A woman in China has won a rare legal victory in a workplace sexual harassment case. The woman, a former intern and employee at Beijing Grassland Alliance, an environmental NGO, was awarded 5,000 yuan (£554) in emotional damages, to be paid by her former manager, who the court ruled had sexually harassed her. The manager was also ordered to write an apology to her. The case is as a rare example of an employee winning a claim about sexual harassment in a country where the MeToo movement enraged millions of…
Tag: #MeToo Movement
The Guardian view on global women’s rights: Saudi Arabia isn’t the only problem | Editorial
Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing declaration, a landmark blueprint for advancing women’s rights. It marked the mainstreaming of feminist concerns, with 189 states signing up to the text at a conference in China, where Hillary Clinton, then first lady of the US, declared that “women’s rights are human rights”. Yet when the United Nations celebrates that achievement, its commission for promoting and evaluating progress on gender equality will be steered by Saudi Arabia. A country known for its abysmal record on women’s rights was chosen…
A Chinese Journalist Gave #MeToo Victims a Voice. Now She’s on Trial.
After two years in detention, a Chinese journalist who spoke up against sexual harassment stood trial on subversion charges on Friday along with a labor rights activist, the latest example of Beijing’s intensified crackdown on civil society. Huang Xueqin, an independent journalist who was once a prominent voice in China’s #MeToo movement, and her friend Wang Jianbing, the activist, were taken away by the police in September 2021 and later charged with inciting subversion of state power. Their trial was held at the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in southern China.…
Taiwan’s ruling party rocked by sexual harassment claims
Taiwan’s ruling party has been rocked by a wave of sexual harassment allegations, as the country grapples with a #MeToo movement that has encompassed politics and the media. On Tuesday, President Tsai Ing-wen apologised for the second time in a week in response to sexual harassment claims against senior staff in the Democratic Progressive party (DPP). “Our society as a whole must educate ourselves again. People in sexual harassment incidents are victims,” she wrote in a Facebook post. Hours earlier, Tsai’s national policy adviser Yan Chih-fa resigned after being accused…
Professor accused of sexually assaulting teenager as China’s #metoo movement struggles forward
Followers of China’s struggling #MeToo movement have been gripped by a series of recent allegations, including against a professor at a high-profile university, which went viral online and been reported by state media. The professor at China’s largest public university, has been suspended after being accused of the historical sexual assault of a then-16-year-old girl. The case, which has been reported by multiple state media outlets, is the most recent in a #MeToo movement which is often hampered by censorship and crackdowns on activists. It comes just weeks after allegations…
Canadian Singer Kris Wu Sentenced to Prison for Rape in China
Kris Wu, a Canadian Chinese pop singer who was once one of China’s most popular entertainers, was found guilty of rape by a Beijing court and sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday, becoming one of the most prominent figures in the country to be punished for #MeToo allegations. In a statement on social media the Chaoyang District People’s Court in Beijing said Mr. Wu was convicted of taking advantage of three drunken women and forcibly having sex with them at his home in 2020. He was also found…
High-profile China #MeToo case settled in US out of court
One of China’s biggest and most divisive #MeToo cases, which had been set to play out with extraordinary transparency because of its US location and was closely watched by millions inside China, has been settled out of court. Liu Qiangdong, a 49-year-old online retail billionaire who also goes by Richard Liu and is known as China’s Jeff Bezos, had been accused of sexually assaulting a then 21-year-old Chinese graduate when she was studying at the University of Minnesota and he was visiting on a business trip. Liu has always denied…
Chinese #MeToo Case Settled in U.S. Court
The Chinese billionaire entrepreneur Richard Liu has reached a settlement with Liu Jingyao, a former University of Minnesota student who accused him of rape in a Minneapolis apartment after a night out in 2018, in a case that has riveted China and been held up as a landmark episode in China’s struggling #MeToo movement. The agreement, which was announced in a joint statement late Saturday, came just two days before a civil trial was to begin in a Minneapolis courtroom. Lawyers from both parties said Mr. Liu and Ms. Liu,…
Chinese police detain ‘godfather of film industry’ over abuse claims
Chinese police have detained a man over the alleged abuse of at least 19 former students at a prestigious tutoring academy, after a viral article outlined one of the country’s most shocking #MeToo cases in years. Du Yingzhe, 40, was a well-known tutor at Shadow Road, which assists high school students to get into the country’s best art and film schools. On Monday Du was accused by a former student of harassing, grooming and raping students, including some who were underage and a 17-year-old girl who fell pregnant. In a…
Battling Violence and Censors, Women in China Become ‘Invisible and Absent’
HONG KONG — When a prominent woman in China’s #MeToo movement took on a powerful man in court, it was the accused, not the accuser, who was held up as the victim. When several women were savagely beaten by men after resisting unwanted advances in a restaurant, the focus of the story pivoted from gender violence to gang violence. And when a mother of eight was found chained to the wall of a doorless shack, it was her mental fitness — not her imprisonment — that became the talking point.…