Women in Rural Production and Reproduction in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and Tanzania: Case Studies

Abstract

The situation in regard to women in rural production and reproduction is examined for the Soviet Union China Cuba and Tanzania. A striking feature of the Soviet economy is the number of women involved in agriculture as well as in the industrial and professional work force. The primary impetus for the incorportation of women into waged agricultural employment in the 20th century has been the imbalance of the sexes brought about by the civil war World War 2 collectivization and the demands of industrial growth. Women make up a substantial proportion of workers in all 4 sectors of the agricultural labor force: on collective farms (56.7%); state farms (41%); individual peasant farms (65.2%); and private subsidiary farms (90.7%). The majority of women agricultural workers provides what is termed physical labor--the heavier less skilled and nonspecialist types of work. The conflict between womens productive and reproductive roles has been particularly sharpened in the Soviet Union by the governments pressure on women to bear children in an effort to halt the downward trend in the birth rate. Women have been resisting the pressure to have more children. The government of China introduced a number of policies and measures in the 1950s to encourage women to participate in agricultural production. The Communist Party made its 1st concerted effort to mobilize women for agricultural production during World War 2. Establishment of cooperatives and communes has expanded the scope of productive and service occupations available to women. There has been an overall and substantial increase in the number of women participating in agricultural production since the early 1950s but there have also been fluctuations with many women entering and leaving the work force according to both seasonal and overall local demand. Womens greater contribution in agricultural production was expected to give them an increased share in controlling productive processes and allocating economic and social resources. An important component of policies designed to encourage women to enter social production were programs to support the reproductive role of women and to reduce both individual household responsibilities and chores. Marriage reforms introduced the right of free choice. Marriage and contraception was made freely and readily available. Cuba prior to 1959 was an economy characterized by underemployment and unemployment. Since the revolution several agricultural reforms have transferred private lands to the state and state farms have been built on the foundations of previously extensive sugar plantation and cattle ranches. Women have not entered the permanent waged agricultural labor force in the collectivized sector in large numbers. The women in Cuba have benefited from policies to improve their general health and provide the means of birth control. In Tanzania agriculture is the backbone of the economy and women have been traditionally the chief producers of agricultural products. The government has emphasized that health clinics birth control maternity leave and day care centers are necessary to enable women to combine their roles as producers and reproducers and thus participate in rural development.