Role of Women and Minorities

Treatment of Women and Minorities

Women:

Under Mao, women were seen as valuable members of the labor force. Additionally, they played a key role in providing manpower through high birth rates. Mao promoted these roles during his reign, believing women to be beneficial, even instrumental in China's progress. However, they were not allowed to participate in the military, and few were ever given positions of power, or allowed to serve in public office. It was clear through many propaganda campaigns that the main function of women in Chinese society was that of housewife, child-rearer, or laborer. One notable exception to this was Mao's wife, Jing Qiang, who was very politically ambitious and was the leader of the Cultural Committee within Central Committee, and whose ambition would later be shown through her involvement in the Gang of Four.

Propaganda poster showing women working on a collectivized farm


Propaganda poster showing an idyllic Chinese family. Clearly illustrates gender roles.

Minorities: 

Initially Mao, in an effort to preserve the newly unified China, allowed minority groups such as the Tibetans, Hui, Mongols, and the Manchus to have regional autonomy and, more or less determine their own affairs. In the process, these groups established their own autonomous regions. However, during the Cultural Revolution, minority groups faced severe persecution. Violence included destruction of Tibetan monasteries, burning of Q'urans, public execution of imams, language schools destroyed. A massacre of the Hui Muslims at the hands of the People's Liberation Army even resulted. This policy was enacted by radical assimilationists, who wished to create cultural homogeny in China. They also viewed these minorities as a part of the Four Olds, representing old culture and old customs.