5D.++Compare+the+effects+on+women+in+the+Russian,+Chinese,+Cuban,+and+Iranian+revolution

Compare the effects on women in the Russian, Chinese, Cuban, and Iranian revolution

Women and the Iranian Revolution (1978-1998)  The Iranian revolution was a movement that aimed to overthrow the Iranian monarchy in order to replace it with an Islamic theocracy. During this time of change, new standards were set and expected from women. The “ideal revolutionary woman” is trained in tradition, limited to the house and motherly roles, deferred to fathers, husbands, and brothers, devoutly religious and, segregated from men in public. The women were even surveyed by the “morals police” to make sure that women are following the proper principles. One would assume that the women were against this movement in which many of their rights were taken away. It was quite the contrary. Women of traditional backgrounds appeared in the masses for protests. Eventually, the contribution of women led to a successful revolution in which an Islamic republic was formed. However, the “republic” today, is debatable.

Even though many rights were given up by women in the Iranian revolution, some things were gained as a result of their participation. The education gap between men and women was shortened. Today, women outnumber men at universities in Iran. Also, as a result of the revolution, the economy went into recession. This forced the women out of the house allowing them to begin competing in business and the workplace. Women now have job opportunities in the government and other professional jobs.

__Conclusion:__ The morals of the Iranian revolution at the beginning, held women back. The willingness of women in Iran to submit to these oppressive, Islamic values seems backwards and contradictory to all other movements in history. Never have a large number of people readily give up rights. However, by the end of the revolution, women actually gained rights such as the right to education and job opportunities. Today, Iran is run by a radical, theoretical Islam leader and their amount of rights have been tightened and struggle to have their voice heard in the current state of gender apartheid.

Cuban Revolution (1953-1959)  Prior to the revolution, women had little rights, were not educated, and had maternal and homemaking responsibilities instead of having careers. Also, women were not a part of the government and were on the bottom of the social hierarchy. These injustices could no longer be tolerated in Cuba, by men or women.

One of the main goals of the Cuban revolution was to create equality between men and women. The communist regime, led by Fidel Castro, sought this equality because the participation of women in this communal, economic system was necessary for success. Upon the victory of the revolution, women gained the rights that they dreamed of. The Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) was formed and was recognized as a major political party and eighty five percent of the women above the age of fourteen belong to this party. This statistic shows the unity of women in Cuba.

Some of the biggest gains for women after the revolution are the right to be educated, be a part of the government, and the ability to compete, equally in the work place. Today, women outnumber men in universities. Men and women have equal pay in the work place and many women are high ranking in the business world. Sixty percent of the lawyers in Cuba are women today and seventy percent of the educators are also women. The government is now largely made up of women. Thirty six percent of the parliament is made up of women and fifty percent of the judgeships are women.

**__Conclusion:__** Women have come a long way in Cuba. One could say that Cuban society has given more rights and opportunity to women compared to the United States. Once an impoverished group of people, women in Cuba today now have the ability to compete with men in all business fields. However, I think that the biggest impact on women after the revolution is the ability for women to participate and influence the Cuban government.

Russian Revolution 1917

The 1917 Russian Revolution was supposed to destroy the Tsarist autocracy but ended up accomplishing that and also helped women gain rights in Russia. Before the Revolution of 1917, Russian women were seen as inferior to men. The feminist uprising in Russia was inspired by the Populist revolt and the Revolution of 1905. But the push for the rights of women started long before the Revolution of 1905. In 1870, universities and medical classes were opened to Russian women which women more opportunities than ever. In 1919, the USSR’s Communist Party set up Zhenotdel, led by Alexandra Kollontai, pushed a feminist agenda. Their goal was to not separate women issues but to combine women and men issues and create a larger socialist liberation movement. The Zhenotdel spread the news of the revolution and organized political education and literacy classes for peasant and working class women. They were often opposed by common people and male communist. Zhenotdel was abolished by Stalin in 1930. Women retained the burden of the household and child care as well as paid employment.

Lenin did wonders for the women’s movement. He was the first political leader in power to proclaim the equality of men and women. He gave women equal pay for equal work. He gave women the same political, judicial, and education rights as men. He also legalized abortion and changed the divorce system. The Bolsheviks also pushed to help the women’s movement. The Bolsheviks were able to legalize women’s legal statuses with men’s by Code of Marriage, the Family, and Guardianship. It was ratified in October 1918. It allowed for both spouses to own their own property and earnings and made divorce available upon request.

Chinese Revolution ﻿  1949  Women's role in China changed dramatically after the Communist Revolution in China. Before the Revolution, women were treated as slaves, concubines, and prostitues. After the Revolution women were "legally" equal. They did not have exact equality with men but were much closer to this goal. When Mao came in to power he imediatley ended the dying out but still cruel practice of foot binding. He made it illegal to physicaly beat your wife, stopped aranged marriges, and made getting a divorce much easier. Mao also made it illegal for men to have concubines or visit prostitutes. These chages empowered women, and encouraged them to work in industry, become a communisty official, or even get an education. These advances in womens power can not be understaded. However there was a trade off. The overpopulation of China was becoming a very large problem and the one child policy was enacted. Soon many women were having gender specific abortions of their baby girls to produce more men for a better income. Some of the mobile abortion clinics had shackles for these "volantary abortions" in which it seems as though women were put under extreme pressure to give up their child if it was a girl. This is tradgic, but do the emense freedoms gained, outway the cost?