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The Changing Roles of Women during Communist Revolutions

In 1917 the Bolshevik revolution in Russia brought in a new age which included the communist revolution in Russia and the Soviet Union which remained in power until 1991. A similar chain of events occurred in China where Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gained control in 1949. The communist party is still in control of China to the modern day. During these revolutions many things changed including the role of women in society. In order for a communist government to work many leaders believed that the whole population must be put into work for the country, including the young and specifically women. Women generally gained rights during this period by being able to apply and work new jobs for higher pay. During the communist revolutions in China and Russia women's rights increased due to the mobilization of the population for industrialization, to feed a growing population, and to build products for global trade. An additional document that would help asses the changing roles of women in these societies would be a map which included all of the areas in Russia and China where women worked as well as a list of the most common jobs that women had and what effect it had on the society as a whole.

The changes in women's rights during the communist revolutions were due to both political and social changes and events. Political leaders such as Lenin believed that "It is essential that women workers take a greater part in the elections." (Doc 1) Women were encouraged to get jobs in society as well as vote for their leaders. The governments of these societies also used propaganda posters to help get women to work. With captions such as "Say goodbye to kitchen slavery!" and "Let the new life begin!" women began to see the changes and agree with them. (Doc 3) The leaders within the communist revolutions started to see themselves superior to others because of new rights with women. Lenin's wife said in the emancipation of women that "Russia no longer has the base, mean and infamous denial of rights to women or inequality of the sexes."(doc 4) Russia wasn't the only government that pushed women's rights and women in the workforce. In China, Mao Zedong encouraged women to "Organize in order to participate on an equal footing in all work useful to the war effort and to social progress."(Doc 6) Other similarities between China and Russian changes in women's rights was that they used similar propaganda posters which showed the life of a women working to be glorious and important to society. China's captions read "Become a red seedling-Strike root, flower and bear seeds in the places the motherhood needs it most!"(Doc 7) China also put out official women's magazines from the government which showed the progress of women in society and how it would continue in the future.(Doc 9) Yet women's rights did not progress purely by political means, social aspects of progress also played a large role.

Originally, social acts of protest for women's rights occurred due to events that put women down and placed others above them. In Russia during 1920 women were very