Wai Jia Nu: Gender Inequality in the Urban Village

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 GUANGZHOU 001050

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2032/09/18
TAGS: PHUM SOCI ECON PGOV
SUBJECT: Wai Jia Nu: Gender Inequality in the Urban Village



1. (U) Classified by Consul General Robert Goldberg for
reason 1.4 (d).


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Over the last several months, equal
rights for a group of women in South China who have married
outside their home village has become an increasingly
sensitive issue. After marriage, these women must transfer
their residency permits to their husbands' villages, and in
so doing lose their legal rights to village property and
monetary benefits from collectively-managed village land.
Two new laws taking effect October 1 may alleviate, but not
resolve, the issue by allowing them to go to court to sue
for the return of their share of collectively-owned
property and by revising residency conditions for property
benefits. END SUMMARY

Wai Jia Nu: A Definition
--------------


3. (U) The term "wai jia nu" (WJN) literally means a woman
who is married to a man from outside her home village. More
broadly, the WJN issue refers to women losing rights and
privileges associated with their home village if they marry
a man from another village. In most places in China, women
are forced to transfer their residency permit to their
husband's residency permit location within six months to
one year of marriage registration. The residency permit
allows her to vote in village elections, send her children
to local schools and collect rental income from
collectively-owned village properties. All rights unique to
the woman's original home residency permit, such as
proceeds from communal property rents, are ended once this
transfer is complete. While the residency permit, or hukou,
is designed to restrict people's movement, wai jia nu are
unfairly affected by the system since their male
counterparts are free to marry whom they please and move
where they wish, without losing their rights.

Historical Reasons for Wai Jia Nu
--------------


4. (U) According to Chinese tradition, once a woman
marries, she becomes part of her husband's household. In
the past, if a woman married someone from outside the
village, she would permanently leave her village for her
husband's. Today, however, men and women often leave their
home villages for work and educational opportunities and
never return. Although behaviors have changed, the
household registry laws still reflect the traditional
concepts of marriage.


5. (U) In most places, forced transfer of a residency
permit is simply an administrative hassle. While the woman
loses the rights associated with her home village, she
gains them back in her husband's village. But in Guangdong
province, which has gone through a period of rapid
urbanization leading to skyrocketing property values, a
woman marrying outside her home village may lose
substantial income from communal rent receipts. As a
result, the WJN issue affects villages that have been
consumed by a larger metropolitan area due to urban sprawl.

The Creation of the Urban Village
--------------


6. (U) In the 1980's, as part of China's early economic
reforms, the central government returned private land
ownership to villagers in the countryside. During a period
of unprecedented economic growth in the 1990's, cities in
Guangdong province such as Guangzhou, Zhongshan and
Dongguan started to expand beyond their original city
limits. Villages that had once been in the countryside
suddenly became urban villages. Ten years ago, Tian He
village bordered the city of Guangzhou; now it is in the
middle of one of Guangzhou's five central business
districts and is home to the seventh tallest building in
the world, the CITIC Plaza.


7. (U) These urban villages, however, are still organized
in the same way as the countryside villages, complete with
village committees and village elections. One difference is
that instead of individually owning plots of land, many
villagers have amalgamated their plots and turned the
combined land over to the village committee to manage. The
village committee then rents the land to residential
complexes and businesses, and each year the committee
divides the profits equally among all registered village

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inhabitants.

"It Is Not Just About the Money"
--------------


8. (U) Loss of property rights and access to an equal share
of the village committee's yearly financial benefits are
the issues most commonly raised by advocates fighting for
women's equal protection under the law. The effects are
multi-generational; not only do wai jia nu lose these
rights, but their children do as well. Thus the children of
women who marry within the village and the children of male
villagers have access to these benefits, but the children
of women who marry outside do not.


9. (C) According to Professor Lu Ying (protect) at
Zhongshan University's Women and Gender Studies Center, "it
is not just about the money." Women are also concerned
about the loss of the right to vote in village elections
and the right to send their children to village schools. Lu
said that many women in Guangdong province live with their
boyfriends and have children together but never marry
because they do not want to lose their village's benefits.

Prevalence of the Problem
--------------


10. (C) It is unclear how many women are affected by the
WJN issue. In Guangdong province, the estimates range from
200,000 to 400,000 women, or less than one percent of
Guangdong's total population of approximately 100 million.
"South China Rural Newspaper" reporter Feng Shan Shu
(protect) said that other areas in China that have
experienced rapid urbanization -- such as Fujian province
and the city of Shanghai -- have the wai jia nu problem,
but awareness in these places is limited due to tighter
media controls.


11. (C) Policies that affect wai jia nu vary from village
to village. According to Feng, in Guangzhou, certain
villages such as Shi Pai and Tian He are known for their
serious WJN problems. But Tan Dong village, which neighbors
Tian He village, has resolved the problem. Tan Dong's
village committee passed a collective agreement, which
clearly states that women who marry, move to their
husband's village, and transfer their residency permits can
continue to keep their legal share of village property and
receive yearly monetary benefits. Feng said it is widely
believed that Tan Dong village's progressive policies are
due to the fact that the village committee head has three
daughters.


12. (C) Areas around Guangzhou which have unresolved WJN
issues include Panyu, Nanhai, Shunde and Zhongshan. Mr.
Feng said that the city of Dongguan passed laws in 2004
that protect the rights of wai jia nu.

Government Efforts to Solve the Wai Jia Nu Problem
-------------- --------------


13. (C) Two new laws which will come into effect on October
1 may improve the situation of wai jia nu. The first is the
national property law. Feng was optimistic that this would
help wai jia nu since it could allow them to go to court to
sue for the return of their share of collectively-owned
property. Since private property was not previously
protected by law, the only recourse for affected women was
to file a petition with the village committee.


14. (C) The second law is Guangdong's Implementation
Measures on the PRC's Law on Protecting Women's Legal
Rights and Interests, which, according to Feng, is an
improvement over the law it replaced. The old law stated
that women could enjoy the same rights as men only if they
lived in their home village and abided by family planning
policies. The new law still requires women to posses their
home village's residency permit, but physical residence in
the village and abiding by family planning policies are no
longer preconditions for property benefits.


15. (SBU) Despite media announcements in July that the
latter law would take effect October 1, several village
committees passed regulations this summer denying wai jia
nu property rights or making it harder to recover them. For
example, on August 30, Tou Village Committee in Panyu City
passed new regulations that said only women already
registered in the village could keep their shares in the

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collective economy. Such disconnects between provincial and
local lawmakers remain a serious obstacle to the resolution
of the WJN issue.

GOLDBERG