Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Team 4: Ida & Siiri - Status of women - Coggle…
Team 4: Ida & Siiri - Status of women
Limitations & continuities: What didn’t change?
Deep traditions still remained, as rural areas were slow to change, parents still preferred sons, and domestic work still mostly done by women.
Economic inequality still present, as women often did “double labor” (full-time work plus housework) and fewer women held top positions in politics or management.
Liberation was defined by what helped the Party, not by what women wanted.
Control of private life, as true personal freedom for women was limited if it conflicted with state goals.
Aims and Ideology
Official goal:
Establishing full gender equality
Getting rid of traditional practices
Eradicate the feudal-patriarchal system and establish full legal, social, and economic equality between men and women
The CCP stated that only through class revolution and collective labor could women achieve real liberation from oppression in the home, workplace, and marriage
Ideological basis in Maoism
Liberation of women was essential to socialist transformation — “Women hold up half the sky”
Framed it as both a duty and as an increase to the productive labor force.
Marriage seen to support feudal and patriarchal society by oppressing women and had to be reformed to reflect CCP values
Methods of Policy/Control
Legal reforms:
Marriage Law (1950): banned arranged marriages and concubinage, legalized divorce
Established equal property rights so they could have land in their own names.
Electoral Law (1953): right to vote for women
Campaigns and propaganda:
Promoted the ideal of the working woman
Encouraged to join agricultural collectives and industrial work
Propaganda targeted rural areas to challenge patriarchal customs and educate women about their rights.
Organizations:
The All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF) mobilized women, spread CCP ideology, and supervised implementation of new laws.
Economic policy links:
Women’s participation was tied to labor mobilization drives — Great Leap Forward, and later campaigns emphasized women’s economic productivity.
Evidence of change: What actually changed?
Younger generations began to expect more equal relationships.
Publicly, equality became the official value.
Millions of women gained freedom from forced marriages.
Women became more visible in political meetings and propaganda.
Many gained access to literacy and basic education.
More women working outside the home.
Divorce became more common and socially acceptable (even though it was still quite difficult in practice).
