What was the impact of collectivisation and the communes on women’s lives?

Aspect of life Impact Was it an improvement for women’s

lives? Explain your answer.
Involvement in work During the Great Leap Forward, Mao No, as they were also expected to take
encouraged women to join agricultural work for responsibility for domestic life, and
the first time, in order to increase production. were forced into exhausting and
He argued this would bring ‘liberation through unfamiliar work.
labour’ and that they would receive equal pay to
men. Those who worked hard were hailed in
propaganda and Mao believed work would free
them from domestic servitude. However, they
still largely took responsibility for domestic
tasks and much of the agricultural work was
unfamiliar.
Kindergartens Mothers became distressed as once they had Definitely not- separated mothers from
dropped their child at kindergarten, it could kids for weeks, the conditions were
be weeks before seeing them again, and appalling and by the time they had
there was an appalling level of care for their collapsed there were no alternatives
children. priority was economically and women had to work, find food and
productive activity so kindergartens were in care for their children.
ramshackle buildings, kids had to sleep on
the floor, untrained staff (either v. old or
young, because they weren't working in the
field). infections spread quickly throughout
kindergartens, eg 90% of kids in one got
sick. Nappies remained unchanged, food
stolen from kids by starving adults, high
death rates. Kindergartens collapsed by the
end of the great leap forward, so the
starving women had to now work, forage
for food and care for their kids.
Communal canteens Meant to release women from their No- they received less food than men
responsibility of feeding family. poor
quality of food + length of time it took to
get to the canteens made things worse. food
was allocated by physical labour, so women
got less then men. women used to not work
in the field and do handicraft eg making
shoes/hats, and there was no more of this
income as they were worked to exhaustion
in the fields. when food ran low, the men
got priority.
The work points system Women still received less "work points' It was not an improvement in women's
than men. This was because the men's lives as it meant that they were seen as
physical strength meant that they could inferior, received less pay for the same
receive up to 10 points but women were work and would end up having to
often limited to a maximum of 8. It was a sacrifice work for domesticity.
disincentive for women to provide their
labour for the collective economy. It
reinforced traditional gender roles
because the lower earning power of wives
meant that it made sense for them to
sacrifice their paid labour in favour of
domestic chores.

Abuse and Cadres overwhelmingly discriminate It was not an improvement in women's

discrimination against women. Expectant mothers lives as cadres abused and raped
miscarried as they were forced to work women in many communes and
during pregnancy. Sexual abuse was rife. provinces and since the women were
Families disintegrated during the weak from starvation and work
 GLF and women were separated from their they were not able to fight back or
husbands and became victims of the protect themselves. The men would also
advances of the cadres. Exhaustion through often publicly humiliate women.
work and enfeeblement through starvation
heightened women's vulnerability. Moral
decency from the cadres fell and 'rape
spread like a contagion'. In Hunan, local
factory bosses forced women to
work naked. In Zhejiang, women accused
of crimes were forced to parade through the
village unclothed.

Famine and despair Many women were forced into prostitution, It was not an improvement for women
trading sex for food. Suicides were since they had to sell their bodies to live
widespread. The demands of work and - and many ended up dead either way.
family became women's double burden.