GOODS ON WHICH ONE LOSES - WOMEN AND MENTAL-HEALTH IN CHINA

This article is broadly divided into three sections. The first part de als with the traditional aspects of gender discrimination in China. Be fore the Communist government came to power in 1949, discrimination ag ainst women was institutionalized within all the usual structures of s ociety: family, the economy, education, culture and the political syst em. It was one of the major policy initiatives of the Communist govern ment to do away with unequal treatment of women. However, it is very e asy to demonstrate that significant discrimination against women still exists. The Chinese government argues that this is because of 'remnan ts of feudal thinking'. Although this may be partly true, there are as pects of current Chinese society that encourage the continuation of th is cultural tradition. The second part of the article examines what is known of the epidemiology of mental illness in China with particular reference to gender. As is the case in Western countries, depression a nd neurotic disorders are diagnosed more frequently in women than in m en, although, overall, the prevalence rate is much lower than in Weste rn countries. What is unusual is that schizophrenia, which is diagnose d at roughly equal rates for men and women in Western countries, is di agnosed more frequently in women in China. Despite this, women occupy fewer psychiatric hospital beds and generally receive fewer resources (e.g. health insurance) than men. Suicide rates are very much higher i n China than, for instance, in America, and the suicide figures for yo ung, rural women are particularly disturbing. The third part of the ar ticle is based on three interviews with women in a psychiatric clinic in Hubei province. Through the information and life experience describ ed by these women, it is shown how the matters discussed in the previo us two sections have an impact on individual lives, and how illness is used as both a metaphor and a strategy.