Less for more: rural women’s overwork and underconsumption in Mao’s China
For ideological and practical reasons, socialist states desired the full participation of women in the workforce. This pre-supposed their liberation from time-consuming housework. Most socialist states entered an implicit social contract with the female population: women would work in the factories...
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| Publicat a: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cliowgh, |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
| Publicat: |
Clio
2022
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| Accés en línia: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sumari: | For ideological and practical reasons, socialist states desired the full participation of women in the workforce. This pre-supposed their liberation from time-consuming housework. Most socialist states entered an implicit social contract with the female population: women would work in the factories and fields; in exchange, the state would reduce their domestic burdens, either through the socialization of housework or through the provision of labour-saving finished products. Rural China, this article argues, was an exception to this pattern. While rural women’s labour participation rose dramatically, state rationing of scarce goods, and policies that kept cash out of rural people’s hands ensured that machine-made textiles and other industrial products remained out of reach for many rural people. In consequence, millions of rural women continued to clothe and feed their families through laborious manual work, at a time when participation in agricultural labour tripled. This particularly intense double burden was the basis for rapid accumulation by the Chinese state. |
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