Womens Freedom during Chinas Revolutionary Period Essay -- Asian His

Wo custodys Freedom during Chinas Revolutionary Period During the revolutionary stop consonant in China from 1921 to 1934, although there were undercurrents of an actual feminist movement, according to Kay Ann Johnson in Women, the Family & Peasant Revolution in China, womens progress resulted more as a necessity of the war than the leaderships commitment to set free women. Furthermore, when tension arose between men and women, the leadership usually appeased men everywhere women. By not discussing the mentality of the political parties and the dynamics of the war, Hughes and Hughes critique lacks an comment of the underlying motives that drove these parties to sometimes support women and other times decline womens interests. Hughes and Hughes explain that male educators and members of the KMT now proclaimed Chinese women turn (H&H 237). However, Johnsons critique paints quite a different and more complex emancipation. The philosophies of the Chinese Comm unist Party (CCP) reflected undertones of feminist thought and consideration. The CCPs ideology developed in the early twentieth century as a result of a radical intellectual movement in urban areas composed of disillusioned students and professors. The CCP did recognize womens progressive demands and desires for liken rights. In 1922, at the Second National Congress, the Party established the Womens Department which aided womens revolutionary political activity (Johnson 41). The manifesto of the Second Congress responded to womens groups such as the Woman voting Alliance and the Alliance for the Womens Rights Movements by including objectives such as the express right to vote for all workers and peasants, regardless of sex, and protect... ...ower in the war. Thus, it is difficult to task whether women did attain emancipation since emancipation under such a politically charged atmosphere seems rather tainted. In addition, when conflict arose between men and women, politics usua lly supported male interests. Hughes and Hughes do not fully illustrate the complex motives that drove these parties to either support or throw away womens interests in order to maintain political unity. Thus, it is problematic to only read Hughes and Hughes critique because it lacks an in-depth discussion of the complex dynamics during the revolution. Works Cited Hughes, Sarah baby and Brady Hughes. Women in World History Readings from 1500 to the Present. Vol 2. New York M.E. Sharpe Inc., 1997. Johnson, Kay Ann. Women, the Family and Peasant Revolution in China. Chicago The University of Chicago Press, 1983.