Modern China - Women’s Incomplete Liberation
Throughout the course of history, women in China have endured systematic oppression and injustice. The pervasive influence of the Confucian concept of "filial piety" stated that “women must obey men,” and women rarely had roles outside of child rearing (Li, 2000). The ascension of Mao Zedong and the rise of the Communist Party in 1949 marked a time of change in women’s status. Communist theory dictated that to properly reconstruct and develop the economy, women, who made up half the population, must be properly mobilized (Studer, 2015). Hence, Mao quickly established numerous laws and programs that championed equality for women, famously stating that “Women hold up half the sky.” Although state-sponsored feminism did not fully solve inequality and created additional responsibilities for women, Mao’s policies helped stop many oppressive and violent practices and opened many opportunities for future feminist growth.
Firstly, Mao brought numerous changes that greatly elevated women’s status. Mao helped abolish traditionally oppressive and violent practices. Traditional Chinese practices were extremely horrific against women, leaving them often crippled, both physically and financially – forcing them to be dependent on their husbands. For example, the widespread practice of foot binding broke the bones in a woman’s foot until the entire foot was deformed so that they would not be able to walk without assistance (Greenhalgh, 1977). Women were also often sold as prostitutes and beaten by their husbands whom they were forced to marry, thereby severely limiting their bodily autonomy and agency within relationships. (Hooper, 1975). This greatly changed with the communist revolution. Mao’s policies banned these practices and effectively campaigned against them, with the last case of foot binding reported in 1957 (Ko, 2007). Moreover, state sponsored feminism also launched many campaigns to improve the productivity of women. In fact, 70 percent of women who married between 1950 and 1965 and 92 percent of women who married between 1966 and 1976 were employed – some of the highest labor force participation rates in the world (Bauer et al, 1992). In addition, Chinese women were granted the same legal status as men, with specific laws dedicated to their right of marriage – for example, the Marriage Law of 1950 ensured that wives had a right to marry freely and divorce freely, providing a legal framework for both equality and human rights (Hare-Mustin, 1982). Regardless of the original intentions or attitudes of the CCP, it is clear that objectively, the wellbeing of women was vastly improved comparative to pre-Mao China, where they had little to no autonomy at all.
However, it’s important to note that while many changes for women were implemented during Mao’s era, women still did not enjoy equal status with men and often faced additional pressures from the government. For example, although the Communist Party advocated for equal pay for equal work, most of the tasks performed by women were believed to be worth less than those performed by men, causing them to be paid less (Tsai, 1996). Even though women were encouraged to get employed and complete labor, they were still expected to complete traditional duties such as child-rearing and house-making, giving them a double burden - causing many women to suffer from “role strain, role conflict, and poor health” (Zuo, 2013). In addition, as much as the state promised to stand for women, women had to carefully balance the line between advocating for feminism versus the party’s interests, which needed to come first. Feminists, should they overstep and push for the primacy of women’s rights when the party believed other issues were more relevant (for example, war efforts or internal unity), often had to face “the real dangers of stabs from behind for that very fight” (Zheng, 2005). Women could not fully advocate for themselves or focus on gender issues without incurring the risk of political suppression from the party, which would greatly limit their reach and mobility. Even though state sponsored feminism allowed women to achieve greater independence, this newfound participation was combined with a great increase in responsibility, unfairly distributed wages, as well as political suppression.
But although state-sponsored feminism in Mao’s era had its flaws, state-sponsored feminism increased the feminist consciousness and opened opportunity for change on an ideological level. The ideals of revolution and the repeated propaganda pertaining the strength of women were effectively instilled into the minds of numerous youths. Wang Zheng, professor at the University of Michigan and who grew up during the Mao era, notes that the reason she became a feminist is because “I am stuck with the identity of "agent of social change" endowed by the Maoist state” (Zheng, 2001). State feminism’s role in changing women’s lives was more than just women’s status legally or physically; it was also about the ideologies and perceptions of women at the time (Croll, 1977). The propaganda of the state telling women to be revolutionaries helped instill feminist ideas into Maoist youths at a young age, enabling women to choose to fight for their rights – perhaps, without state propaganda, many women would’ve never considered that they had the right to autonomy in the first place. Even if women still faced inequality in society and struggled to gain further status after Mao, the redefinition of the
woman’s role and the challenging of male supremacy were ideologies that succeeded in both the hearts of many women and in many other parts of society.
The liberation of Chinese women through state-sponsored feminism is a goal that was not fully achieved during Mao’s era, nor to this day, However, despite inequalities that still exist, state- sponsored feminism in Mao’s era vastly improved the quality of life for women compared to thousands of years of female oppression. Moreover, the ideology of revolution and equality instilled in people during Mao’s era led to a great increase of awareness on women’s issues – creating opportunities for greater equality in the future. Ultimately, the incremental growth in women’s rights during Mao’s era would serve as a foundation for the future, a future of equality and justice.
Citations:
Bauer, John, et al. “Gender Inequality in Urban China: Education and Employment.” Modern China, vol. 18, no. 3, 1992, pp. 333–70. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/189336. Accessed 24 May 2024.
Croll, Elisabeth. “The Movement to Criticize Confucius and Lin Piao: A Comment on ‘The Women of China’ (Vol. 2, No. 1).” Signs, vol. 2, no. 3, 1977, pp. 721–26. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173283. Accessed 14 May 2024.
Greenhalgh, Susan. “Bound Feet, Hobbled Lives: Women in Old China.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, 1977, pp. 7–21. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3346103. Accessed 13 May 2024.
Hare-Mustin, R T. “China's Marriage Law: a model for family responsibilities and relationships.” Family process vol. 21,4 (1982): 477-81. doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.1982.00477.x
Hooper, Beverley. “Women in China: Mao ‘v.’ Confucius.” Labour History, no. 29, 1975, pp. 132–45. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/27508202. Accessed 24 May 2024.
Li, Yuhui. " Women's Movement and Change of Women's Status in China." Journal of International Women's Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, Jan. 2000, https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol1/iss1/3.
Ko, Dorothy. Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding. 1st ed., University of California Press, 2005. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppv1t. Accessed 24 May 2024.
Studer, Brigitte, and Regan Kramer. “Communism and Feminism.” Clio. Women, Gender, History, no. 41, 2015, pp. 126–39. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26273633. Accessed 27 May 2024.
Tsai, Kellee S. “Women and the State in Post-1949 Rural China.” Journal of International Affairs, vol. 49, no. 2, 1996, pp. 493–524. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24357569. Accessed 2 May 2024.
Zheng, Wang. “Call Me Qingnian but Not Funü: A Maoist Youth in Retrospect.” Feminist Studies, vol. 27, no. 1, 2001, pp. 9–34. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3178445. Accessed 9 May 2024.
Zheng, Wang. “‘State Feminism’? Gender and Socialist State Formation in Maoist China.” Feminist Studies, vol. 31, no. 3, 2005, pp. 519–51. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.307/20459044. Accessed 2 May 2024.
Zuo, Jiping. “Women’s Liberation and Gender Obligation Equality in Urban China: Work/Family Experiences of Married Individuals in the 1950s.” Science & Society, vol. 77, no. 1, 2013, pp. 98–125. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41714417. Accessed 24 May 2024.