equality and the
Gap in the China Context
Chair: Cai Yiping, Executive Committee member of Develop Alternatives with Women for a New
Era (DAWN)

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 9:55-10:10 Brief update on the United Nations’ new post 2015 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and indicators on gender equality
Speaker: Cai Yiping
 10:10-10:25 Global Women Issues — Comparing China and Other
Regions
Speaker: Liu Dongwei, TrustLaw Programme Director, China and East Asia,
Thomson Reuters Foundation
(10:25-10:40 Coffee Break and Group Photo)
 10:40-11:40 Open Discussion
 The Most Urgent Issues on Women’s Rights in China?
 The Current Gap between China and the 2015 Sustainable
Development Goals on Gender Equality?
Lunch at Xi He Ya Yuan Restaurant
Session 3: Strategies to narrow the gap between China and SDGs on gender
equality incorporating with China’s update on CEDAW principles
Chair: Liu Bohong, Professor of China Women’s University; Senior Research Fellow and Former
Deputy Director-General of Women’s Studies Institute of China
 2:05-2:30 Update on China’s progress on the Platform for Action and the
Committee of CEDAW’s concluding observations on the combined seventh
and eight periodic reports of China
Speaker: Liu Bohong
 2:30-4:30 Open Discussion
Chair: Joan Kaufman
What are the needed actions related to the SDGs on gender equality for
China’s women’s rights movement and activities, from the following aspects?
 2:30-3:00 Legal and legislation
 3:00-3:30 Academic research
 3:30-4:00 Advocacy and Communication strategies

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 4:00-4:20 Cooperation among networks (law, women studies, NGOs,
etc.)
 4:20-4:40 Linkages with global organizations and movements
 4:40-4:50 Closure and Wrap Up

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Appendix 2: List of Participants
List of Participants for Beijing+20 Second Roundtable
(Last name in alphabetical order)
Ai Ke
Coordinator of BCome, an action-oriented feminist youth group; Script writer and actress of
drama Our Vaginas, OurSelves; Master of Sociology, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences
Ai Ke began to take part in feminist advocacy activities as a youth activist since 2012, having
planed, organized or participated in a dozen of public advocacy activities focusing on gender
equality, especially on advocating women’s sexual rights and anti-gender-based violence to public
through play performance. She has been performed or coordinated Our Vaginas, OurSelves for
16 times in Beijing, Tianjin, Xiamen and Xi’an since January 2013.
Bu Wei
Professor at the Institute of Journalism and Communication (IJC), the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences (CASS); Director of the Research Center for Children and Media, IJC of CASS
Bu Wei is also member of the Standing Council of China Youth Research Association, member
of the board of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, member of the board of the
Women Studies Society of China, and member of the Expert Committee for Protection of
Minor’s Rights, Beijing Lawyers Society. She has worked for UNICEF as consultant on
communication (1999-2001), child protection related to violence against children, child labor, and
child trafficking (2002-2003; 2006-2012), HIV/AIDS and Children (2001; 2006-2007), Girl’s
Development (2005-2006). Bu Wei is the author or editor of eight books and over 200 papers
and research reports. She mainly does research on the Communication/ICT for Development,
children/youth’s participation into media and empowerment, feminist media studies, ending
violence against women and media activism, communication strategies for combating human
trafficking, NGOs and communication activism, and communication research methodology.
Since 2010, her research focuses on bottom up communication campaigns and media
convergence by migrant workers and other marginal groups to improve public health and
HIV/AIDS prevention/intervention, reduce violence against children and women, combat
trafficking in women and children, develop working class culture and media literacy. In the
Department of Journalism and Communication of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Bu Wei
opened two courses for master and Ph.D. students: Doing Studies on Communications (with Liu
Xiaohong) and Communication for Development). Bu Wei is also an activist as consultant or
volunteer in several NGOs such as The Home of Beijing Migrant Workers, the Network against
Domestic Violence and the Media Watch.
Cai Yiping
Executive Committee Member of Develop Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), a
network of feminist scholars; Member of UN Women Asia Pacific Civil Society Advisory Group;
Member of the Asia Pacific Regional Engagement Mechanism
Cai Yiping, currently based in Beijing China, is a feminist activist actively engaging in women's
movements in China and internationally. Cai was Associate Researcher at the Women's Studies
Institute of China (2006-2008) and was the journalist for China Women's News (1995-2005),
writing extensively on the issue of women's human rights. As a young feminist and founding
member, she participated in giving birth to several vibrant women's NGOs in China after 4th

21
World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, such as Media Monitoring Network for
Women (since 1996) and Network (Research Center) for Combating Domestic Violence (since
2000). She has profound experience working with governmental sectors, international agencies
and non-profit organizations. Her areas of focus include media and communications,
gender-based violence, sexual reproductive rights and health, and gender mainstreaming. Since
2008 by serving as Executive Director of Isis International and later joining Executive
Committee of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), two
southern-based international women's organization/network with UNECOSOC consultative
status. Cai has more engaged in the regional and international intervention and advocacy, while
she maintains her activism in China.
Chen Min
Director and Research Scholar, Center for Gender and Law Studies, China Institute of Applied
Jurisprudence
Chen Mingxia
Research Scholar, Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Fang Jing
Professor and Director of the Institute for Health Sciences, Kunming Medical University
Jing Fang earned her Ph.D. at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex University, UK
in 2006. Before that, she was the Deputy Director of Yunnan Reproductive Health Research
Association (YRHRA), a NGO based in Yunnan China, and had undertaken research on Chinese
rural health care services, particularly women’s reproductive health in poor rural China for more
than one decade. She also involved in providing technical support for Quality of Care Project of
the National Family Planning Commission and the Improving Reproductive Health Project of
the Ministry of Health, China as well as HIV/AIDS prevention project of Yunnan Province. In
the last decade, she focused on her study on the governance and accountability of Chinese health
system. During 2006-2009 she worked at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development (ICIMOD), an independent intergovernmental organization based on Kathmandu,
Nepal, as an EcoHealth specialist and led a project entitled “land use change and human health in
eastern Himalaya: an adaptive ecosystem approach”. From 2012 onward, she joined a few other
experts in Southeast Asia countries to work on a multi-country and multi-component EcoHealth
program entitled “Field Building Leadership Initiative—advancing EcoHealth in Southeast Asia”
At present she is a professor and acts as the director of the Institute for Health Sciences,
Kunming Medical University. She is a member of the Gender and Health Equity Network
(GHEN), an international group consisting researchers, governmental officials and practitioners
in India, UK, US, China, Sweden, Mozambique and WHO; she was also a member of the
Gender and Rights Advisory Panel (GAP), WHO from 2010-2013; a member of executive
editorial group of the journal EcoHealth; a member of advisory committee of the Forum for
Health, Environment and Development (Forehead), China and a member of the EcoHealth
Emerging Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee of IDRC.
Gao Xiaoxian
General Secretary and Chairman, Shaanxi Research Association for Women and Family; Director,
Shaanxi Gender Development Solution
Gao Xiaoxian cooperated with Professor Gail Hershatter of the University of California-Santa
Cruz Campus to carry out field investigation and research “50’s Rural Women’ Oral History”
from 1996 to 2001. She participated in the UN Fourth World Conference on Women NGO
Forum held in Beijing in 1995. In 1999, she was Invited to attend the seminar held by Chinese
Women's Society at Harvard University "Re-evaluation and re-positioning: Chinese women and
development in new century" and to Britain to attend the International Symposium” Chinese

22
Women’s Organization” held by Oxford University. In 2002, Gao Xiaoxian participated in the
project that the Asian Development Bank carried out in China “Social evaluation of
capacity-building” (ADB TA 3441 PRC) gender analysis of Xi’an-Hefei railway project, and
participated in meeting of “Third session of Asia Pacific Conference on Non-profit
organizations” in 2003. She became senior consultant Shanxi Rural Women’s Economic
Empowerment Pilot Project (Grant 0189-PRC) during 2011 to 2013 and a senior consultant
Weinan Luyanghu Improvement Pilot Project (ADB TA (REG) 6422).
Guo Ting
Deputy Editor of China Development Brief (CDB)
Guo Ting, female, has a master's degree on social policy from Beijing Normal University.
Currently she is the deputy editor of China Development Brief (CDB), a famous independent
publication founded in 1996 to report on social development and civil society in China. In the
past several years, Guo Ting published dozens of articles, made research on China Public
Advocacy project, organized and conducted China CSO advocacy movement seminars, took
charge of CDB`s research projects related to gender equality and women’s rights. As the primary
researcher and author, Guo Ting helped finishing the report——Grassroots Chinese Women and
Gender Groups on the Eve of Beijing+20 in Nov. 2014. It is a result of almost a year of research and
in depth interviews with over 50 women’s groups around China working in the independent,
grassroots NGO sector.
Susie Jolly
Program Officer/Sexuality and Reproductive Health Education, Ford Foundation in China
Susie Jolly works on issues of sexuality and reproductive health education in the foundation’s
Beijing office. Her grant making supports leadership by marginalized young people in the field of
sexuality and reproductive health and rights, and "the marginalized to educate the mainstream"
through new media, and in schools and communities. Before joining the Ford Foundation in
2010, Susie founded and convened the Sexuality and Development Program in the Institute of
Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex. The program explored how international
development organizations could better support sexual rights by understanding the links between
sexuality and the economy, and taking more positive approaches to sexuality. She earlier served as
communications officer in the IDS gender information unit, BRIDGE, from 2000 to 2006. From
1994 to 1998, Susie lived in Beijing, working on poverty reduction for the United Nations
Development Programme. She served in Brussels as political assistant to members of the
European Parliament from 1991 to 1994. Susie has been an activist for many years. She has taken
part in struggles for justice by LGBT, sex workers and people living with HIV. She has joined
efforts to challenge the "straitjacket" of gender and sexuality norms that disempower so many
people, whether they conform to or diverge from those norms. Susie was awarded an MPhil in
development studies at IDS in 2000. She earned her undergraduate degree at Oxford University
and undertook further study at China Women’s University in Beijing. She has published widely on
gender, sexuality and development.
Joan Kaufman
Director, Columbia Global Centers | East Asia; Associate Professor, Mailman School of Public
Health, Columbia University
Joan Kaufman, MA, M.S., Sc.D. is the Director of Columbia University’s Columbia Global
Centers | East Asia, based in Beijing, and Associate Professor at Columbia’s Mailman School of

23
Public Health. Most recently she has been a Lecturer in Global Health and Social Medicine at
Harvard Medical School, Principal and Faculty Affiliate of the Hauser Center for Non Profit
Organizations at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and Distinguished Scientist and Senior Lecturer at
the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University where she taught
global health policy. From 2008-2011 she was the Associate Director for Academics for the
Masters in Science program in International Health Policy and Management, one of two
Sustainable International Development master’s degree programs at the Heller School. Dr.
Kaufman also worked as the China Team Leader for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
from 2002-2012. Dr. Kaufman was the first UNFPA international program officer in China in
the 1980’s and from 1996-2001 she was the Ford Foundation’s Reproductive Health Program
Officer for China based in Beijing. She spent 2001-2002 as a Radcliffe fellow at Harvard and
2005-2006 as a Soros Reproductive Health and Rights Fellow. In 2002 she founded the AIDS
Public Policy Project at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, a program which
trained government officials in China and Vietnam about the multi-sectorial and governance
requirements for an effective HIV/AIDS response. She holds a Doctorate in Public Health
(Harvard School of Public Health), Masters Degrees in Asian Studies and Health and Medical
Sciences (UC Berkeley), and BA cum laude in Chinese Studies (Trinity College). She has
published widely on AIDS, reproductive health, gender, population and international health
policy, emerging infectious diseases, and civil society and health with a focus on China.
Li Hongtao
Professor at China Women’s University; Expert with the Special Allowance from the State
Council of the People's Republic of China; Chief Expert of China Women & Gender Library;
Director of the China Women's Oral History Research Center
Li Hongtao was head of the China Women’s University Library, dean of the Department of
Social Work, China Women’s University, visiting scholar at the Department of Social Work at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Universities Service Centre for Chinese Studies at
CUHK, Department of Criminology at National Chung Cheng University (Taiwan), and the
University of Sussex. Li was also former chairperson of Board of Supervisors of Anti-Domestic
Violence Network / Beijing Fanbao and former deputy chairperson of the Board of
Network/Research Centre for Combating Domestic Violence of China Law Society. Li
Hongtao’s areas of Research and Practices are Invention in Domestic Violence, Gender Studies,
Social Work on Family and Marriage. Li directed and participated in more than 50 research and
advocate projects related to medical intervention in domestic violence, community-based
intervention in domestic violence, danger assessment of domestic violence, collaboration with
various institutions to incorporate gender and social work in family planning services,
enhancement of capacities of female village officials. Li also served as a gender expert for
projects on reproductive health during the 5th, the 6th, and the 7th phase by National Health and
Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China / United Nations Population
Fund China (UNFPA). She also served as a project expert for institutions such as United Nations
Women and International Labor Organization.
Li Huibo
Deputy Director, China Women and Gender Library, China Women's University
Li Huibo holds a Ph.D. degree in history with a focus on gender, social and cultural history. She
is in charge of the projects such as women's oral history and "Beijing+20: Listening to Her / His
Story" at China Women and Gender Library. She is also the editor of the library’s publications,
such as "Reflect and Concern----Women's Dynamic" and "Women's Oral History Series". Li
Huibo’s main research include "The Evolution of Marriage Culture in Beijing (1949-1966)",
"Contemporary Chinese Social Culture Interview" (the Third Series), "Who Moved Our
Marriage", "A Review of Women in the Labor Force in the 1930s", " "A Review of Intellectual
Women in the 1930s", "A Review of Women's Religious Belief Status in 1930s", and "Dialogue
with ‘Strangers’ ---- Reflection on Interviews on Marriage Culture in Beijing in the Initial

24
Post-Liberation Period (1949-1966).”
Lin Lixia
Secretary-General of the "Women Watch" program, Beijing Zhong Ze Women Legal Aid Center
Lin Lixia is the Secretary-General of the "Women Watch" program at Beijing Zhong Ze Women
Legal Aid Center. The “Women Watch” at the Center is a program focusing on protecting rural
women’s land rights and anti-sexual harassment in workplace. Lin Lixia has chaired and been
involved in many women's rights related projects and cases for years, areas including domestic
violence, sexual harassment in workplace, migrant women and their rights on reproductive health,
and rural women's land rights.
Lin Shuang
Consultant, Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
Lin Shuang has worked with various platforms across the globe on gender equality and women’s
rights since 2012, including the UN Women (Myanmar), Women’s International League for Peace
and Freedom, Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund and China White Ribbon Volunteers Network. Lin
Shuang’s research and publications have been focusing on Gender-based Violence Counseling,
UN Good Practices, and Feminist International Relations Theory. Lin Shuang is pursuing her
Master of International Affairs degree in Columbia University, with a specialization in Gender
and Public Policy.
Liu Bohong
Professor of China Women’s University; Senior Research Fellow and Former Deputy
Director-General of Women’s Studies Institute of China
Liu Bohong was a member of the Fifth/Sixth/Seventh Population Specialists Committee, State
family Planning Commission, deputy Secretary-General, Chinese Women's Research Society and
a member of expert committee, China Association for Employment Promotion. Liu was also
adjunct professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University, Yunnan University of Nationalities,
Shandong Woman University and a gender adviser of the relevant UN agencies in China. The
main research direction is gender and public policy, gender and development.
Liu Dongwei
TrustLaw Program Director, China and East Asia, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Dongwei Liu is based in Beijing and works mainly on introducing TrustLaw to China and East
Asia, which connects high-impact NGOs and social enterprises with the best law firms willing to
provide free legal assistance. Dongwei is the first person from Thomson Reuters Foundation to
oversee and develop the program in China and East Asia. Currently there’re about 150
organizations in the region using TrustLaw service. Before joining the Foundation in 2011,
Dongwei was a journalist in China reporting social issues, financial news, Chinese foreign affairs
and emergencies such as Sichuan Earthquake. Dongwei holds an LLB from Peking University in
International Communication and a BA from Tianjin Polytechnic University majoring in English.
Liu Minghui
Professor and Academic Leaders, Law School, China Women's University
Liu Minghui leads the scientific research team “Legal Mechanism to Guarantee the Equality of
Employment of Men and Women” at China Women’s University. She is also the council member
of China Law Society’s Social Law Research Association, council member of China Law Society’s
Labor Law Research Association, supervisory board member of Beijing Municipal Society of
Labor and Social Security Law, and a part-time lawyer at Beijing Daorong Law Firm. Her focus
of research area is anti-gender-discrimination in employment. Her publication "Research on

25
Women’s Labor and Social Insurance Rights” puts the gender element into Chinese labor and
social security law. In September 2007, she attended the training seminar "United Nations
Convention on Human Rights and Implementation Mechanism" held by senior experts in United
Nations in Geneva. She has been involved in the consultation of legislation for "Employment
Promotion Law", "Labor Contract Law", "Women Workers Labor Protection Special Provisions",
and has been involved in formulating the terms on employers’ obligations on sexual harassment.
She received her bachelor degree in literature from Beijing Normal University in 1982, and
master degree in economic law from the Graduate School of China University of Political
Science and Law in 1997.
Lv Xiaoquan
Research Director and Lawyer, Beijing Zhong Ze Women Legal Aid Center
Lv Xiaoquan is mainly responsible for the organization, liaison, and coordination of the lawyers’
network at the center, and provides free legal advice and legal assistance to the impoverished and
vulnerable women and other vulnerable groups. He also organizes charity legal services for local
community. He has conducted dozens of cases on property rights, marriage and family interests,
labor disputes and many other areas involving women, the disabled, and the elderly, ranging from
gender discrimination in workplace, sexual harassment, violence against women, rural women’s
land rights, migrant women’s rights, equal rights of the disabled, and so on.
Niu Caixia
Assistant to the Representative, Ford Foundation in China
Niu Caixia is the Assistant to the Representative in Ford Foundation Beijing Office. She was
appointed to this position in April 2007 and Communication Director since 2013. She joined
the Foundation in 1997 as the program assistant to the Sexuality and Reproductive Health
program. She holds a BA in English Literature from the Beijing Institute of Light Industry
(now Beijing University of Trade and Industry) in 1992. She obtained her MPA from Tsinghua
University in 2005. Her thesis on A Survey of Grassroots NGOs Involved in China’s HIV/AIDS
Prevention and Control won both university and national awards for distinguished theses and was
published.
Cindy Qiao
Program Officer, Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
Ms. Cindy Qiao has been Program Officer at Columbia Global Centers | East Asia since
November 2013, mainly responsible for programs in urban design, social media, short term
training programs, China-Africa, liberal arts programs, and communications for the Center. She
graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Philosophy and minored in Art History from Northeastern
University, Boston. Previously she had experience at Boston Redevelopment Authority, United
Planet, and Avenues: The World School.
Tong Xin
Professor, Department of Sociology, Peking University; Director, Labor Studies Center, Peking
University; Vice Director, Department of Sociology, Peking University
Tong Xin is also the Deputy Secretary-General of Chinese Women’s Research Society, Vice
President of China Association for Studies on Marriage and Family, and President of Beijing
Association for Studies on Marriage and Family. Her areas of specializations include economic
sociology, gender studies, labor relations, the enterprise’s social responsibility, and the

26
development of women’s occupation. Her main works include “Sociology of Population”,
Peking University Press, 2000, 2002, and 2005; “Alienation and Resistance—Work History on
Chinese Women Workers”, Chinese Social Academy Press, 2003; “Introduction to the Gender
Studies—Analyses to Dynamics of Gender Inequalities”, Peking University Press, 2005.
Xie Lihua
Founder and Chair, Beijing Cultural Development Center for Rural Women (BCDCRW);
Co-Founder and Council Member, Rural Women Development Foundation Guangdong
Xie Lihua was born in 1951. In 2001, Xie Lihua founded the BCDCRW, a non-profit
organization to promote the development of rural women, and became the Chairman since then.
In 1998, Ms. Xie founded the “Skills Training School for Rural Women” which provides free
skills training to immigrant women from rural to urban areas. In 1996, Ms. Xie founded the
“Home for immigrant women”, the first rights-promoting agency for immigrant women in China.
In 1993, Ms. Xie founded the Rural Women Magazine, in following 19 years she is the chief
editor and has published more than 400,000 words prologues, which are then collected in two
books. In 1984, Ms. Xie was the co-founder of the China Women magazine; in the same year she
became a part-time student in China Journalism School and got a bachelor degree; from 1994 to
2011, Ms. Xie was the Vice Chief editor of the China Women. From 1969 to 1982, Ms. Xie had
been on active service in the Kun Ming military region; in 1983 she was transferred to the All
China Women’s federation.
Xiong Jing
Project Manager, Beijing Gender Culture Communication Center; Editor of Weibo
@FeministVoices
Xiong Jing is the project manager of Beijing Gender Culture Communication Center, editor of
Weibo account @FeministVoices, and a member of BCome. She has participated in and
co-planned many feminist advocacy activities since 2012, and conducted lectures and training on
women’s rights. She is experienced in social media dissemination, online mobilization, and offline
advocacy activities.
Eyra Xiong
Senior Program Officer, Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
Ms. Eyra Xiong is Senior Program Officer at Columbia Global Centers | East Asia, mainly
responsible for programs in sustainable development, urbanization, public management, women’s
studies, students summer research workshops, and internship programs for the Center. Previously,
she worked as a research fellow at the Research Institute for Innovation and Development in
Yunan Province, where she participated in the project “Research on the Risk Analysis, Evaluation,
and Management for the Innovative Enterprises” funded by National Nature Science Foundation
of China, and the project “Evaluation on the Motivation, Capability, and Performance of the
Sustainable Innovative Enterprises” funded by Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology
Department. She holds an M.A. degree in Technological Economics and Management from
Kunming University of Science and Technology, and a B.S. degree in Computer Science and
Technology from the Naval University of Engineering in China.
Yu Yan
Editorial Board Member and Senior Editor, China Women’s News; Chief Editor of New
Women’s Studies Weekly; Chief Editor of All-China Women’s Federation’s Analysis of Public
Opinions about Women and Children

27
Yu Yan is a Senior Editor and a member in China Women’s News Editorial Board, also Chief
Editor of New Women’s Studies Weekly. She is also responsible for a publication “Analysis of
Public Opinions about Women and Children”, which belongs to All-China Women’s Federation.
The majority of Ms. Yu’s career has been focused on subjects about feminism anthropology,
women and media, gender and culture. She also works on analyzing public opinions and
sentiments associate with women and children. Her book Feminism Anthropology----Athena No.1 and
co-written book Corruption Bed----The Report of Anti-Corruption and Sex Bribery are popular in the
relative fields.

28
Appendix 3: Inventory of Roundtable Materials
Inventory of Materials for the Second Roundtable Discussion
第二场圆桌会会议材料清单
 圆桌会议程 Agenda
 与会人名单 List of Participants
 会议第一部分材料 Materials for Session 1
1. Timeline of the major activities on women and gender issues in China since The 4th
Women's Conference in Beijing (Draft), prepared by Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
中国性别与女权大事记（草拟），由哥伦比亚大学全球中心|东亚整理
2. List of Organizations and Networks working on women and gender issues in China (Draft),
prepared by Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
国内从事女权及性别研究及活动的机构和组织一览表（草拟），由哥伦比亚大学全球
中心|东亚整理
 会议第二部分材料 Materials for Session 2
1. The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)’s Proposed
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Targets on gender equality in SDSN’s report on
An Action Agenda for Sustainable Development (May 5, 2014 updated)
联合国可持续发展网络（SDSN）在其可持续发展行动议程报告中拟定的可持续发展
目标之性别平等目标（于 2014 年 5 月 5 日更新）
2. SDSN’s Proposed Indicators and a Monitoring Framework for SDGs on Gender Equality
联合国可持续发展行动网络（SDSN）拟定的可持续发展目标的指标和监测框架之性
别目标（中文译文由哥伦比亚大学全球中心|东亚整理）
3. The United Nations Open Working Group’s Proposal for SDGs on Gender Equality
联合国开放工作组对可持续发展目标的提案之性别平等目标提案（中文译文由哥伦
比亚大学全球中心|东亚整理）
3. Selected Data on China’s Gender Equality Status, prepared by Columbia Global Centers |
East Asia
中国性别平等数据参考，由哥伦比亚大学全球中心|东亚整理
4. Top 5 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality----India, Jordan, Turkey, Chile,
and Kenya, prepared by Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
全球其他 5 个地区最主要的 5 项女性权利及性别平等问题——印度、约旦、土耳其、
智利、肯尼亚，由哥伦比亚大学全球中心|东亚整理
 会议第三部分材料 Materials for Session 3
1. 中国执行《消除对妇女一切形式歧视公约》第七、八次合并报告
The Combined Seventh and Eighth Periodic Reports of China (CHN)
2. 中国政府对消歧委员会针对中国第七、八次合并报告的有关议题和问题清单的回答
The Responses of China to The Committee of CEDAW’s List of Issues and Questions on

29
the Combined Seventh and Eighth Periodic Reports of China (CHN)
3. CEDAW-C-CHN-CO-7-8 Concluding Observations on The Combined Seventh and Eighth
Periodic Reports of China, 7 Nov 2014
消歧委员会对中国第七、八次合并报告的结论性意见（英文版）
 Report on the First Roundtable on Beijing+20: Roundtable Discussion on the Progress of
Women in China 哥伦比亚大学全球中心|东亚“北京+20：中国女性的历程”第一场圆桌
会报告
 Overview of Columbia Global Centers | East Asia 哥伦比亚大学全球中心|东亚简介
The report and other materials and information related to Columbia Global Centers | East Asia’s
Beijing+20 Project are also all available on the Center’s official website:
http://globalcenters.columbia.edu/beijing/content/beijing20-seminar-series-symposium-and-relate
d-activities

Columbia Global Centers East Asia Beijing+20 2nd Roundtable Report - English FULL version

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