| Over the past two decades, more than a dozen statutes and laws have been enacted seeking to curtail the problem of prostitution in China. During that time, the government has shifted its policy from an attempt to eradicate prostitution entirely in the 1980s to a strategy of control and later of regulation in the 1990s. Although women prostitutes continue to be seen as the victims of sexual exploitation by males, when these women are arrested they, and not their male customers, are subjected to mandatory rehabilitation. The deterioration of women?s rights under the new economic order has further limited the capacity of women to enjoy equal access to education, employment, welfare, and social and political advancement. Without adequate protection for women?s access to social, economic, and political advancement, prostitution cannot be properly prevented and controlled. |