Reflections on the Cultural Revolution

JIN Yihong, OHASHI Fumie

doi:10.11365/genderhistory.6.5

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

振り返り再考する
振り返り再考する--中国文化大革命期のジェンダーと労働、そして「鉄の娘」運動
フリカエリサイコウスルチュウゴクブンカダイカクメイキノジェンダートロウドウソシテテツノムスメウンドウ
─中国文化大革命期のジェンダーと労働、そして「鉄の娘」運動─
Gender, Labor and Iron Girls

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Description

This essay will examine the complex influences on the movement to create Iron Girls during the Cultural Revolution, evaluating the impact of the political campaign and accompanying administrative intervention on the gender division of labor. The analysis will consider the underlying economic motivations for the intervention, the ideological implications of the mobilization, and their relation to gendered social relations.<BR>"Iron Girls" are one of the best-known artifacts of an extreme form of gender equality promoted during the Cultural Revolution, expressed under the slogan "men and women are the same." This essay examines the origins and decline of the movement for Iron Girls, asking why the government encouraged women to challenge the traditional model of the gender division of labor, why women responded so enthusiastically to the campaign, and whether their actions were carried out with a conscious recognition that they were struggling for equality with men. This essay will provide an objective and historical evaluation, considering whether the movement for Iron Girls was able to transform the traditional gender division of labor, whether it led to the liberation of women, and how in our own day we look upon the slogan of "men and women are the same."

Journal

jenda shigaku

jenda shigaku 6 (0), 5-28, 2010

The Gender History Association of Japan