Event Highlights

The panel discussion, “Xenophobia in the Time of Coronavirus: Culture, Race & Stigma,” were joined by three panelists: Joanna Waley-Cohen, Provost of NYU Shanghai and Professor of History; Lin Yao, Ph.D. candidate at Yale Law School, public intellectual and activist; and Qiu Yu, lecturer in Social Anthropology at Minzu University of China. The panelists discussed the social, political and historical contexts in which China’s citizens, members of its diaspora and people of Asian descent have been stigmatized as carriers of contagion in the time of COVID-19. Looking at both history and the current phenomenon, the panelists examined narratives that link the imagining of an infectious disease with the imagining of “the other.” In addition, the panelists commented on the recent reports of xenophobic incidents targeting African nationals in China, highlighting the historical and psychological roots of racial prejudice.

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More than half of the doctors and more than 90% of the nurses on the frontlines of the response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Hubei are women, according to the Shanghai Women’s Federation. In various COVID-19 relief efforts initiated by civil society groups and individuals, women have also been playing an active and significant role. Nonetheless, when it comes to mainstream media representation, while there are many positive stories of women working on the front line, their professional contributions are often portrayed as a sacrifice at the expense of their femininity and care-taking duty fulfillment. Meanwhile, there is a lack of attention to the needs of the female medical workers such as their demand for feminine hygiene products.

At this online event, we talked about women’s contributions in COVID-19 response as well as how their contributions often get misrepresented while their actual needs are overlooked. In addition, panelists highlighted actions and counter efforts initiated by women that challenge the status quo of biases and inequality during the outbreak.

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Who’s Afraid of Feminism” is an earnest and thought-provoking discussion on feminism across generations and societies. The panel presented diverse views on heated topics, from the gendered division of labor at home, to women in workplaces, from the history of feminist movement in the West to feminist activism in today’s China.