The discourse on feminism in the Nanjing decade isn’t just a simple narrative, it actually takes the form of a debate between two camps. There are those who believe that women were champions of the feminist movement, through their various publications, groups, and activist movements, and those who believe that the women’s movement was essentially co-opted simultaneously by the commercial industry for profit, the government for greater control over society, and the disenfranchised male intelligentsia for their own political gain.
The debate is quite an intriguing one, and is also wrapped up in other social and political developments taking place at the time, such as the development (or lack thereof) of a democratic movement, the launch of Chiang Kai-Shek’s New Life Movement, and the growth in competition in the newspaper and magazine industry.
In this episode we try and get to the bottom of who was in control of the women's movement, and who really decided what the 'new woman' was supposed to look like and how she was supposed to act.
Episode 10: Nanjing Decade (3): Feminism & The New Woman