Discrimination against and repression of women is a global problem. In authoritarian states, it is also intertwined with regime survival. Take recent events in Iran, where women-led protests against strict hijab laws are challenging the country’s ruling powers. Nearly 3,000 miles away in China, a different feminist debate is taking hold, over whether sanitary pads should be sold on high-speed trains. This debate was kindled on September 16, 2022, on the Chinese social media site Weibo. A woman posted about her irritation at not being able to purchase period products while travelling on the country’s high-speed rail network: “I don’t…