作者：钱钰琳    

很多人认为，随着时代的发展，中国女性的地位已经获得了极大提高。法律规定男女平等，女性可以接受教育、参加工作、参与社会生活。然而，当我回顾自己在中国的成长经历以及后来在海南海口一家医院担任护士期间的所见所闻时，我越来越清楚地认识到，许多针对女性的歧视和不公并没有消失，而是以更加隐蔽的方式持续存在着。

我出生并成长于中国。从小到大，我经常听到“男孩是传宗接代的”“女孩迟早是别人家的人”之类的话。虽然这些话听起来像是老一辈人的观念，但它们实际上仍然影响着许多家庭对于男女价值的判断。

后来，我在海南海口一家医院担任护士。在医院工作期间，我接触过许多来自不同地区、不同家庭背景的女性患者。让我印象最深刻的，并不是疾病本身，而是许多女性在面对家庭和社会压力时表现出的无奈。

一次深夜值班，一名三十多岁的女性被送进急诊室。她穿着一件已经被撕破的睡衣，左脸肿得很高，嘴角还残留着血迹。陪她来的邻居告诉我们，她是被丈夫打伤的。处理伤口时，我轻声问她发生了什么，她只是低着头，一句话也不说。直到后来，她才断断续续地告诉我们，丈夫喝酒后经常动手，这已经不是第一次了。当医生建议她报警时，她的眼泪一下子流了下来。她紧紧攥着病历本，小声说：“如果我报警，他出来以后会打得更厉害。孩子还在上小学，我没有工作，也没有地方去。”那天晚上，她在观察室里坐了很久，天快亮时才离开。几天后复诊时，她依然和丈夫生活在一起。

类似的情况并非个例。在医院工作期间，我曾见过多名因家庭暴力受伤的女性。有一位年轻母亲因为被丈夫推下楼梯导致手臂骨折，却对外声称是自己“不小心摔倒”；还有一位中年女性长期遭受丈夫辱骂和殴打，来医院时总是神情紧张，稍微听到大一点的声音就会下意识地缩起肩膀。她们中的许多人并非不知道自己受到了伤害，而是不知道离开之后该如何生活。

除了家庭暴力问题，我还看到许多女性在生育问题上承受着巨大的压力。我记得一位怀孕七个月的孕妇来做产检。检查结束后，她婆婆立刻把我拉到一旁，小声问：“能不能看出来是男孩还是女孩？”当我告诉她医院不能透露胎儿性别时，她明显露出了失望的神情。那位孕妇站在旁边，尴尬地低着头，一句话也没有说。后来几次产检，她都是一个人来的。一次抽血时，她突然对我说：“如果这胎还是女孩，我婆婆肯定又要闹。”说这句话时，她勉强笑了笑，但眼圈已经红了。她告诉我，自己已经有一个女儿，家里人一直希望她再生个儿子。怀孕本该是一件值得期待的事情，但在她身上，我看到的更多是焦虑和压力。还有一位产妇刚生下第二个女儿。孩子出生后，她丈夫站在病房门口沉默不语，婆婆则不停叹气，甚至当着产妇的面说：“怎么又是个女孩。”那位刚经历生产的母亲躺在病床上，眼泪顺着脸颊流下来。那一刻让我深刻感受到，在一些家庭里，女性不仅要承受生育的痛苦，还要承担来自传统观念的无形审判。

近年来发生的“铁链女”事件，更让外界看到了中国社会中长期存在而又被忽视的女性权利问题。一名妇女被铁链锁在破旧房屋内，多次生育子女的画面震惊全国。视频中，她衣衫单薄，站在寒冷的冬天里，脖子上拴着铁链，眼神麻木而空洞。公众不仅震惊于事件本身，更震惊于这样的悲剧为何能够持续多年而没有得到及时制止。

然而，比个案更值得担忧的是，当越来越多女性试图争取自身权利时，她们往往面临来自现实环境的巨大阻力。近年来，一些关注反家庭暴力、反性骚扰以及女性平等权利的活动人士遭到约谈、监控或者限制活动。网络上关于女性权益的话题经常受到限制，相关讨论有时会被删除或降温处理。一些为女性发声的人甚至成为被重点关注的对象。

这种现象让我逐渐意识到，中国女性所面对的问题不仅仅来自传统观念，更来自于缺乏独立监督和有效救济机制的现实环境。当女性受到伤害时，她们往往难以获得充分保护；当女性试图发声时，她们又可能面临新的压力。

作为一名曾经在中国医疗系统工作的女性，我看到过太多沉默和隐忍。我看到许多女性在家庭暴力面前选择沉默；看到许多女性在重男轻女观念面前被迫妥协；也看到许多女性即使遭受不公待遇，仍然不敢公开表达自己的不满。

这些经历至今仍留在我的记忆里。那些低着头不敢说话的患者，那些在病房里偷偷抹眼泪的母亲，那些明明受了伤却坚持说“没事”的女性，让我明白许多问题并不是个别现象，而是长期存在于社会中的结构性困境。

正因如此，我越来越关注女性权利问题。我认为，一个社会是否真正文明，不是看法律文件上写了什么，而是看那些最弱势的人是否真正受到保护。遗憾的是，在今天的中国，许多女性依然生活在看不见的枷锁之中。

编辑：胡丽莉  校对：冯仍 翻译：沈美花

Invisible Shackles

Author: Qian Yulin

Abstract: Some women in China still face issues such as domestic violence, a preference for sons over daughters, and reproductive pressure. Influenced by traditional concepts and the reality of their environment, they encounter difficulties in defending their rights and making their voices heard. The protection of women’s rights and interests still faces challenges.

Many people believe that with the development of the times, the status of women in China has been greatly improved. The law stipulates equality between men and women, and women can receive education, join the workforce, and participate in social life. However, when I look back at my experience growing up in China and what I later saw and heard while working as a nurse at a hospital in Haikou, Hainan, I realize more and more clearly that many forms of discrimination and injustice against women have not disappeared, but instead continue to exist in more hidden ways.

I was born and raised in China. Growing up, I often heard phrases like “boys carry on the family line” and “girls will sooner or later belong to someone else’s family.” Although these words sound like the notions of the older generation, they actually still influence many families’ judgment regarding the value of men and women.

Later, I worked as a nurse in a hospital in Haikou, Hainan. During my time working at the hospital, I came into contact with many female patients from different regions and family backgrounds. What impressed me most deeply was not the illnesses themselves, but the helplessness shown by many women when facing family and social pressures.

During a late-night shift, a woman in her thirties was brought into the emergency room. She was wearing a torn nightgown, her left cheek was severely swollen, and there were still traces of blood on the corner of her mouth. The neighbor who accompanied her told us she had been beaten and injured by her husband. While treating her wounds, I softly asked her what happened, but she just kept her head down and didn’t say a word. It was only later that she intermittently told us her husband frequently hit her after drinking, and this was not the first time. When the doctor suggested she report it to the police, her tears streamed down instantly. Clutching her medical record book tightly, she whispered, “If I report it to the police, he will beat me even harder after he comes out. The child is still in elementary school, I don’t have a job, and I have nowhere to go.” That night, she sat in the observation room for a long time and only left when dawn was about to break. When she returned for a follow-up visit a few days later, she was still living with her husband.

Similar situations are by no means isolated cases. During my time working at the hospital, I saw multiple women injured due to domestic violence. One young mother suffered an arm fracture because her husband pushed her down the stairs, yet she claimed to the outside world that she had “accidentally fallen.” Another middle-aged woman had long endured verbal abuse and beatings from her husband; whenever she came to the hospital, she always looked tense and would subconsciously flinch her shoulders at the slightest loud noise. Many of them are not unaware that they are being harmed, but rather they do not know how to live after leaving.

Apart from the issue of domestic violence, I also saw many women bearing immense pressure regarding childbirth. I remember a pregnant woman who was seven months along coming for a prenatal check-up. After the examination, her mother-in-law immediately pulled me aside and whispered, “Can you tell if it’s a boy or a girl?” When I told her that the hospital is not allowed to disclose the gender of the fetus, a look of disappointment clearly appeared on her face. The pregnant woman stood nearby, lowering her head in embarrassment, without saying a word. For the next few prenatal visits, she came alone. During a blood draw, she suddenly said to me, “If this baby is another girl, my mother-in-law will definitely make a scene again.” As she said this, she forced a smile, but her eyes were already red. She told me she already had a daughter, and her family had always hoped she would give birth to a son. Pregnancy should have been something to look forward to, but in her, I saw mostly anxiety and pressure. There was also a maternal patient who had just given birth to her second daughter. After the baby was born, her husband stood at the door of the ward in silence, while the mother-in-law kept sighing, even saying right in front of the mother, “How is it another girl?” The mother, who had just gone through childbirth, lay on the hospital bed, tears flowing down her cheeks. That moment made me deeply feel that in some families, women not only have to endure the pain of childbirth but also have to bear the invisible judgment of traditional concepts.

The “Chained Woman” incident that occurred in recent years has further exposed to the outside world the long-standing yet neglected issue of women’s rights in Chinese society. The footage of a woman locked with an iron chain inside a dilapidated house, having given birth to multiple children, shocked the nation. In the video, she was thinly clad, standing in the cold winter with a chain fastened around her neck, her eyes numb and hollow. The public was not only shocked by the incident itself but even more shocked by how such a tragedy could persist for so many years without being promptly stopped.

However, what is more worrying than individual cases is that when more and more women attempt to strive for their own rights, they often face immense resistance from the reality of their environment. In recent years, some activists focusing on anti-domestic violence, anti-sexual harassment, and equal rights for women have been summoned for talks, monitored, or restricted in their activities. Topics regarding women’s rights on the internet are frequently restricted, and relevant discussions are sometimes deleted or de-escalated. Some people who speak out for women have even become targets of key surveillance.

This phenomenon made me gradually realize that the problems faced by Chinese women come not only from traditional concepts but also from a realistic environment that lacks independent oversight and effective relief mechanisms. When women are harmed, they often find it difficult to obtain adequate protection; when women attempt to speak out, they may face new pressures.

As a woman who once worked in the Chinese healthcare system, I have seen too much silence and forbearance. I have seen many women choose silence in the face of domestic violence; seen many women forced to compromise before the concept of preferring sons over daughters; and seen many women who, even when suffering unfair treatment, still dare not publicly express their dissatisfaction.

These experiences still remain in my memory to this day. Those patients who lowered their heads and dared not speak, those mothers who secretly wiped away tears in the wards, and those women who were clearly injured but insisted they were “fine” made me understand that many issues are not isolated phenomena, but structural dilemmas that have long existed in society.

Because of this, I pay more and more attention to the issue of women’s rights. I believe that whether a society is truly civilized depends not on what is written in legal documents, but on whether the most vulnerable people are truly protected. Regrettably, in today’s China, many women still live within invisible shackles.

Editor: Hu Lili

Proofreader: Feng Reng

Translator: Shen Meihua