Has communism, since the Cultural Revolution, truly improved the status of women, so much so that they are able to engage in politics?

This project will involve research while in the United States from text and interviews with people who have visited China. I plan to look into the difference in communism in China before and after the Cultural Revolution. My main method of conducting research for this topic will be interviews. The main people I am interested in interviewing are Chinese women, mostly ones who experienced the Cultural Revolution, but also younger women to see how they felt about current conditions. I would also be interested in interviewing men to see how they responded to women being involved in politics and other arenas of public life. This may develop into a questioner for some students at Beijing Polytechnic University. Observation will also probably play a role somewhat in my research as to see the basic tendencies of women in public (i.e. Do they always give way to men?).

Communism is supposed to make all that are ruled under it equal. Yet in China, women still tend to be set behind men. I would like to see the impact the Cultural Revolution had on the role of women. The Chinese idea of socialism changed following the Cultural Revolution, and I would like to examine this change in regard to women. Specifically, my definition for status improvement for this project will be that women are allowed to then participate in politics, allowing them to hold political positions. To better understand the current role of women I need to not only look at their involvement in politics, but also understand their role in business, schools, the home, and other social settings.