Political Science professor Kimberly Ens Manning studies women’s roles in determining social welfare policies and practices.
Political Science Professor Kimberly Ens Manning's upcoming book,States of Activisim: Gender and Peasant Mobilization, will exploretopics that inclidewhy the People's Republic of China established a maternal welfare state.
K imberley Ens Manning, an Assistant Professor in Concordia’s Department of Political Science, had finished high school in September 1988 when she first went to China on a language- and culture-related scholarship. Since then, she’s returned to China to study and conduct research many times. “I was in Beijing when students began demonstrating in April 1989 and left a few days before the June 4th massacre at Tiananmen Square,” Manning recalls. “Being in the streets with a million people demonstrating for some kind of democratization whet my appetite for understanding China’s history and politics, especially in terms of the role of women.”
Manning’s research now focuses on how women have influenced social welfare policies and their implementation. “My interviews and archival research have prompted me to rethink the whole structure of the welfare state and the role women play in constructing it,” she says.
While China’s senior leadership took a predominantly maternal approach to policy making in the ‘50s, women in rural areas often ignored the special provisions for pregnant or older women on farms and in factories. The active role the Communist Party directly played in recruiting people in rural areas to adopt its way of thinking likely explains why these women rejected any kind of special treatment. “The party emphasized the need for everyone to sacrifice, to establish a new society in which all would flourish in ways that didn’t happen prior to communism,” Manning explains.
Manning is also involved in a project with Concordia and McGill researchers that examines why some authoritarian regimes, including China, have remained in power despite the supposed wave of democratization in the late-’80s and early ‘90s. She’s working with other Concordia researchers to examine the expansion of Sino-African relations. “Is China’s construction of roads, buildings and other infrastructure as part of these deals a new development model or just business as usual, with China simply dressing it up as a brotherhood among developing countries?” Manning asks.
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