Communism Meets Sexism

[Sara Newman]

Hi Angela, 

Thank you so much for sharing this article! I found it fascinating to read, and I trust that your students will too. The following passage stood out most to me:

"And in a society that for centuries held that a woman’s place remained in the home, women now have a major presence in the work force — one of the few positive legacies of China’s repressive Mao era. While the number has been declining, 61 percent of working-age Chinese women participated in the labor force last year — higher still than many countries, including the United States (56 percent) and Germany (55 percent.)"

It's intersting how dehumanizing government structures can in some ways lead people to focus on a person's ability to work rather than gender stereotypes about them. I wouldn't have thought that so many more Chinese women worked than American women. It could be intersting to do a see-wonder-think chart about gender roles in Asia, America, and Europe to have students explain their assumptions before reading more about the realities for women in these different cultures.