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= Iron Girls =

a.    Emergence of the Campaign
“Strong, robust women capable of performing jobs more commonly done by men, such as repairing high voltage electric wires” [1]

·     During the 1950s, urban Chinese women started to join male-dominated fields. This tendency became even more emphasized during the Cultural Revolution, which started incorporating rural women in men’s agricultural work. The Iron Girls propaganda helped advance these efforts. According to the Chinese Communist party’s central committee, the increasing participation of women in heavy industry was a result of answering the state’s call. The term “Iron Girls” became popularized around the 1960s, which was a metaphor to represent the young working women in the rural countryside. The first Iron Girl brigade was formed in 1963 in Dazhai in order to address the agricultural losses caused by a flood. They appeared as a model production squad, and were able to shoulder heavy labor with their “iron shoulders, hence the name. Initially, the brigade did not have the goal to contend with men or challenge traditional gender norms. However, when Mao Zedong used the Dazhai brigade as an example of mobilization techniques, they started to facilitate different agendas. In the wake of Dazhai’s Iron Girls brigade propaganda, many new specialized groups started to form in an array of different male-dominated fields (like coal mining, transportation, fishing etc.)[2]

·     Localized labor shortages and feminization of agriculture also contributed to the rise of the Iron Girls. Men were migrating towards non-agricultural sectors, like joining the army or working in cities. Men had more opportunities, so when they left, women had to replace their work. During the 1960s, agriculture was feminized in many areas, as women were responsible for 87.5% of agricultural work at the time. In urban areas, women’s brigades were also on the rise, because of the government’s new employment policies: with the sudden employment of a large number of educated females, the government had to assign some of them to physically demanding tasks, rather than just the bureaus. So, in a sense, they did not have another choice. Yet even in the frontlines, women outnumbered men, and each brigade was only assigned a few men to boost morale. Then when there weren’t enough men, all-women groups were formed and they were assigned tasks that other people did not want to do.

·      “Women in single‐sex groups demonstrated high levels of work performance because working together made it possible for them to acquire a gender‐based identity rooted in increasing confidence in their own strength. Moreover, women's brigades attracted public attention and respect, which in turn enhanced their sense of pride and dignity and stimulated their enthusiasm in work. Above and beyond their zeal and commitment, women's brigades tended to follow commands faithfully and, as a result, local administrations in many areas were inclined to use them. Local administrators additionally realised that when they honoured women's brigades even in a relatively minimal fashion, their enthusiasm would double” - Yihong

·

b.   Chinese Cultural Revolution
·     The Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1976, included heavy propaganda of women who defied their biological weaknesses and became strong proletarian fighters within the Chinese public. There were advertisements on newspapers and magazines that depicted women as powerful figures that joined the police force, fishing teams, oil teams, or became drivers for trains, and trucks. This new propaganda was inspired by Mao’s famous political slogan, “the times have changed, men and women are the same”, which suggested that whatever men can accomplish, women can too. This became an emblem of gender equality, since it argued that women can advance to men’s level, which was a concept that was never previously discussed for women.[3]

·     Through the Cultural Revolution, women started to join the labor force and work in previously male-dominated fields. However, they were expected to become more like men, and escape the biological limits of the female body. Their value was derived from the amount of physical strength they put into the work. [4]

c.    Sent-Down Youth
·     “Young urban students sent to the countryside for reeducation by peasants”[5]

·     However, it is difficult to compare the actual labor divisions of men and women due to a lack of data from the period. The Maoist years were very strict about the distribution of data, and even if it was accessible, many production units were inflating their data to fulfill government quotas, so they were not as accurate. Therefore, we must rely on personal narratives and testimonials of these workers. The accounts told by the sent-down youth mostly focus on individual experiences and their perceptions of the responsibilities of rural women. [6]

·     Rae Yang’s memoire where she describes her experience in the Great Northern Wilderness as a sent-down female:

·     “her hair was as dry and brittle as straw in late fall. She had strong muscles and a loud voice. She loved to eat dog meat with raw garlic”[7]

·     She described her experience as an empowering one, because men and women truly did enjoy full equality. Women were able to do all the jobs men did, and even better at times.

·     There was still an inherent inequality in the system

·     “a third young woman relocated from Beijing to inner Mongolia recalls that since peasant girls were half-laborers, she and her classmates insisted on the status of full laborers by doing men’s work”[8]

·     So, women were assumed to take over a male identity to perform tasks that are usually assigned to men. And the “female designated” tasks like domestic labor were not regarded as highly[9]

·     When women worked the same amount as men, they still would not be paid equally. Sent-down girls could only earn seven work points a day, while boys could earn nine.[10]

·     Sent-down youth saw themselves as crusaders for change and equality in the workforce

·     Account of Xiao Sun: when she was sent to the countryside from Chengdu, she was first assigned to be a health worker in a factory. But she wanted a more demanding job so she asked to be placed in the mines. But she was informed that there was a regulation prohibiting women from working in the mines. Then she replied “but the times have changed. Men and women are the same! Why can’t women comrades do the same things men comrades can do?”, which granted her the opportunity to work alongside men. [11]

·     These adolescent urban-educated sent down girls supported Mao’s slogan of equality and idolized the agenda of the Iron Girls. Therefore, their missionary-like attitudes helped further the state propaganda.[12]

·     However, not all sent-down girls were leaders of gender equality within the workforce. Many found this new lifestyle difficult to maintain, and chose to marry to escape the hardships of work. Marrying into a peasant family was a way to avoid working at the fields[13]

d.   Later Criticism
·     During the 1980s, Iron Girls became subject to heavy criticism and mockery due to its focus on a gendered division of labor. Women’s labor was more closely tied with their biological abilities and inabilities, while no such constraint was discussed for men. [14]

·     The controversy with the Iron Girls movement was the absence of gender issues among its agenda. Women and Men were expected to be the same, rather than different in their own ways. This was an issue that was also observed within the Chinese Communist Party, which regarded feminism as a “bourgeois” concept. [15]

·     The message of the Iron Girls was very limited in regards to true feminism and equality, because they simply pushed women to become more like men. The government regarded masculine qualities as preferable to that of the domestic women, and depicted the standard of success as the imitation of men’s talents. It was never argued that men could also strive to become more like women. This restricted women’s development, because as long as the agenda of Iron Girls continued, the Communist Party believed the issue of gender inequality was alleviated. However, Iron Girls were only a small amount of the population, so majority of the population did not see any gender-related changes a push for equality during this decade. [16]

·     Another criticism of this movement was its disregard of women’s contribution to the domestic workforce. Even though women were encouraged to join previously male-dominated professions, they were still expected to be responsible for the domestic sphere. Yet these efforts were not applauded as an important contribution to society, and was mostly ignored. [17]

·     The issues of women’s labor during the Cultural Revolution was condensed into the new rise of Iron Girls. However, the Iron Girls were not representative of the entire Chinese society, as they were only a small portion of it. The model was heavily shaped and manipulated by local officials and urban women, and did not depict the entirety of cultural norms about labor. [18]

·     The Iron Girls movement also exceeded the physical capacity of many women. In turn, they suffered physical and gynecological diseases[19] [1]Honig, p.1

[2] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0424.2006.00458.x?saml_referrer

[3]Honig p.2

[4]Hershatter, p.247

[5]Honig p.3

[6]Honig, p.5-7

[7]Yang, p.178

[8]Honig, p.8

[9]Ibid.

[10]Ibid.

[11]Honig, p.9.

[12]Honig, p.11

[13]Honig, p.12-13

[14]Honig

[15]Honig

[16]Honig

[17]Honig

[18]Honig

[19] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0424.2006.00458.x?saml_referrer