ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the way in which the People's Republic of China has dealt with the 'woman question'. It argues that a materialistic analysis of the position of women, combined with an understanding of the social contradictions that gave primacy to the ideology - of nationalism and socialism - and to overarching projects of the Party and the state - revolution, reconstruction and modernization -have meant that, though women's position has improved, issues of gender have not been confronted by the Chinese leadership. The Chinese communists were acutely aware of the oppression of women in society, and were committed to the cause of women's equality. Chinese communists presented the introduction of monogamous marriage under the Marriage Law of 1950 as a protection for women against concubinage, such a restricted explanation of the law did not allow for a more general debate about gender relations within marriage. The contradictory aspects of monogamous marriage noted by Marx and Engels.
