Chapter 22: The Rise and Fall of World Communism (1917-present)

This chapter, “The Rise and Fall of World Communism”, was probably the least interesting out of all of the chapters we’ve read this entire semester. I am unsure of the reasons, but it just wasn’t happening.

Despite the chapter’s lack of interesting content, one of things that stood out was the section entitled “Communist Feminism”. The entire chapter compares and contrasts the effects of communism in the Soviet Union and China, but I found it weird that communism advocated, or supported such unusual actions of women. Then again, communism promoted the idea of equality and giving rights to women followed this idea. The women must have been grateful for the privileges that they were given. Apparently, communist countries were the start of women’s liberation (669).

In the Soviet Union, “They declared full legal and political equality for women; marriage became a civil procedure…; divorce was legalized and made easier, as was abortion; illegitimacy was abolished; women no longer had to take their husbands’ surnames...” (669) This practice of women not having to change their last names is genius! I wonder how that started anyways. Not that I hate my dad’s last name, but I wish that my mother’s maiden name was chosen as our family surname. It would be quite interesting if the situation were flipped though: had the custom been that men instead took the women’s last name.

In China, similar actions were observed. “…free choice in marriage, relatively easy divorce, the end of concubinage and child marriage, permission for widows to remarry, and equal property rights for women.” (669) Also, women were more often spotted in the work force, both agriculture and non-agricultural jobs. On page 670, it says that the quote “Women can do anything.” was a very popular one during this time. When I came upon this sentence, a television commercial for Gatorade came into mind. Basketball player Michael Jordan and soccer player, Mia Hamm are competing against each in their sports and the song playing during the commercial goes: “…anything you can do, I can do better…” Women are capable of any job that men can do, if not better.