Women As Reserve Labor Army:The Rise And Fall Of Women Workers In Shanghai (1958-1962)

This thesis uses archive materials,interviews and secondary literature to recount the rise and fall of women workers in Shanghai during the Great Leap Forward.Most were housewives before joining the non-domestic labor force,working primarily in factors or other state-owned concerns,as well as the Shanghai People's Commune()in the city.In Chapter 1,I introduced the concept of "the reserve army of labor" from Marxism.According to Marxist feminist theorists,women often serve as a reserve labor army and they became the cheap labor force.In the United States,women experienced several attacks since they went to work post war.Feminine Mystique tried to roll back the thought of women through the image of suburban housewife.The capitalists tried to attack women's rights,tried to stop their consciousness as working class,as way to increase their identity as women.In this way,women labor costs are cheaper than men.Mary-Alice Waters estimated that the women in post-war were the reserve army of labor.In chapter 2,I demonstrated the change of policy,the amount of women workers,and some archives which show their working condition.As a result of the Great Leap Forward,the attitude towards women workers changed.Originally,the government did not want to hire so many women workers,but the mission of manufactory doubled.So 300,000 women workers were employed in the factories or in the production team,however,in 1960 most of them were fired.In Chapter 3,I discussed whether women workers were reserve army or not.First,the state needed them for its own interest.Thus,women had to keep silent when they were engaged in the wave of political propaganda.Secondly,they were in the second position of the labor market.The state socialized domestic work so that housewives could have time to work,but their feature in domestic work were still in the factories.Since they devoted themselves to domestic work for free,they should not ask for more salary and insurance,they became a cheap labor force.Thirdly,both of them experienced the attack of ideology.The state endorsed slogans like"women are the half sky" and some typical images like "iron girl" to mobilize housewives to work.However,when the situation went bad,they were asked to take the burden and gave up jobs.Hence,the housewife workers were reserve army of labor,and this army was constructed by nation.In chapter 4,I would like to analyze how patriarchy hides behind the liberation of women.First,I would like to analyze three methods that the state used to recruit women.Step 1:they used residents' committee and the Women's Federation to make mobilization which changed the traditional structure of family.In the old time,women had to depend on their husbands to make a living and to support the whole family in old time.The Unit System(danwei)transferred this reliance to the State.As women were fired from their jobs,they had to return to being housewives and assume the traditional role of a woman.They were set up to the contradiction.Step 2:Then the state constructed People's Commune in city-like canteen,state-owned kindergarten or child-care institution,some service spots were provided.For example,laundry and sewing,to ease the burden from domestic work,so that women have more time to do their jobs.According to the archives,the service in People's Commune was not convenient at all and in kindergarten there were several accidents of children.Step 3:In addition,the State used a lot of propaganda and established some typical images,like "iron girl" to encourage women to devote themselves in work.The slogan and the images were used to serve the interest of state.For example,the slogan"women can do the things men did" indicates that women should be masculine,which indicates that men are still superior to women.As society held the domestic work and feminine image in contempt,indicates that the liberation of women and the equality of both sex in Great Leap Forward were controlled by patriarchal cultural.The women workers complained that "we are called 'comrade' when we are in work,but we are called 'women' when we are in the conference".The double identity showed that the state gave them two roles according to its expectation,so that the housewife workers were asked to work as hard as they can and to pay them less wage and benefits back.It is also a double suppression to women.The image of "iron girl" asked the women to transcend men and achieved what they could not do.Not in political field or cultural area,the women workers were asked to do more in manufactory or farming,which resulted in the competition between men and women in force and skill.When women were confused about how they could handle the relationship of work and family,many women criticized their own incapability.On one hand,women in Great Leap Forward tried to become progressive;on the other hand,they are still trapped in old,traditional role.The old patriarchy and new "liberation" request was the exploitation of women.Women in modern society now face the same contradiction.The State employed the one-child policy to ease the burden of population,which also means that the whole family has to invest more to cultivate the only child.Women still take most of the domestic responsibilities:they supervise the homework of the child,they concern about the university entrance exam and so on.Now women in China face having a second child and the public voice asks them to inherit the tradition role of women.They are more vulnerable if not more exploited than before.