Women: Role in Politics Flashcards
What was the role of the Women’s Associations? How many women became members?
To encourage political activism and mobilise the population behind the regime. 76 million members.
How did these women support education? The PLA? The Campaigns?
They organised classes to improve literacy and for the study of political ideas. Women would weave uniforms and make shoes for the PLA. Wives and mothers were urged to encourage their husbands and sons to enlist for social benefit and economic progression.
What successes did these Associations have?
Provided women with an avenue for social and political progression, as well as assisting in the campaigns against issues relevant to them, like prostitution.
What % of women became party cadres by 1976?
21%
What limitations did women face if they tried to pursue national political careers? Find an example.
Gender equality was not always met, especially in the Communist party itself.
Ding Ling damned what she saw as the degraded status and exploitation of women by communist leaders. In 1942 she wrote an essay that noted that women were expected to be as ‘hard as steel’ but that women remained the source of gossip about relationships and conduct in their private lives in a way that men were not.
What role did women play in the Cultural Revolution? How was family life attacked during the CR?
Many women and girls led Red Guards in their violent denunciations. Women were exalted as revolutionary heroes in ballets like ‘Red Detachment of Women’ that described female soldiers fighting against the Nationalists in the Civil war.
