Daughters of Formosa: Feminist discourses and women's movements in Taiwan, 1920--2002 (China)

This dissertation is an attempt to link Taiwanese advocacy for women's rights in the Japanese colonial era (1895–1945) with its counterpart in the post-World War II period. As a case study of intellectual production derived from the interaction between an East Asian sociopolitical milieu and various strains of Western feminism, this dissertation contributes to cross-cultural feminist scholarship and to East Asian studies.; In this dissertation, I argue that the emergence, decline, collapse, and reemergence of autonomous women's movements in twentieth-century Taiwan can be attributed to the changing political situation on the island. During periods of soft authoritarianism in the Japanese colonial era and postwar Taiwan, autonomous women's movements emerged and operated within the political perimeters set by the authoritarian regimes. In contrast, during periods of hard authoritarianism, the autonomous women's movement collapsed and was not given the political space to reemerge in the highly oppressive political climate.; In 1895, China ceded Taiwan to Japan after the former was defeated in the first Sino-Japanese War. In the early 1920s, Taiwanese feminist discourses emerged within the context of the Japanese colonial government's greater tolerance of political dissent in Taiwanese society. With the rise of Japanese militarism from late 1931, the intensified repression of the Japanese colonial government toward Taiwan's sociopolitical movements led to the collapse of the women's movement.; With the defeat of Japan in World War II, Taiwan was restored to the Chinese Nationalist government. From 1945 to the late 1960s, the highly repressive political climate that developed under Chinese Nationalist rule was not conducive to political dissent or to the reemergence of an autonomous women's movement. It was not until the early 1970s that the postwar autonomous women's movement emerged within the context of the authoritarian regime's greater tolerance for social and political dissent in Taiwanese society. During the era of democratization in the post-1987 period, Taiwan has witnessed the emergence of diverse strains of feminist discourses and various non-government women's organizations.