Evaluate the impact of policies on women in two authoritarian states

Question 1

Intro:

Answer 1

Policies marked significant changes, but the biggest change in Social

Question 2

Social

Answer 2

Both leaders put forward social policies that had the greatest impact albeit the nature of these policies were relatively different.

• Milton –> “the emancipation of China’s women was a miracle for social change”
• 1950 - Marriage Reform Law –> allowed women to divorce their husbands + forbade foot bindings
• This reduced arranged marriage from 80% to o.8% (1945-1971)
• A significant change echoed in NAZI Germany, albeit in a more regressive sense
• Lynch –> Hitler considered emancipation a threat –> and believed in the ideology of the three K’s –> More Traditional roles of women
• 1935 - Lebensborn project: encouraged pure Aryan women to procreate with SS men
• Mother’s Cross of Honour to provide medals for women who had upwards of 4 children.
• Thus, whilst under both states, there was significant change to women’s social roles, the effect was much different with women seeing much more progression in society in China whilst in Germany they were reduced to more traditional roles.

Question 3

Perspectives on Social Policies?

Answer 3

• Hooper –> policies were “insufficient to change the customs and attitudes of 2000 years of Confucianism” + rural areas seeing little change.
• The practice of female infanticide and sex-selective abortion continued with an estimated 6.5 million deaths between 1950-79.
• The Marriage Reform Law had limitations with PLA soldiers allowed to overrule divorces.
• Same in Nazi Germany; births 1.2 million 1933 - 1.4 million 1939 + the birth rate failed to rise after 1938
• Lynch –> active female willingness + participation in the regime seeing all progress made during the Weimar lost in the Third Reich.

-Thus, significant change in both states, BIT more significant in Nazi Germany where there was utter reversion in the role of women whilst it seems in rural areas in China little progress was made off the back of Mao’s reforms.

Question 4

Political

Answer 4

Another view is that the policies of Mao and Hitler had the greatest impact politically with Mao offering political progression whilst Hitler sought to remove any political participation.

• Mao: 1953 Election Law granted women the right to vote whilst encouraging women to seek jobs in government
• Saw female proportion of CCP membership increase from 14 to 23% from 1949-70.
• Women were also given political representation via the All-China Women’s Federation where there were 40,000 officials in 1953.
• 1933 GER–> women banned from the civil service with 19,000 civil servants sacked.
• Thus while it had different effects, policies on women had significant impact in the political sphere.

Question 5

Perspectives Political

Answer 5

• Lynch argues that women were often “no better off than before” as Mao ran a male-dominated system.
• Political equality never came close –> women 13% of CCP membership
• All-China Women’s Federation was fairly limited in its power,
• 1973 it failed to abolish patrilocal marriage.
• Evidence also suggests that Nazi policies did not see an impact but rather a continuation in the role of women in politics.
• In 1933, women only held 3.2% of the seats in the Reichstag,
• In fact, despite their limited power, women arguably saw increased political participation with the introduction of the National Socialist Women’s league.
• Considering that both states were one-party systems, ultimately the role of women politically was menial and thus policies had little impact in granting them a progressive role.
• Thus, it appears more concivng than social change was greatest as patriarchal systems continued in both states.

Question 6

Economics

Answer 6

• 1933 Law for the Reduction of Unemployment –> women incentivised to leave the workforce through loans +1934 where women were forced out of careers in both medicine and law.
• China, employment of women was promoted with the proportion of women in the workforce increasing from 8% to 32% between 1949 and 1970.
• Moreover, shortly after coming to power in 1949 Mao passed laws granting women the right to own/sell property in their own name marking strides toward a more economically liberal role.
• Therefore, there was significant change in both states that marked a divergence from precedents.

Question 7

Perspectives on Economics

Answer 7

One argument refutes this:

• Under Hitler female employment rose from 5 million in 1933 to 7.14 million in 1939.
• Moreover, in 1937, labour shortages saw restrictions relaxed and with the war in 1939, women were forced to complete a year of service work on the farm as part of the Land Year Programme.
• Likewise in China, equality in land rights was rendered useless with the collectivisation of land under Mao’s 1st Five Year Plan where both women and men were forbidden from owning land.
• Moreover, Lynch notes that whilst women saw increased economic activity, they were still expected to carry out domestic duties, and thus saw a double in the burden of their workload. As such, whilst they saw economic improvement, this was not matched by their stagnation socially.

Thus, certainly significant changes were amended in both states. Nonetheless, the extent to which the role was revolutionised was less so than socially as women maintained a place in the workforce in Nazi Germany whilst they remained relatively un-empowered in Mao’s China.