Socio-Legal Discussion Group: The Politics of Advocacy and Enforcement in China’s Gender Policies: The Unique Success of Marital Debt Reform

When and why does an authoritarian state protect women’s rights? An authoritarian state can be both progressive and regressive in promoting women’s rights. Situating in China, the government has cracked down a great number of feminist activists and strictly censored topics related to gender justice such as #Metoo movement and LGBTQ+ rights. Parallelly, built up on coalitions between state powerholders and grassroots organizations, some incremental legal reforms such as anti-domestic violence law have been promulgated to enhance women’s interests. However, legal enforcement tend to be under great criticism for its ineffectiveness.

To unpack the paradox of gender justice in China, the article argues that the success or failure of pro-women legal reforms in China can be understood by examining two critical stages: policymaking and enforcement. During the policy-making stage, the balance of pro-women advocacy and pro-competing interests advocacy shapes legislative outcomes. The enforcement stage determines whether policies achieve their intended impact, with outcomes influenced by state priorities and enforcement costs. These two matrices combined provide a structured way to analyze why many gender-related policies struggle to achieve similar success. Their failures are often due to stronger resistance from competing interests at the policy-making stage, or misaligned state objectives and unmanageable enforcement costs.

However, a success reform can emerge as a unique case where favorable conditions converge. This article analyzes the unique success of martial debt reform, where pro-women advocacy not only leads to a pro-women legislation but also results in consistent application of the legislation. The success of marital debt reform in China illustrates the intricate interplay of pro-women advocacy, competing interests advocacy, enforcement costs, and state priorities. In the policy-making stage, marital debt reform benefited from strong advocacy by National People’s Congress, women’s grassroot group, women’s federation and media, while opposition from creditors, though present, was relatively weak as the Supreme People’s Court was the only institutional supporter with no other groups backed. In the enforcement stage, the reform is characterized by low enforcement costs, as it relies on straightforward judicial rulings rather than systemic overhauls. Combined with high state receptivity due to its alignment with broader economic and social stability goals, marital debt reform stands out as a rare example of effective pro-women legislation.

This article makes two contributions. Firstly, it provides a theoretical framework to understand the paradox of gender justice in China. Single gender equality issue ranging from family law reform to anti-domestic violence reform has received great attention in law and politics literature. Yet, less attention has been given to varying types of political dynamics in different areas of gender justice. The policymaking/enforcement frameworks together provide a structured way to dissect and compare factors influencing gender policy outcomes at both the formulation and implementation stages. Secondly, the article illuminates the opportunities and obstacles to women’s rights to policymakers and activists in non-democratic states. It offers a nuanced perspective on authoritarian legal mobilization, where grassroots organizations can hinge on the fragmented authoritarian state to push forward their legislative agenda. This article further posits that there remains potential for further gender-equalizing legal changes in China despite the crackdown of gender equality NGOs and activists.