Press Rhetoric on Women’s Human Rights Protection in the Early Period after the Founding of People’s Republic of China: A Case Study on the Publicity of the Marriage Law of 1950 in Chongqing Daily

Abstract： Women’s human rights are an inalienable part of universal humanrights， the realization of which is an important indicator of the progress of social civili‐zation. In China’s campaigns to safeguard women’s human rights， the press hasplayed an important role as recorders and guides. In recent years， academia has studiedthe protection of women’s rights and interests from the perspective of the press， open‐ing up new horizons for research in this field. The existing studies have mainlyexplored the importance of the press in promoting the realization of women’s rightsand interests before the founding of People’s Republic of China from different per‐spectives. However， women’s fuller enjoyment of equal civil rights with men as“human beings” began after the founding of People’s Republic of China in 1949， andwas marked by the promulgation and implementation of the Marriage Law of thePeople’s Republic of China （hereinafter referred to as the “Marriage Law”） in 1950.Therefore， it is worthwhile to note and study how the press publicized and popularizedthe Law in their coverage and thus promoted the realization of women’s rights.Weused “Marriage Law” as the keyword to query the search system of Chongqing DailyNews Group and filtered out reports whose main content was not about the Marriage Law. It was found that： During the period from August 1952 to August 1953， Chongq‐ing Daily published a total of 282 articles related to the Marriage Law， covering news，newsletters， editorials， novels， essays， cartoons， songs and other forms. The coveragenot only promoted women’s gender awareness and gender self-confidence in compli‐ance with the Marriage Law， but also strengthened women’s firm belief in challengingtraditional customs， breaking the shackles of the feudal marriage system， and pursuingwomen’s human rights.This paper， with the research method of combining newspaperhistory with women’s history， focuses on the publicity coverage of the Marriage Lawand examines the press rhetoric on women’s human rights protection in the local Partynewspaper Chongqing Daily during the early period after the founding of the People’sRepublic of China. It has been found that the press played a fourfold role in the move‐ment to protect women’s human rights in China. First， it provided a platform for dis‐course that truly displayed the hardships in women’s marriages in Chongqing andtheir voices for seeking their own rights and interests. Second， it conveyed the view‐point of the rule of law and sought to awaken women’s sense of subjectivity， enablingthem to transform from mere “toy puppets” who followed others’ whims to autono‐mous individuals with independent consciousness. Third， it strengthened the exchangebetween editors and readers， helping readers solve marital problems and clarify ideo‐logical fallacies through their interaction with editors. Fourth， it promoted changes incustoms and traditions， enabling women to rejoin their families and participate in pro‐duction in a more constructive manner， thus completing the transformation from“dependents” to “contributors”.

KEY WORDS： women’s human rights; Chongqing Daily; the publicity of theMarriage Law of 1950