Week 5
Tuesday, 12 October 2021 12:18 PM
Reprivatized woman hood
- After womens liberation movements, theres been a decline in
womens status in china
○ More talk about marriage and private relationships then
gender discrimination in the media
- public gender discourses have undergone fundamental shifts in
the course of marketization
○ From Mao - women hold up half the sky
○ "better marrying well than having a successful career"
- Government adopted Marxist prescription in 1950s
○ Social political and economic theory that focuses on
struggle between capitalists and working class
§ Capitalists exploited working class
§ Would lead to a revolution
○ Resulted in very high female labour workforce
participation
- Economic reform negatively impacted views on women
○ Intensified economic reform since the 1990s
○ Massive loss of jobs by women workers
○ Widening of gender gap in various labour market
outcomes
○ The commercialization of women's bodies
○ Cultural devaluation of women
○ Also benefited
§ Opened new possibilities for awakening of
womens self-awareness
- Gendered separate spheres
○ Resonates with patriarchal tradition in chinese society
§ Men in public sphere women in private sphere
○ Increasing use of individualistic framing that works in
favor of traditional gender ideology
§ Dominant public discourse regulates gender norms
in china
○ Media has attributed women to private spheres by
fueling the marketization by publishing womens private
issues / domestic responsibilities
, § Dominant public discourse regulates gender norms
in china
○ Media has attributed women to private spheres by
fueling the marketization by publishing womens private
issues / domestic responsibilities
Gender in Chinas traditional society
- In 1950, government endorsed marxist ideas about womens
liberation
○ Promote women labor
○ As a result of the collective socialist transformation
- Propaganda promoted images of iron girls to glorify womens
public roles as workers
- Gender inequality still persisted through Maoist era
- Their gender reform failed to acknowledge inequality in other
aspects
- In late 1970s, state retreated from its role in social provision
○ Gender relations controlled by market forces
○ Women now even more responsible for taking care of
families
§ Fueled gender gap in domestic sphere
- Reform era marked by
○ Income inequalities
○ Propelled by market reallocation of resources
- Gender inequalities then increased due to
○ Expansion of the market economy
○ Change in state policies
Feminist critique of public-private divide
- Men dominate public spheres / women associated with home
and reproduction
○ Gendered division of labor and devaluation of womens
work
- Chinas inner / outer realms don’t correspond with western
public and private
○ During major transformation in china
§ Structural rearrangement of public / private
spheres
○ No clear boundary between public / private
○ In socialist era
§ Private sphere encompassed by a politicized public
sphere
□ State regulates family relationships
- In socialist revolution
○ Division of labor become degenderized
○ But state still paid little attention to other forms of
domestic work
Tuesday, 12 October 2021 12:18 PM
Reprivatized woman hood
- After womens liberation movements, theres been a decline in
womens status in china
○ More talk about marriage and private relationships then
gender discrimination in the media
- public gender discourses have undergone fundamental shifts in
the course of marketization
○ From Mao - women hold up half the sky
○ "better marrying well than having a successful career"
- Government adopted Marxist prescription in 1950s
○ Social political and economic theory that focuses on
struggle between capitalists and working class
§ Capitalists exploited working class
§ Would lead to a revolution
○ Resulted in very high female labour workforce
participation
- Economic reform negatively impacted views on women
○ Intensified economic reform since the 1990s
○ Massive loss of jobs by women workers
○ Widening of gender gap in various labour market
outcomes
○ The commercialization of women's bodies
○ Cultural devaluation of women
○ Also benefited
§ Opened new possibilities for awakening of
womens self-awareness
- Gendered separate spheres
○ Resonates with patriarchal tradition in chinese society
§ Men in public sphere women in private sphere
○ Increasing use of individualistic framing that works in
favor of traditional gender ideology
§ Dominant public discourse regulates gender norms
in china
○ Media has attributed women to private spheres by
fueling the marketization by publishing womens private
issues / domestic responsibilities
, § Dominant public discourse regulates gender norms
in china
○ Media has attributed women to private spheres by
fueling the marketization by publishing womens private
issues / domestic responsibilities
Gender in Chinas traditional society
- In 1950, government endorsed marxist ideas about womens
liberation
○ Promote women labor
○ As a result of the collective socialist transformation
- Propaganda promoted images of iron girls to glorify womens
public roles as workers
- Gender inequality still persisted through Maoist era
- Their gender reform failed to acknowledge inequality in other
aspects
- In late 1970s, state retreated from its role in social provision
○ Gender relations controlled by market forces
○ Women now even more responsible for taking care of
families
§ Fueled gender gap in domestic sphere
- Reform era marked by
○ Income inequalities
○ Propelled by market reallocation of resources
- Gender inequalities then increased due to
○ Expansion of the market economy
○ Change in state policies
Feminist critique of public-private divide
- Men dominate public spheres / women associated with home
and reproduction
○ Gendered division of labor and devaluation of womens
work
- Chinas inner / outer realms don’t correspond with western
public and private
○ During major transformation in china
§ Structural rearrangement of public / private
spheres
○ No clear boundary between public / private
○ In socialist era
§ Private sphere encompassed by a politicized public
sphere
□ State regulates family relationships
- In socialist revolution
○ Division of labor become degenderized
○ But state still paid little attention to other forms of
domestic work
