EXPLAINER: Peng Shuai case shows barriers Chinese women face


              FILE- Vice Premiers, from left, Sun Chunlan, Hu Chunhua, and Liu He leave after a press conference following the closing session of China's National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Tuesday, March 20, 2018. While Chinese women are strongly represented in the work force and in legislative bodies such as the National People's Congress, they are largely absent from the highest levels of Communist Party and government power. Sun is the only woman who sits on the 25-member Politburo and men make up all seven members of the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee. China has never had a female president or premier or even foreign minister. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
            
              FILE- Supporters hold banners as they wait for of Zhou Xiaoxuan outside at a courthouse where Zhou is appearing in a sexual harassment case in Beijing on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. While the #MeToo movement gained some initial traction when it launched in China in 2018, recent cases show those early hopes for a significant change in official attitudes may have been unrealistic. After initially receiving public support and media coverage, Zhou now gets messages attacking her every day and has been banned from posting on her Twitter-like Weibo account for a year. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
            
              FILE - Zhou Xiaoxuan, a Chinese woman who filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against a TV host, speaks to her supporters as she arrives at a courthouse in Beijing, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. In the case that first defined the Chinese #MeToo movement, activist Zhou sued state TV host Zhu Jun only after he sued her for defamation first. She accused him of groping her when she was a young intern at CCTV.  After initially receiving public support and media coverage, Zhou now gets messages attacking her every day and has been banned from posting on her Twitter-like Weibo account for a year. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
            
              FILE- Spectators wear T-shirts in support of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022. The controversy surrounding Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s accusations of sexual assault against a former top politician continues to cast a shadow of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games that officially begin on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. Peng disappeared from public view in November, 2021, after accusing former Communist Party official Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard, File)
            
              FILE - China's Peng Shuai serves to Japan's Nao Hibino during their first round singles match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 21, 2020. The controversy surrounding Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s accusations of sexual assault against a former top politician continues to cast a shadow of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games that officially begin on Friday, Feb. 4. 2022. Peng disappeared from public view in November, 2021, after accusing former Communist Party official Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill, File)
EXPLAINER: Peng Shuai case shows barriers Chinese women face