Le Tone Wei
WOMEN IN CHINA
“Women hold up half the sky.”
- Mao Zedong
What was Mao’s attitude towards
women?
"The circumstances in which Miss Chao found herself were the
following; (1) Chinese society; (2) the Chao family of Nanyang Street in
Changsha; (3)the Wu family of Kantzuyuan Street in Changsha, the
family of the husband she did not want. These three factors constituted
three iron nets, composing a kind of triangular cage. Once caught in
these three nets, it was in vain that she sought life in every way
possible. There was no way for her to go on living ... It happened
because of the shameful system of arranged marriages, because of the
darkness of the social system, the negation of the individual will, and
the absence of the freedom to choose one's own mate."
"ensure freedom of marriage and equality as between men and women,"
"In order to build a great socialist society it is of the utmost importance
to arouse the broad masses of women to join in productive activity. Men
and women must receive equal pay for equal work in production.
Genuine equality between the sexes can only be realized in the process
of the socialist transformation of society as a whole"
I want to create a country without
oppression where women are
equal and fully participated in all
spheres of society. Therefore:
1.I believe women are just as equal
as man.
2.I am supportive of women rights.
3.I am willing to ameliorate the
status of women.
How
did
Mao’s
attitude
towards
women
influence
his
policies?
Before
-
Arranged between families rather than two individuals.
-
Spouse selection based on family needs and socioeconomic
status of potential mate, rather than love or attraction.
-
Women’s duty was to provide a son in order to continue family
name.
-
Involved negotiation of a bride price, gifts bestowed to the
bride’s family.
-
Monetary compensation was utilised in purchase marriages in
which women were seen as property that could be sold and
traded.
Marriage and Family
Planning
The
Marriage
Law of
1950
Before
After
Crimes Against Women’s
Rights
Health Care
& Employment
-
In traditional Chinese culture, male were superior hence health
care was tailored to focus on them.
-
During the Cultural Revolution, women in the workforce were
granted health care.
-
Various laws enacted and protected the health care rights of
women, including the Maternal and Child Care Law.
-
According to a study by Bauer et al., of women who married
between 1950 and 1965, 70% had jobs, and women who
married between 1966 and 1976, 92% had jobs.
-
Women were granted with more job opportunities.
-
1982, Chinese working women represented 43% of the total
population.
How committed to female emancipation were Mao and the CCP?
Mao was a firm believer in women rights.
However…
-
-
Mao and the party often failed to respect the principle of
female equality.
In Mao’s personal life, Mao used/patronised women.
Mao became a notorious womaniser in his later years.
CCP operated a very much male-dominated system.
Domestic chores were carried out by female comrades.
-
Ding Ling, an intellectual and China’s
leading feminist writer, had impressed
Mao and joined the communists in
Yanan.
-
Ding Ling described Mao and the CCP as
hypocrites.
-
Ding Ling asserted that contrary to their
claim to be revolutionaries, they lived
comfortable lives at Yanan exploiting the
women that worked for them.
-
Ding Ling believed that Mao’s brand of
socialism did not truly include female
emancipation.
-
Did women gain or lose from
1950s, laws granting women the right to own and sell land and
collectivisation?
property were passed.
-
Land redistribution and seizure of properties of the landlords
benefitted women as they were granted land in their own name.
-
However, Mao’s massive collectivisation program ended the holding
of private property by either men or women and required people to
live in communes.
-
Living in communes meant that women no longer had the daily
drudgery of finding food and preparing it for the family.
-
Women in the workforce quadrupled from 8 to 32%, this may be
advantageous if the work was suitable, but disadvantageous if heavy
physical labour were offered.
-
Prejudice against women was still present as social values and
= Women did gain, and lose, during collectivisation.
Women…
1. …suffered the most.
2. …could not provide for their children.
3. …suffered psychological shocks.
“Parents would decide to allow the old and the young to die
first. They thought they could not allow their sons to die but
Were women
particularly
vulnerable
duringtothe
a mother
would say
to a daughter,
‘You have
go Great
and see
Famine?
your granny in heaven’. They
stopped giving the girl food.
They they swapped the body of their daughter with that of
a neighbour’s. About five to seven women would agree to
do this amongst themselves. Then they boiled the corpses
into a kind of soup. People accepted this as it was a kind of
hunger culture.”
Women were particularly vulnerable during the Great Famine.
What was the impact of
the
Cultural Revolution
on women and the family?
Conclusion:
How successfully did Mao improve the rights
and status of women in China?
Extremely
successful
Mao’s
policies
Extremely
unsuccessfu
Jackson,
S. (2008).May
Papers
revealfrom
Mao’s
of
women.
Retrieved
8, 2014,
BBCview
news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7243500.stm
Lynch,
M. of(2008).
to History:
The People’s
Republic
ChinaAccess
1949-76.
London:
Hodder
Education.
The End!
Mao
on Women.
(n.d.). Retrieved May 8, 2014, from
sfr-21.org:
http://sfr-21.org/mao-women.html
The
Lives
of Capitalism.
Rural
and (n.d.).
Urban Retrieved
Chinese
Women
under
State
May 8,
2014,
from
mytholyoke.edu:
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~jejackso/Women%20
Under%20Mao.htm
Women
in China. (n.d.). Retrieved MayWikipedia:
8, 2014,
from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_China