Women and Population Control in China: Issues of Sexuality, Power and Control

Abstract

China has generally had a good press from western feminists, who admire the many genuine attempts to improve the position of women that have taken place there. However, writers with a more detailed knowledge of that country have long sounded a cautious note (Croll, 1983; Andors, 1985) and these warnings have been getting stronger. Whilst recognizing that most women have benefited from improved living conditions and opportunities they point to the continuing sexual division of labour, unequal pay, the heavy double burden of work inside and outside the home, particularly in the case of rural women, and the preponderance of men in influential positions, although many wellqualified women now exist. They have commented in particular upon the effects of the economic changes of the past nine years. The rise in peasant incomes, and in living standards, which accompanied the decollectivization of agriculture, has been achieved by a return to the household as the basic productive unit. The consequence has been a reinforcement of traditional, patriarchal family values, a decline of girls in rural schools and a higher value placed upon male labour and men in general. Although these developments have been challenged by an increasingly militant Women's Federation, the conclusion that women have lost some of the ground they have gained is inescapable.