Social and Cultural changes 1949-76 Flashcards
traditional attitudes towards women
Chinese women subject to the “three obediences”:
- father when young
- husband when married: arranged marriages with rich men wanting wives as pretty adornments and poor ones wanting another labourer
- son in old age
- female babies subject to infantcide
- women in 1930’s 1% over the age of 7 had basic literacy skills compared to 30% of men.
what was foot binding?
foot binding: physically crippled feet by binding the so bone structure would become deformed
- small feet and swaying gait considered sexually appealing
- feet hurt so much “I had to crawl on my hands and knees” recalls one woman
- banned in 1911: still continued in northern villages
- men would pay ‘bride-price’ for more attractive women
traditional attitudes towards marriage + role of mother in law
- woman married out of family in early teens, practice of giving away a dowry (jewelery, bedding, pots, pans) = becomes husband’s property
- wives expected to be subservient and do all domestic work and often be beaten by husband
- traditional Confucian marriage unlikely to support emotional support so
- mother in laws often petty and spiteful as to wife as they wanted to remain close to son who would look after them in old age
Mao’s attitude towards women
- “women hold up half of the sky”
- women subject to 4 authorities whilst men only subjected to 3: not only “political, clan and religious” but also “the authority of the husband”
- damned arranged marriages as “indirect rape”
- Mao subject to an arranged marriage aged 14 to a wealthier woman 7 years older, he resisted it “did not consider her my wife”
1950 New Marriage Law
- legal equality, hold property, seek divorce
- dowries were forbidden, 18 to marry and free- will marriages were required
- advocated later marriage and childbirth: more time to participate in Marxist Leninist political activity
- late 40s 30.6% marriages were organised by parents, by 1966-76 this was 0.8%
problems with New Marriage Law
- enforcement was problematic
- attitudes of cadres
- attitudes to gender equality in Muslim areas
how was enforcement of New Marriage Law problematic?
- men who had paid a bride price felt that lost a financial investment when wives divorced them (1.4M divorces in 1953)
- widespread violence towards women: husbands attacked wives during court proceedings, armed mobs to reclaim divorced wives
impact of collectivisation of communes on women’s lives
- success of GLF depended on the “vast reserve of labour power” of women
- claimed allowing women to work was “liberation through labour” and propaganda lauded “iron women” who matched men in productivity
- centralisation of childcare: kindergartens
- communal canteen
- work points system
- abuse, discrimination, despair
centralisation of childcare: kindergartens
- separated children from mothers for weeks at a time, distressed mothers
- low level of care: economically productive activity given priority
- measles, chicken pox, in Beijing 90 percent of children got sick, nappies remained unchanged all day
- end of GLF: they collapse, exhausted women forced to care for children, work, and forage for food to survive
work points system in relation to women
- women received less work points than men regardless of productivity as the realities of physical strength meant than men received around 10 whilst women limited to 8
- rooted in notions of male superiority + reinforced gender roles as lower earning = sacrifice paid labour for domestic work
abuse, discrimination and despair of women
- cadres abuse position: family unit collapses during GLF and “rape spread like a contagion” - Dikotter
- expecting mothers forced to work miscarried
- in Hunan local factory bosses forced women to work naked
despair: - famine = women trade sex for food as prostitutes
did Mao transform China for women?
- Dikotter notes “collectivisation designed in part to liberate women from the shackles of patriarchy” but only “made matters worse”
- women demanded to work full time whilst still being primary caretaker = extremely difficult
- compelled women into the workforce but failed to create real social change despite propaganda advertising equality
The Women’s Association
- 76M membership: encourages political activism, mobilises masses
- ploughing lessons, literacy lessons, financial support to weave uniforms (still traditional gender roles?)
- encouraged women to denounce domestic abuse and sexual violence.
- reflects mao’s belief in mass mobilisation
how the Cultural Revolution impacted women
- men and women wore same uniform and many led red guards in violent denunciations (Song Binbin)
- 1958: 8 percent cadres women to 21 percent in 1974
how did education and employment change for women?
- 38 percent girls in rural China complete primary school education vs 100 percent after 1959 (shows 1 survey)
- military service: 1949 young women to serve as PLA wives for men in Xinjiang
- 1951: advertisement in New Hunan Daily for female work team to go to Xinjiang and exploit natural resources of oil, gas
- incentives: paid study in USSR, teaching of advanced technology etc
- chance to escape poverty, opportunity for educated women to become platoon leaders and for women from “bourgeois” families to prove commitment
