What it meant for Mao to support Women’s rights yet perpetuate inequality

When people think of Chairman Mao, it often comes with very negative connotations, especially for those who have relatives impacted by his regime or had lived through the regime themselves. It goes without saying that Mao is a contentious figure; you will find many whop believe his motivations to be pure and many who would not dare to even think Mao had any purity whatsoever. In fact, the stain that was brought on the communist identity can be heavily attributed to the terrifying Maoist regime and the widespread famine it caused throughout China in the 50s and 60s.

This begs the question as to how a purveyor of destruction is also simultaneously a women’s rights advocate? This question is not only very difficult to answer, but it is also very multifaceted because Mao, though very flawed in economic ideology, heavily supported the role of women in the structure of a nation.

Replacing the concept of “Arranged Marriage”

Mao began the thought of starting a happy marriage: a marriage that is not chosen by the parents of the partners involved but instead one based on true love and unity. He wanted to reframe the narrative that surrounded the core of Confucian principles; the idea that women were “subservient” to men and that men were to be the head of the relationship. Instead he proposed that relationships should instead be “love matches” and that especially individuals in the lower class, wedded peasants should be together and that neither party was above the other. Mao had also experienced an arranged marriage firsthand and learned to completely despise the idea claiming that it was “capable of killing men as well as women.” Mao also held the idea that women “hold up half the sky” which propelled women into the workforce and allowed them to take on traditionally male roles which was extremely progressive in regards to political leaders and the global landscape at the time.

However, the argument can be made that Mao was not doing this to be a “feminist” akin to the suffragists of the 1920s US the movements brought out in today’s world. For Mao, it seems that much of his motivation was an adoption of communist ideals creating a false sense of equality and trying to secure a large labor reserve. Chairman Mao was an opportunist and it seemed that he could gain the support for his party and ideals from both men and women. It begun to seem that Mao was only training women for his war against capitalism as opposed to wanting women to experience more freedom. The facade becomes noticeable when majority of Communist Party leadership consisted of men regardless of his “feminist” attitudes. When women were given higher rates of employment, they were also granted heavier burden as they were still in charge of housekeeping and childcare while also contributing to the Communist effort.

Mao’s embrace of women’s rights could also be seen as an attempt to thwart Confucian ideals. It seemed Mao wanted to ignite a mental and spiritual change throughout China and considered Confucianism to be “feudal poison.”

Chairman Mao believed that to resent Confucius ideals was to embrace ap positive change in China. Mao grounded his claims in the fact that Confucius defended slavery and hindered any actual progress in China. Chinese students were encouraged to embark on a study campaign in which Confucianism was heavily scrutinized and denigrated as an outdated ideology and universities were pressured to release courses to workers that made them oppose Confucianism. With this sentiment, it seems that this was the forefront of Mao’s political campaign, much less so actual feminism and a yearning for women in positions of power.

Mao was also a very personal hypocrite often cheating on his wife and even making derogatory comments towards other women. Even though women’s rights seemed to be the focal point behind a lot of his political messaging, it was more for personal support and gain as opposed to actual care for the equality of sexes. It seems that much of Mao’s time was marked by inequality. He tried his hardest to suppress private wealth but instead created a hierarchy and helped broaden the gap between the wealthy and the squalor out of a failed attempt to create a classless society. He was indeed oppressive towards women in the sense that he tried to get them to adopt very masculine roles and was not at all supportive of them embracing femininity. He created divide in so many ways that it often juxtaposes with the messages we wished to portray on his political platform.

A sign that says birth planning and family unit leads to a prosperous nation

When focusing on the current state of feminism and women’s rights, it becomes a matter of comparison as to whether it was better or worse in comparison to the times of Chairman Mao. Sexism is indeed still prevalent, and with concepts such as 剩女 it seems that there are still many expectations for women to uphold in modern Chinese society. That they must be married by a certain age, that they must be child bearers and at the forefront of parenting, and that the must be “obedient; to their husbands. It almost seems as if China has reverted back. However, given everything discussed, things might have honestly never changed. Maybe in the future, China will be able to embrace equality for both sexes and look past engendered stereotyping.