Social and Cultural Changes - Changing Status Of Women Flashcards

1
Q

Mao’s personal views on the status of women

A

• Mao said women ‘hold up half the sky’
• the communist party called women ‘an indispensable force in defeating the enemy and building a new China’

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2
Q

Traditional attitudes to women

A

• women forced into arranged marriages
• those married into wealthy families had to share husband with concubines
• women forced to marry to provide children for new husbands

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3
Q

Foot binding

A

• girl would often have her feet bound at age 6
• prevented feet from growing normally
• small feet were seen as beautiful and sexually appealing
• significant proportion of Han Chinese practiced foot binding despite its ban in 1911

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4
Q

Traditional attitudes to marriage

A

• marrying off a girl could be an economic burden as families were inclined to giving a dowry
• desperate families resorted to infanticide to escape the burden of raising a girl
• marriages seen as very transactional
• husbands treated wives as private property
• wives expected to be subservient

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5
Q

Attitudes of mothers-in-law

A

• wives also subservient to mother in law
• mothers very jealous of sons wife - could be spiteful
• wives given most backbreaking chores

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6
Q

Traditional educational opportunities

A

• girls not provided with educational opportunities
• no incentive as parents wouldn’t receive economic benefit
• 45.2% males and 2.2% females had received schooling

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7
Q

The 1950 New marriage law

A

• women received legal equality - could hold property or seek divorce
• paying of dowries or bride-prices for as forbidden - age of marriage 18
• marriages could not result from coercion
• By 1966-76 organised marriage had dropped to 0.8%

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8
Q

Problems with the new marriage law

A

• Led to rocketing divorce rates - 1.4 million petitions filed in 1953
• widespread violence broke out as people attempted to reclaim divorced wives
• many cadres refused to uphold the law in local areas as they feared unrest
• traditional Muslim communities in Xinjiang refused to challenge long-held customs

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9
Q

The impact of collectivisation and communes on women

A

• the GLF called for the utilisation of women as productive labour
• Mao claimed enabling women to work would lead to ‘liberation through labour’
• those who matched men referred to as ‘iron women’
• childcare was to be centralised and food prep alleviated by communal canteens

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10
Q

Creation of Kindergartens

A

• mothers distressed by leaving there children at communal kindergarten - could be separated for weeks
• housed in ramshackle buildings
• poorly trained staff
• standard of care was low - disease
• in one kindergarten 90% children got sick

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11
Q

Communal canteens

A

• aimed to release women from responsibility of feeding family
• food allocated on basis of amount of physical labour performed - women likely to receive less than men
• when food ran low women often neglected

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12
Q

Abuse and discrimination

A

• mothers forced to work throughout pregnancy leading to miscarriage
• as families separated women became victims of advances from cadres
• one secretary investigated for raping 27 women
• in Hunan factory bosses forced females to work naked

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13
Q

Despair

A

• as famine spread many women forced into sex work for food
• suicide rates increased

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14
Q

The Women’s Association

A

• central committee committed to a genuine role for the association
• 40,000 staff in 83 cities
• official membership of 76 million
• set up educational and practical training for women
• provided a platform for women to be involved in political activism

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15
Q

The work points system

A

• women still received less ‘work points’ than men regardless of productivity or skill
• realities of physical strength meant women were limited
• provided disincentive for women to offer their labour and led to reversion to more traditional roles

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16
Q

The cultural revolution

A

• men and women wore same Maoist uniform
• many women led Red guards on violent denunciations
• women comprised between 8 and 12 percent of party cadres from 1958 to 1966
• exalted as revolutionary heroes in ballets

17
Q

Changes in education and employment

A

• by 1978, 45% primary school students were girls
• PLA enlisted women to military academies to be wives to soldiers - military career a chance to show commitment to the regime
• advertisements offered chance for women to form female work teams - included benefits such as paid study in the Soviet Union