- Chinese American women, having learned from the civil rights movement, began demonstrating for improved living and working conditions in the early 1970s. In 1973, young and old, foreign-born and American-born, joined forces in San Francisco to protest proposed federal cutbacks in childcare funding that would adversely affect low-income families in the Chinatown community. The women later initiated a lawsuit that successfully delayed implementation of the proposed cutbacks while they actively supported new legislation to expand childcare services. Since the 1970s Chinese American women have repeatedly broken the stereotype of the fragile and passive “China doll” by actively participating in mainstream politics and protesting against social injustices.
|