Women and Political Participation in China

Abstract

X s she viewed the coming collapse of the really existing socialist tates of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Maxine Molyneux cautioned that there would likely be both gains and losses for women. The state's retreat from its self-designated role as emancipator of and its replacement by market forces, civil society and new ideological configurations placed social groups such as women, who had benefitted from state-sponsored affirmative action policies, in an unpredictable and vulnerable position. At the same time, would no longer be restrained in forming their own organizations to challenge the limited conceptions of citizenship defined under the old state structures.' Early returns suggest, however, that are being doubly disadvantaged. While the receding state offers little protection, the new groups moving into the vacuum left by the Communist party are redefining women's roles along idealized pre-Communist lines. One of the earliest visible signs that the transition from communism might be detrimental for appeared in the political arena. In the interests of democratization, obligatory quotas which had guaranteed a given percentage of the seats in (powerless) legislative bodies were removed, leading to a rapid decline in the number of holding political office. Moreover, it has been difficult to promote women's rights in the former Eastern bloc countries because such rights have been so closely tied to official women's federations or women's leagues. In their role as transmission belts these had faithfully carried out party policies toward women, which included the prevention of any independent feminist movement. Since in Communist party positions had no real political power but were merely filling a quota creating the illusion of equality and women's federations were viewed as being under the control of women who were making a career of communism, when the