During the early twentieth century, Chinese suffragists notably – Tang Qunying campaigned for woman’s suffrage. These revolutionary women used violent methods to garner the attention of their male counterparts. The decision to use such aggressive tactics came at cost; these woman’s roles within the family changed. Whether they wished for this or not, their actions removed them from the domestic sphere and forcibly placed them in the same political realm as men. A quote from David Strand accurately represents this change, ‘The shift from the individual as a social self-embedded in family or family-like networks to the individual as a social self who is an integral part of an organisation like a political party.’[1] This article will consider this idea and how it links to what was lost and what was gained from the use of violent methods by early Chinese suffragists. It is important to note that though Chinese men may have viewed Chinese woman differently due to their acts, fundamentally their role as caretaker did not change for years to come. Universal suffrage was only granted in 1949.
The likes of Tang Qunying being skilled in bomb-making and battlefield tactics, and the violence that broke out during suffragist protests leads to the question of why these groups chose such destructive methods. Chinese women in society at the time were viewed as objects that were to be stared at. This perception angered the suffragist movement and so they used it to their advantage by being hostile and emulating male behaviour. They would smoke cigarettes, wield weapons, and even physically assault men.[2] Though their actions were greatly looked down upon by men and women, ultimately it would prove effective to their cause. As it forced male politicians to acknowledge the suffrage movement. President Sun Yat-sen pleaded that they be patient as universal suffrage would eventually come.[3] This was met with more backlash as it was seen as a passive, easy way out for politicians who did not want to directly go against the forceful suffrage movements.
Their decision to use violent tactics was simultaneously influenced by their role within the family, while eventually changing how these roles were viewed. A Chinese woman’s role in the domestic sphere was so great that the suffrage movement believed they deserved responsibility beyond the confines of the home. Their citizenship had to exist in the public realm as well if they were going to do so much as caretakers. However,since men believed that if women gained more rights they would abandon their domestic duties, a role they believed to be the ‘foundation of the nation’, they continuously refused to grant them the vote.[4]Therefore, because of the mere wish of being viewed as a citizen outside the home was too much of a request for men to grant, the women in some suffrage movements believed using violent, ‘manly’ tactics was the way forward. They had to directly confront society’s notions of gender roles by clashing with them.
Unfortunately, this affected their roles within the home as the women that chose to act this way were viewed as having ‘unrestricted private morality’ and said to support ‘anti-husbandism’.[5] This meant they lost a lot of respect and power that already existed for them in the domestic sphere. This was not their aim; they did not wish to forget about their roles in the home, they just wanted to be acknowledged by wider society in political terms. By choosing to use such aggressive means to gain this acknowledgment, these suffragists were advocating that, ‘natural rights trumps social stability.’[6] In the end, they truly believed the right to vote was something every human being should have and so were willing to do anything to gain this – even if it meant losing the social status they had within the home.
[1] David Strand, An Unfinished Republic: Leading by Word and Deed in Modern China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011), p.22
[2] Ibid. p.18
[3] Ibid. p.18
[4] Ibid. p.19
[5] Ibid. p.19
[6] Ibid. p.19