Feng Yuan

Feng Yuan (Chinese: 冯媛; pinyin: Féng Yuán; born 1962) is a Chinese feminist activist and women's rights advocate known for her work addressing gender-based violence. Often described as one of China's earliest gender experts, she has been involved in civil-society initiatives related to domestic violence prevention and workplace sexual harassment awareness. She is a co-founder of Equality(为平), a Beijing-based NGO focused on gender equality and support for survivors of violence. She has been active in China's #MeToo movement. In 2024, she was named one of the BBC 100 Women for her contributions to women's rights.

In 1983, Feng graduated with a degree in journalism from Fudan University in Shanghai. She went on to obtain a master's degree from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing in 1986. Between 1986 and 2006, Feng worked primarily as a journalist focusing on women's issues. She wrote for People's Daily until 1991 when she left due to disagreements over its coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre and its aftermath. Feng then wrote for China Women's News. By 1998, Feng was leading trainings for women journalists.

Feng has been involved in the women's rights movement in China since 1980. In 1995, Feng was a delegate at the United Nations' World Conference on Women, held in Beijing. After the Conference, she began working for a variety of Chinese non-governmental organizations focused on the advancement of women's rights, including the Media Monitor Network for Women (1996–), which she co-founded, the Gender and Development Network in China (2000–), the Centre for Women's Studies at Shantou University (2009–), and the Women's Network for Combating HIV/AIDS (2009–). Feng has been a visiting scholar at Lund University in Sweden (1998), Harvard University in the United States (2001–2002), and the University of Hong Kong (2019–2020). Feng served as its president from 2000 to 2014.

In December 2024, she was included in the BBC 100 Women list.

Feng Yuan pointed out that violence against women takes many forms, including harassment, physical assault, groping, beating wives, drowning female infants, abusing housewives, involuntary pregnancy, forced abortion, economic exploitation and control, etc., but these were not formally recognized as "violence against women" and only relegated to "household matters" in China before the 1980s. Scholarly research and analysis of anti-domestic violence legislation As a scholar, Feng Yuan has analyzed and wrote on the historical evolution and key factors that contributed to the effective implementation of China's anti-domestic violence law. According to her, the legislation's success stemmed from nine collaborative strategies employed by Chinese and international feminists, including establishing legal frameworks, conducting multi-sectoral cooperation pilot projects, providing services, conducting large-scale capacity building, localizing global advocacy issues, effectively mobilizing the media, continuously conducting knowledge production, using performance art to increase publicity, and actively submitting public opinions in the final stage of the legislation.

Feng Yuan noted the critical role NGOs on women's rights played in China during the mid-1980s and 90s for the successful enactment of the anti-domestic violence legislation. She argues that beginning in the early 1990s, pioneers within the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) took the first steps by raising public awareness and advocating for the first local government policies specifically targeting domestic violence. International actors, including United Nations agencies, international NGOs, and bilateral aid agencies such as the British Council and the Canadian International Development Agency, provided support through funding, international expertise, and advocacy efforts. Autonomous women's organizations, most notably the Anti-Domestic Violence Network, offered direct support to victims through legal aid and public education, effectively driving changes in social attitudes from the grassroots level.

Equality (为平) Feng Yuan is a co-founder of Equality (为平), a Beijing-based non-governmental organization that promotes gender equality and works on issues of gender-based violence. The organization conducts various activities, such as data collection and analysis concerning cases of domestic violence, public educational programs, and legal advocacy. Equality (为平) has also carried out research and monitoring related to domestic violence, including analysis of media reports and legal documents. It has produced several monitoring reports on the implementation of the Anti-Domestic Violence Law, which have been used by civil-society groups and media outlets as refence materials.

Equality (为平) also offers consultations, legal information, and referrals to people who are victims of violence. It holds trainings and workshops for journalists, students, and community members, aiming to improve services for domestic violence survivors. Equality (为平) has also been involved in the social discourse of policy making and has been able to provide material and recommendation to assist in amendment of China's Anti-Domestic Violence Law. government censorship of activists, misogynistic and patriarchal attitudes, policing of women's sexuality, political representation, reproductive rights, sexism at work. She has also spoken on male survivors of domestic violence, and how misogyny in China impacts non-Chinese women online.

International cooperation On March 8, 2024, International Women's Day, Feng was a dialogue guest at a seminar organized by the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre. She engaged in a transnational dialogue on East Asian feminism with the Japanese feminist scholar Chizuko Ueno. In the interview, Ueno discussed institutional issues such as "low birth rate, aging population, care burden, and female labor participation," while Feng Yuan emphasized China's "motherhood penalty" that includes unequal salaries and limited social insurance coverage. Both scholars discussed how broader social and institutional conditions influence women's everyday experience. Ueno stated that women's childbirth, old age care, and family burdens are all political issues.

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