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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 003213 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y - ADDED CAPTIONS 
SIPDIS 
 
S/GWI, EAP, EAP/CM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN PHUM PREL KPAO
SUBJECT:  PRC NOMINEE TO THE SECRETARY'S 2010 INTERNATIONAL 
WOMEN OF COURAGE AWARD 
 
REF: SECSTATE 111471 
 
BEIJING 00003213  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Embassy Beijing is pleased to nominate Guo Jianmei for 
the 2010 Secretary's Award for International Women of 
Courage.  In her long battle to provide Chinese women with 
equal rights, protections and opportunities, Guo Jianmei has 
established herself as a trailblazer and first-generation 
women's rights lawyer in China.  She walked away from a 
comfortable career to establish a center to provide free 
legal aid for disadvantaged women only six years after the 
Tiananmen crackdown, a time when non-government organizations 
(NGOs) in China were few and the government was extremely 
critical of civil society entities that challenged the status 
quo or cast a negative light on PRC society.  Guo Jianmei is 
recognized as an engine for change in Chinese legal reforms, 
especially as related to women.  Her tireless efforts to 
speak out against traditional views of women and girls, fight 
domestic violence and sexual harassment in the workplace, and 
safeguard the rights of women have resulted in major changes 
in government policy and law.  Guo long has faced 
considerable obstacles in pursuit of her work.  Recently, 
Peking University officials asked Guo to direct her legal aid 
center to stop public litigation or disassociate from the 
university.  Guo Jianmei, with the support of her staff, has 
decided to leave the university and continue taking casework, 
a course of action that she deems to be the best means to 
push forward legal advocacy and reform. 
¶2. (U) Nomination details: 
Surname:  Guo. 
Given name:  Jianmei. 
Job title:  Director, Lawyer. 
Organization:  Peking University Women's Law Studies and 
Legal Aid Center. 
Date of Birth:  October 13, 1961. 
Place of birth/citizenship:  Henan Province, PRC. 
Address:  Third Building of Qianhejiayuan, Rm #1304, 108 
North 4th Ring East Rd., Chaoyang District, Beijing, China. 
Phone number:  86-10-8483-3270. 
Email:  jianmei333@sohu.com 
Passport number:  Ms. Guo is in process of applying for a new 
passport, number forthcoming.  Her old passport (G30021597) 
was recently stolen in Germany. 
Languages:  Mandarin Chinese; requires translation services 
for English. 
¶3. (U) Justification: 
Guo Jianmei is China's best known female lawyer and a 
trailblazer who 14 years ago established China's first NGO to 
provide legal aid to women, the Peking University Women's Law 
Studies and Legal Aid Center.  The Center is the symbol of 
women's rights protection in China and under Guo's leadership 
has become a significant source of legal advocacy and reform. 
 Guo is helping drive the practice of public interest law in 
China, a role that has put her under considerable pressure, 
taking on benchmark cases to drive legislative and policy 
reform in areas such as rural women's land rights, workplace 
gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and violence 
against women.  Guo Jianmei has faced down regulatory and 
legal obstruction, social prejudice, and other difficulties 
to build a pioneering women's legal advocacy and reform NGO 
at a time when China remains fairly closed to and suspicious 
of civil society groups.  In late November, Peking University 
instructed Guo to either cease legal casework, or 
disassociate the Center from the university; Guo has decided 
the Center will continue taking cases and is preparing to 
leave the university. 
Guo Jianmei was born to teachers in a poverty-stricken area 
of rural China.  The conditions in the village and the plight 
of the women that surrounded her left a profound impression, 
one that continues to drive her work today.  Guo graduated in 
1983 from Peking University's Department of Law and went on 
to work at the Institute of the Judiciary, the Legal 
Consultant Office of the National Women's Federation and the 
National Lawyers' Association China Lawyers Magazine. 
After attending the Fourth International Forum for Women 
Lawyers in 1995, Guo Jianmei established her legal aid center 
at Peking University, which has become China's most prominent 
legal aid center for women and a magnet for women legal 
activists and civil society leaders.  Shortly after, Guo 
resigned her post as assistant editor at China Lawyers 
Magazine to devote herself to providing legal aid to women. 
Guo Jianmei met with stiff resistance and lost nearly all of 
her early cases due to what she characterizes as her 
underestimation of the challenges facing women seeking 
recourse in the Chinese legal system.  She has explained that 
"a lawyer providing free legal aid to women is often regarded 
with contempt.  But this only strengthened my resolve." 
Over time, Guo Jianmei found success through her sheer 
determination and persistence in pursuing fair and equal 
treatment of women in Chinese law and society.  She refused 
to give up or bow to pressure, even when cases dragged on for 
 
BEIJING 00003213  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
years.  Guo was one of the first persons, let alone women, to 
build a successful NGO in China focused on law and public 
policy related to women's issues and the disadvantaged.  She 
achieved success by working openly and transparently with 
other NGOs, law firms, the university, the government, and 
civil society leaders to support the rights and interests of 
Chinese women.  Through the Center, Guo launched programs in 
support of public policy reform and women's rights, 
established the first non-government website and hotline to 
provide legal services nationwide, and built a network of 
legal aid partners including anti-domestic violence 
advocates, lawyers, hospitals, public officials, courts, 
schools, media, NGOs and psychologists in 28 provinces in 
China. 
Under Guo Jianmei's direction, the Center began to focus on 
five categories of lawsuits:  protecting rural women's rights 
and interests regarding land use; job discrimination against 
women; protecting the rights and interests of female domestic 
workers; sexual harassment in the workplace; and domestic 
violence.  To date, the legal aid center has provided free 
legal counseling services in over 80,000 cases, including 
nearly 3,000 class action law and public litigation suits. 
The issue of domestic violence in China continues to be an 
area of serious concern for Guo Jianmei.  In 2001, she 
successfully pushed for the revision of China's Marriage Law 
, challenging PRC lawmakers to take another step away from a 
traditional patriarchal, Confucian view of women and girls. 
Guo also helped draft China's first domestic violence laws 
that are currently being considered by the PRC government. 
Guo believes it imperative that China revise relevant laws 
and formulate more sophisticated operational procedures 
regarding the handling of domestic violence cases to ensure 
that women across China's social classes receive equal 
treatment and benefit. 
Guo Jianmei's long-standing association with Peking 
University appears to be coming to a close.  In late November 
2009, Peking University informed Guo Jianmei that if she and 
the Center continued taking casework, she would have to 
disassociate the Center from the university.  Despite the 
problems she is facing without the support of Peking 
University, Guo Jiamei has decided to continue public 
litigation work precisely because casework is the best means 
through which to push forward legal advocacy and reform, and 
ensure Chinese women the protections and rights they are owed. 
¶4. (U) Guo Jianmei has been informed of her nomination for 
this award.  She expressed gratitude to Embassy Beijing for 
the honor of representing the courage of Chinese women in 
their struggle for equal treatment under the law and in 
society.  If chosen, she would welcome the opportunity to 
travel to Washington, D.C., to accept the award. 
¶5. (U) Embassy Contact:  PolOffs Meredith Sumpter, phone: 
86-10-8531-4381 or Tiffany DeSpain, phone: 86-10-8531-3538. 
HUNTSMAN