「ピルで生理も遅らせて」中国新型コロナ最前線、女性医療従事者の処遇に怒り

【北京ＡＦＰ＝時事】中国の新型コロナウイルス対策をめぐり、最前線で働く女性医療従事者を軽視していると怒りの声が上がっている。女性スタッフは生理用品の入手に苦労し、サイズの合わない防護服に四苦八苦しながら、髪の毛をそり上げて職務に臨んでいる。一部では生理の時期を遅らせるため、女性スタッフにピルを与えているとの報告もあり、怒りをいっそうあおっている。（写真は中国・武漢の紅十字会医院で、話をする医療関係者）
　ウイルス流行の最前線で働く女性たちが、防護服を長持ちさせるためにトイレに行かないようにしているという訴えを知った上海在住のジャン・ジンジンさん（２４）は、女性医療スタッフらは生理のときにどうしているのかと心配になった。
　ジャンさんがこの疑問を中国版ツイッター「微博（ウェイボー）」に投稿すると、数千件ものコメントが付いた。中には新型コロナウイルス流行の中心地、湖北省の匿名の女性たちからの差し迫った訴えもあった。「多くの女性医療従事者が、生理が大いに問題になっていると言ってきた」とジャンさん。
　ある女性は「防護服を着ている間は一日中、飲食さえできない。ましてや生理ナプキンの交換なんて」とジャンさんに明かしたという。
　ジャンさんが生理用品の寄付運動を立ち上げると賛同する個人や企業が現れ、長時間着用できる生理用ナプキンや生理用下着６０万点以上を最前線の女性に送ろうということになった。だが一部の病院は、問題への「十分な認識がない」としてこの寄付を断ったという。
　匿名でＡＦＰの取材に応じた湖北省十堰市の女性看護師は、「上役は全員男性」だと話した。一方、中華全国婦女連合会によると、省の幹部らは圧倒的に男性が多いが、最前線で働く看護師や医師の大多数を占めているのは女性だという。
　生理用品の寄付運動について、ジャンさんはインターネット上で絡まれもした。ある投稿者は、「人の命だって守れないのに、パンツの股あてのことまで気にしていられるものか」と書いてきた。
　上海のとある大学病院は、増援として湖北省に派遣するチームの７９％を占める「女性戦士」らに敬意を表し、「女性メンバーが『人に言えない』特別な期間を先送りさせるために」ピル２００瓶を寄付すると発表したところ、当局は女性から自らの身体管理の権利を奪っていると批判するウェイボーのユーザーらから激しく非難された。あるユーザーは「生理ナプキンを提供したくないから、あなた方はそんな申し出をしている！」と怒りをぶつけた。
　この大学病院は後に、女性メンバーは自発的にピルを服用していると釈明した。
　女性医療従事者らが頭をそり上げているところを撮影したプロパガンダ動画も炎上した。衛生水準の向上のためとみられるが、中には涙を流している女性もおり、彼女らは進んで髪をそったわけではないのではないかと多くの人が疑っている。
　メッセージアプリ「微信（ウィーチャット）」には、「女性の体をプロパガンダの道具として使うな」と主張するブログが投稿され広くシェアされたが、後に「違法コンテンツ」として削除された。
　同様にサイズの大きすぎる防護服を着た女性労働者らを「かわいい」と評した国営中国中央テレビの報道も、ソーシャルメディア上で怒りを買った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/03/12-09:57）

China's fight against the coronavirus epidemic has triggered anger over the neglect of frontline female workers who have struggled to access menstrual products, battled with ill-fitting equipment and had their heads shaved.
Reports that some medical staff were given birth control pills in order to delay their periods have also prompted outrage.
As the world marks International Women's Day, women in China have rallied against measures they deem discriminatory as the government races to contain the crisis, which has disrupted the lives of tens of millions of people under lockdown in central Hubei province, the virus epicentre.
Shanghai resident Jiang Jinjing became concerned about how female medical workers were dealing with their periods, after workers spoke out about avoiding using the toilet to conserve their protective suits.
The 24-year-old asked about the issue on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, and received thousands of comments, including urgent anonymous appeals from women in Hubei.
Many female medical workers sent messages, saying their periods were really causing a lot of trouble, said Jiang, who launched a donation drive of sanitary products.
Can't even eat or drink all day while wearing the isolation suit, let alone change sanitary napkins, one told her.
Her efforts galvanized individuals and companies to send more than 600,000 sanitary pads and period-proof underwear, which can be worn for longer, to frontline workers.
- Not essential -
China ordered fast-track routes for emergency supplies entering Hubei province -- but sanitary products weren't initially considered necessities.
Some hospital officials have turned the donations away, Jiang said, because they didn't have sufficient awareness of this issue.
The leaders are all male comrades, one nurse in Hubei's Shiyan city told AFP, who asked to remain anonymous.
While the provincial leaders are overwhelmingly male, women account for the majority of nurses and doctors on the frontline, according to the official All-China Women's Federation.
Jiang also had to face trolling from online critics.
Even human lives can't be protected, why care about that issue in the crotch of your pants? one wrote in response to her campaign.
But Jiang and her volunteers remain unfazed.
We're very happy that we can do a little work for women's rights, she told AFP.
- 'Unspeakable' periods -
The portrayal of women fighting the virus has prompted a rare wave of criticism in a country where online discussion is usually tightly restricted.
A Shanghai university hospital, which praised the woman warriors that made up 79 percent of its reinforcement team to Hubei, said it was donating 200 bottles of pills to postpone female team members' 'unspeakable' special periods.
The hospital later defended itself, saying the women took the medication voluntarily, but the hospital was slammed by Weibo users who accused officials of depriving women of control over their bodies.
In order to avoid providing sanitary pads, you have created this kind of volunteering! said one.
Of course they would rather take progesterone than stain their protective suits with blood.
Propaganda videos of female medical workers having their heads shaved -- supposedly to improve hygiene -- have also backfired, with many doubting that the women, some of whom were weeping, had participated willingly.
Stop using women's bodies as tools for propaganda, read one widely-shared essay responding to the videos on a WeChat-based blog.
The essay was later removed from the platform for illegal content.
A social media post from state broadcaster CCTV which described unnamed workers posing in oversized hazmat suits as cute drew similar ire.
Weibo users pointed out that they were likely to be female workers given the ill-fitting suits.
Fat lot of good being cute does when it comes to safety!! wrote one user, whose comments were reposted more than 27,000 times.
The strength of online debate shows that public awareness of gender equality has grown, said activist Feng Yuan, who co-founded a Beijing-based non-profit focusing on women.
But stereotypes and propaganda erase women by portraying them as recipients of help, or as long-suffering caregivers, or eulogized victims or self-sacrificers, she said.
Instead of living people, this kind of propaganda conversely strengthens gender stereotypes.