{"id":2947,"date":"2015-11-06T10:17:28","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T15:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/diplomacy\/?p=2947"},"modified":"2016-02-20T13:36:32","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T18:36:32","slug":"unescos-special-envoy-more-than-the-first-lady-of-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/2015\/11\/unescos-special-envoy-more-than-the-first-lady-of-china\/","title":{"rendered":"UNESCO’s Special Envoy: More than the First Lady of China"},"content":{"rendered":"

On March 27, 2014<\/a> UNESCO named Peng Liyuan, the first lady of China, Special Envoy for the Advancement of Girls\u2019 and Women\u2019s Education.\u00a0 This highly respectable award is given to exceptional personalities<\/a>, who spread UNESCO\u2019s mission worldwide by utilizing their personal and professional networks.\u00a0 As the wife of president Xi Jinping and a famous soprano singer with a long list of varied credentials, Peng is definitely well known and received by the Chinese people and others around the world.\u00a0 But is she an effective envoy and why does it matter?<\/p>\n

Over a year after her appointment Peng Liyuan continues to impress the public.\u00a0 In September, she appeared at the Global Education 1st<\/sup> Initiative event at the United Nations.\u00a0 She surprised the audience by delivering her speech in fairly fluent English.\u00a0 She discussed the importance of education for all and her dedication to the cause.\u00a0 She also shared a story about how her father\u2019s educational initiatives in rural China shaped her passion for learning. Ms. Peng spoke about her Chinese dream<\/a> to see every child, girl or boy have access to education. She spoke passionately and sincerely, receiving a notable amount of applause from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Since the first lady\u2019s speech, there has been a very positive response from the public.\u00a0 However, the majority of that reception has focused on her modern fashion<\/a> and beauty or her English speaking skills.\u00a0 While these two characteristics surely contribute to her popularity as a public figure, they distract from the power and reality of her words.\u00a0 While we can all agree with Ms. Peng\u2019s remarks, we must look beyond the speech to the actual condition of women\u2019s rights in China.<\/p>\n

Peng Liyuan has been the Special Envoy for almost twenty months now.\u00a0 During her time as an advocate for the advancement of women, conditions for women and girls in China have seen little to no change.\u00a0 Women are still being forcibly sterilized; sex-selected abortions are taking place, and there are still instances of female infanticide. Female activists who speak up against these injustices are being punished.\u00a0 Millions of girls have lost the right to live and thus never even had the opportunity for an education.\u00a0 If they survive and are educated, then they are punished for openly speaking their beliefs.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, close to International Women\u2019s Day, 10 women were arrested and detained in China for speaking out against domestic violence and sexual harassment on public transportation<\/a>.\u00a0 They have all since been released, but are fearful of future retaliations by the government.\u00a0 Recently, while Xi Jinping was visiting the United States, one of the woman activists was harassed once again by officials and was threatened with eviction<\/a> from her home.\u00a0 This event was almost simultaneous with the first lady\u2019s speech at the U.N.<\/p>\n

Despite these atrocities, the People\u2019s Republic of China did announce last week that they would be abolishing<\/a> the One-Child Policy. This is certainly a step in the right direction.\u00a0 Forced sterilizations and abortions will hopefully lessen and family planning can be left to a couples\u2019 choice.\u00a0 It is estimated that around 400 million births<\/a> were prevented under the One-Child Policy, not including all of the undocumented abortions.\u00a0 Millions of girls never had the chance to live out their own China dream. Now China\u2019s population faces a huge gender imbalance and as the population continues to age, people fear the impact of a dwindling work force.<\/p>\n

Hopefully the government will continue to make strides to improve not only the basic rights of women, but also the formation of what it means to be a woman in China.\u00a0 Peng Liyuan is definitely a great example of a woman who rose through the ranks of society.\u00a0 She was born in a small town in Shandong Province, but joined the People\u2019s Liberation Army<\/a> at a young age.\u00a0 She later pursued her passion for music bringing her to perform on international stages.\u00a0 Her background makes her all the more relatable to the majority of Chinese people.\u00a0 It is time for her to utilize her position of authority and put an end to the discrimination against women and girls. As someone who has a daughter, she should be more motivated to create a better state for women to flourish.\u00a0 Xi Mingze, Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan\u2019s daughter, attended Harvard University<\/a> before returning to China last year.\u00a0 She has been consistently kept out of the public eye and is never photographed by the media.\u00a0 However, it would be even more powerful and effective if Xi Mingze joined her mother as the next generation in promoting the empowerment of women.<\/p>\n

Peng Liyuan\u2019s seemingly sincere speech at the U.N. loses its authenticity when contrasted with the reality of women\u2019s rights in China.\u00a0 It would be beneficial for UNESCO to either revoke or at least challenge Ms. Peng\u2019s title as the Special Envoy for the Advancement of Girls\u2019 and Women\u2019s Education.\u00a0 Her global popularity and leadership position do not exempt her from confronting the struggles of women in her country.\u00a0 I believe Peng Liyuan wants to see change happen, but there has to be a greater effort put forth to see reform realized.\u00a0 This begins with transparency and taking a stand, even if it means challenging the ideas of the all male Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Lauren Greenwood<\/strong> is an associate editor for the Journal of Diplomacy and a first year graduate student at Seton Hall University. \u00a0She is pursuing her M.A. in Diplomacy and International Relations and specializing in Foreign Policy Analysis and Asia. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Twitter: @laurengreenwd1<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Follow the Journal of Diplomacy on Twitter at @JournalofDiplo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 27, 2014 UNESCO named Peng Liyuan, the first lady of China, Special Envoy for the Advancement of Girls\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":2948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[342,11,175,174,304],"tags":[289,292,344,345],"class_list":["post-2947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-china","category-editors-pick","category-featured-2","category-united-nations","tag-asia","tag-china","tag-unesco","tag-women"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2947"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3254,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2947\/revisions\/3254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}