To What Extent Did the Status of Women Change Between 1949-1976? (2a.4)

Question 1

Why did the Communists was to destroy the concept of the family unit?

Answer 1

• Family relations embodied Confucian values of obedience to parents/elders
• Family encouraged bourgeoisie mindset, attach too much importance on personal possessions

Question 2

Foot binding

Answer 2

• Breaking toes of young girls,folding them back under the foot which was tightly bound
• Restricted foot growth by 3 inches (men found small feet beautiful, also restricted women’s movement)
• Outlawed in 1911 but banning it brought it to a speedier end

Question 3

When was the Marriage Law?

Answer 3

1950

Question 4

What was idea of the Marriage Law 1950?

Answer 4

• Change marriage from contractual arrangement between families to something freely entered by two individuals
• Mao apposed arranged marriage since he refused to go through with his own marriage at 14
• Claimed it turned women into slaves
• Promote women’s rights: needed their tacit support

Question 5

What happened in Changsha?

Answer 5

Unhappy bride cut her own throat and bled to death in front of her guests rather than go through with her wedding

Question 6

What is a bride price?

Answer 6

• Money paid by groom family to bride family reflecting her perceived value
• Dowry is payment in opposite direction

Question 7

What were the main clauses of the Marriage Law 1950?

Answer 7

• Arranged marriages and dowries outlawed
• Men and women previously forced into marriage had right to divorce
• All marriages/divorces had to be registered with local gov
• Divorce available on equal terms, except a man could not divorce his wife if she was pregnant or within a year of giving birth
• Children born out of wedlock had equal right to other children
• Women retained right to keep property they already owned when they married
• Concubinage and polygamy both outlawed

Question 8

Why was the impact of the Marriage Law 1950 limited?

Answer 8

• Traditional resistance in Muslim regions of the west
• Second propaganda drive launched in 1953, this too was undermined by cadres (resented the changes)
• Take more time/education to shift traditional male attitudes to marriage and status of women

Question 9

What was the impact of the land redistribution campaign 1950 on women?

Answer 9

• Advanced cause of women’s emancipation
• Gave women chance to own land in their own name
• Short lived as no one was allowed to own land privately one collectivisation scheme became compulsory a year later

Question 10

How were communes beneficial to women?

Answer 10

• Provide canteens, laundries and kindergartens to free women from domestic chores
• Concentrate on working land
• Reality was far less liberating as few communes could supply this range of facilities

Question 11

Women’s working lives

Answer 11

• Big step towards sexual equality
• Working conditions put women at serious disadvantage: earned less work points (heavy physical labour, capacity lower than men)
• Cadres held traditional attitudes and were intolerant of requests for absence from women who were pregnant/during menstruation
• Treated more harshly than women

Question 12

Women and the famine

Answer 12

• Vulnerability increased 1958-62 during the famine when food was scarcer
• Men could claim more rations as they were more productive workers
• Women had to decide whether they or their children ate
• Drove women into prostitution
• Rise in divorce rates
• In Gansu province divorce rate rose by 60%
• Wife selling increased