The past two decades have witnessed a heightened research interest in the
emerging field of “Global China” (Lee 2022, Franceshini et al. 2022). This field interrogates China’s role in and its profound influence on the global stage. A myriad of studies, initiatives and media reports have focused on China’s global footprint; its overseas investments, especially the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the political, socio-economic, environmental and human rights implications; and its influence on geopolitics and regional dynamics. However, not enough attention has been paid to the gender aspect of Global China, and the issue of gender and sexuality has been largely ignored (Jolly 2016, Cai and Li 2021).

Recently, with China’s increasing global commitment to gender equality and women’s development at various international forums and in international cooperation programs, gender issues have been given greater prominence and attention in the country’s foreign policy (Xi 2015, 2020). This has prompted researchers and activists to raise concerns about the use of gendered discourses in soft power propaganda in diplomacy and its implications for gender politics in China and across the world.

In collaboration with researchers and activists, DAWN intends to develop an analysis to understand China’s global economic, political and security expansion, and its profound impacts on gender equality and women’s human rights in the global South.