The Fourth World Conference on Women (hereinafter referred to as “the Beijing Conference”), along with the parallel NGO Forum, held in Beijing in 1995, is generally regarded as a watershed moment marking the integration of China’s women’s studies and gender studies into international scholarship. The event also launched a new trajectory for gender discourse in China. Looking back over the past three decades, it becomes evident that the implications of “equality,” as a core concept and agenda, has shifted across various stages of this evolutionary process.

Gender issues center on the differences between men and women and the social consequences of those differences. In the early stages of women’s movements in both China and abroad, eliminating gender differences was seen as the central objective. Yet the “differences” in question did not refer to biological or social-role distinctions between the sexes, but rather to disparities in identity and rights between men and women as human beings or citizens. This conception of gender equality can be summarized as a “degendered” narrative modeled after men, exemplified by the slogan “Women hold up half the sky” and iconic stories of “Iron Girls” and model female workers popular in China during the 1960s and 1970s. Within this narrative framework, private life was often invisible, and women’s liberation meant that female workers, on a par with their male counterparts, were granted the right to participate in public life and socialist construction.

By the mid-1990s, however, this narrative of gender equality began to face new challenges from emerging cultural trends accompanying China’s reform and opening up. At that time, Chinese scholars’ focus on gender issues was shaped by two main concerns: Some worried that the development of a socialist market economy would widen the gender gap, erasing or even reversing the progress made in gender equality; others feared that institutional arrangements for gender equality might conflict with market fairness and undermine overall social efficiency.

The convening of the Beijing Conference and the introduction of feminist discourse on “social gender” made it clear that ignoring or concealing gender differences could not bring about true equality. Gender is embedded not only in public institutions but also in the routines of everyday life. The essence of equality, therefore, may lie in enhancing gender awareness and sensitivity, rather than in pursuing an unattainable notion of “degendering.” This narrative shift aligned with the growing importance of private life in Chinese society. As individual consciousness increased, demands for equality entailed confronting gender differences and reassessing their value. Critical reflection on the social construction of gender weakened the “legitimacy” of traditional cultural norms regarding gender, opening up new possibilities for women.

This understanding of “differentiated equality” emphasizes that gender constitutes “a condition that must be seen.” Over the past two decades, topics closely related to women’s experiences—such as motherhood and childbirth—have gained visibility in China’s online public sphere. Certain feminist analytical concepts, like the “motherhood penalty,” have even entered mainstream discourse. These phenomena indicate that a narrative framework centered on differentiated equality has been integrated into new gender culture.

Another notable phenomenon is the recent popularity of the “clear-headed female protagonist,” who throws herself wholeheartedly into earning money and pursuing a career, with no interest in marriage or having children. This, paradoxically, imposes a new constraint on the “independent woman:” She must deal with everything on her own. Such narratives emphasize individual autonomy but overlook deeper structural predicaments: How much unspoken helplessness lies beneath the many “voluntary” choices? How, then, can the narrative of “autonomous equality” truly empower women to claim the right to define equality for themselves, rather than becoming a “beautiful illusion?” The path to breaking gender constraints may lie in returning to the original spirit of equality: the liberation of the human being.

Wu Xiaoying is a research fellow from the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.