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Propaganda
During the Cultural Revolution propaganda of Iron Girls depicted young women performing manual labor such as driving automobiles, being on drilling and fishing teams, and conducting trains. The images presented in the media glorified women's participation as Iron Girls in the workforce. (Honig 98) Media emphasized women's roles as paid laborers and the increasing amount of women in the workforce. Some media also highlighted achievements of women in previously female-dominated industries. The way in which Iron Girls were presented in media was primarily to highlight women’s participation in the workforce, rather than to suggest radical shifts in gender dynamics. (Honig 99)

Media often overlooked the important roles women traditionally played in society as housewives and mothers. Media accounts of single women dominated propaganda, which disregarded the work of women in the domestic sphere.

After the Cultural Revolution in the 1970's, the idea of Iron Girls became the subject of satire due to criticism that the idea of women performing the same work as men went against natural expectations of women. (Hershatter)

Art & The “Biologization” of Women
State propaganda and artwork showed a preference for women who were larger, muscular, or had features similar to that of men. Images presented women performing physically demanding jobs which had previously been dominated by men. The images showcased muscular women lifting heavy objects and groups of women joyously performing tasks. The images also reinforced the Iron Girls idea that women and men could perform the same activities, and they focused primarily on women looking and acting more like men.

Creators of propaganda manipulated color schemes and framing in order to craft positive, upbeat images. In the propaganda images of the Cultural Revolution, women are often seen smiling with bright faces as they complete work.

https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=eastasianhp

Literature
First hand accounts of the Iron Girls are extremely limited because most first hand evidence are memoirs that do not focus on labor. Any accounts that do focus on the intersection of gender and labor are primarily personal testimonies and secondhand sources. Many sources were written by intellectuals which focused primarily on social issues and not labor, but there are some accounts of sent-down youth. Additionally, the primary source of evidence on Iron Girls is state media and propaganda. Accounts present in the media were overwhelmingly positive when pertaining to the life experiences of urban and rural women.

The collection of data concerning how active women were in the workforce is another aspect that is difficult to get and accurate view of because of instances in which some production units would inflate their labor statistics in order to reach quotas. Also obstructing researchers' ability to gain accurate information is the fact that surveying women for research purposes was not allowed during the Cultural Revolution. (Honig 102)

After the death of Mao, there was a shift in tone in literature from the positive narratives found during the Cultural Revolution. "Scar literature" of the 1970's and 1980's offered a much more negative glimpse in reflecting on the events of the Cultural Revolution. In the 1990's there was another shift in tone, and literature became nostalgic for the Cultural Revolution. More specifically, women had nostalgia for the different opportunities they were presented with at this time. Many women reflecting on their ability to see the country in their work and develop themselves as independent women. (Honig 102)