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Revolution postponed: Women in contemporary China
Book Reviews
for many of us to accept outside of structural changes. In saying “The risk of fatherhood is that even ‘nice’ fathers can change back to being nasty” (p. 158) Hearn may agree or does this cease to apply when men define as sons and brothers? The idea that men are both willing and capable of turning their backs on patriarchal privilege is not one to be taken on trust. On the contrary, my feeling is that the man who responds to the anti sexist practices outlined in his concluding chapters is the one to watch for. This is specifically relevant in the context of changing men’s practice in social sciences, which is where this book is located, for Hearn himself has noticed that when they enter a range of semi professions including teaching “ . . . men are available, . . . to take over the more prestigious jobs” (p. 130). This leads me to qualify my welcome of this book and ask: “what is going on here?“; What is men’s studies and will they become gender studies? The development of “gender studies,” may be a solution for those institutions embarrassed by uppity women running women’s studies. With “gender studies” we can be brought to heel, subjected to the control of these right-on men. The focus of attention can be redirected back to what patriarchy can define as a proper subject, “men and masulinity.” So watch out for the “new man” and his validation of our work because otherwise the future may lie with him and not only may we be depending on him for the development of critical theory, but our jobs may be at risk.
JILL RADFORD
REVOLUTION POSTPONED: WOMEN IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA, by Margery Wolf, 285 pages. Methuen, London,
169
are specifically Chinese, others are much more general. Wolf notes the considerable variations in the situations of her informants, particularly between the rural and urban areas and also the differences between different regions of China. Given these qualifications she pieces together a vast unspoken social problem in which the transformation of the very tinequal relations between women and men have been subordinated to the achievement of socialism, and all domestic labour and child care is defined as women’s work. It is difficult to summarise the numerous small empirical observations and comments which she makes, as the women she studied lived in varying.circumstances. In the rural areas housing shortages and Iabour-intensive domestic work kept many women out of collective labour and in extended households. Theyput their energies into “sideline” activities as do women elsewhere in the world, turning domestic skills into productive activities to earn household income. Men remained heads of their households, and controllers of household incomes. Income derived from women’s workpoints was not only less than that paid to men in the areas studied, but was also paid to the head of the household. In the cities, smaller housing units reduced the size of the household, and allowed young couples to set up house, but left women with responsibility for child care. Younger women depended not only on the state, but also on older women’s labour to provide child care so that they could work outside the home. Although in rural areas any economic or emotional investment in a daughter was lost when the daughter married out of the vicinity, in urban areas, fewer restrictions on marriage choices allowed mothers and daughters to maintain emotional bonds and eased the tensions of the mother-in-law, daughter-in-law relationship. CAROLINERAMAZANCGLU
1987 (original pub. date 1985). Price Brf6.95. Margery Wolf set out to interview ordinary Chinese women to discover how the socialist revolution had affected their lives. She went conscientiously about her task, but had the shape of her project largely determined by bureaucratic requirements. The result is a frustrating book, but one which is full of glimpses of women’s lives in 1980-1981. In the end Wolf was allowed to carry out interviews with women, but she was not allowed to choose her informants and all her interviews took place in offices and in the presence of various female officials. Her material is taken from her own observations taken in passing, and from these formal interviews. While few British anthropologists would think to apologise for their lack of linear regression analysis, Wolfs very careful approach to general&ion has some merits given her l&k of control over her informants. She is able to compare her information with such statistical dataas is available in ways which help to shed light on standards of living, education, family relationships, and the relative positions of men and women. Where she is unable to generaiise her conclusions are carefully qualified. Although she does use a concept of patriarchal ideology she makes little use of feminist theory or analysis, but her observations and comments together with the voices of women she interviewed do show in a variety of ways exactly how patriarchal ideology can operate in the realms of production, family relationships, household structures, and child-rearing. Some of these mechanisms
SOUTH AFRICA: A DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR,
by Julie Frederikse, 192 pages. Beacon Press, Boston, MA. Price US$12.95. In South Africa: A Different Kind of War, Julie Frederikse has assembled a fascinating array of documents that reflect the efforts and the determination of a people struggling for democracy in the land of their birth. On the one side, the documents include excerpts from programs of the South African Broadcasting Corporation and speeches of government officials, clippings from pro-government newspapers, and leaflets printed by the government for distribution in the black community. On the other side, the documents assembled include excerpts from speeches by community leaders,, clippings from opposition newspapers, broadsheets, and pamphlets printed by some of the well over 500 organizations affiliated with the United Democratic Front and by the African National Congress, resistance songs and poetry, photographs, and interviews conducted by Frederikse with South Africans from many walks of life: men and women, young and old, black and white, students, workers, union organizers, community organizers, social workers, members of the clergy, ex-detainess who were tortured, and parents of detained children, of men, women and children killed in the townships and rural areas by the security police, and of young men and
for many of us to accept outside of structural changes. In saying “The risk of fatherhood is that even ‘nice’ fathers can change back to being nasty” (p. 158) Hearn may agree or does this cease to apply when men define as sons and brothers? The idea that men are both willing and capable of turning their backs on patriarchal privilege is not one to be taken on trust. On the contrary, my feeling is that the man who responds to the anti sexist practices outlined in his concluding chapters is the one to watch for. This is specifically relevant in the context of changing men’s practice in social sciences, which is where this book is located, for Hearn himself has noticed that when they enter a range of semi professions including teaching “ . . . men are available, . . . to take over the more prestigious jobs” (p. 130). This leads me to qualify my welcome of this book and ask: “what is going on here?“; What is men’s studies and will they become gender studies? The development of “gender studies,” may be a solution for those institutions embarrassed by uppity women running women’s studies. With “gender studies” we can be brought to heel, subjected to the control of these right-on men. The focus of attention can be redirected back to what patriarchy can define as a proper subject, “men and masulinity.” So watch out for the “new man” and his validation of our work because otherwise the future may lie with him and not only may we be depending on him for the development of critical theory, but our jobs may be at risk.
JILL RADFORD
REVOLUTION POSTPONED: WOMEN IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA, by Margery Wolf, 285 pages. Methuen, London,
169
are specifically Chinese, others are much more general. Wolf notes the considerable variations in the situations of her informants, particularly between the rural and urban areas and also the differences between different regions of China. Given these qualifications she pieces together a vast unspoken social problem in which the transformation of the very tinequal relations between women and men have been subordinated to the achievement of socialism, and all domestic labour and child care is defined as women’s work. It is difficult to summarise the numerous small empirical observations and comments which she makes, as the women she studied lived in varying.circumstances. In the rural areas housing shortages and Iabour-intensive domestic work kept many women out of collective labour and in extended households. Theyput their energies into “sideline” activities as do women elsewhere in the world, turning domestic skills into productive activities to earn household income. Men remained heads of their households, and controllers of household incomes. Income derived from women’s workpoints was not only less than that paid to men in the areas studied, but was also paid to the head of the household. In the cities, smaller housing units reduced the size of the household, and allowed young couples to set up house, but left women with responsibility for child care. Younger women depended not only on the state, but also on older women’s labour to provide child care so that they could work outside the home. Although in rural areas any economic or emotional investment in a daughter was lost when the daughter married out of the vicinity, in urban areas, fewer restrictions on marriage choices allowed mothers and daughters to maintain emotional bonds and eased the tensions of the mother-in-law, daughter-in-law relationship. CAROLINERAMAZANCGLU
1987 (original pub. date 1985). Price Brf6.95. Margery Wolf set out to interview ordinary Chinese women to discover how the socialist revolution had affected their lives. She went conscientiously about her task, but had the shape of her project largely determined by bureaucratic requirements. The result is a frustrating book, but one which is full of glimpses of women’s lives in 1980-1981. In the end Wolf was allowed to carry out interviews with women, but she was not allowed to choose her informants and all her interviews took place in offices and in the presence of various female officials. Her material is taken from her own observations taken in passing, and from these formal interviews. While few British anthropologists would think to apologise for their lack of linear regression analysis, Wolfs very careful approach to general&ion has some merits given her l&k of control over her informants. She is able to compare her information with such statistical dataas is available in ways which help to shed light on standards of living, education, family relationships, and the relative positions of men and women. Where she is unable to generaiise her conclusions are carefully qualified. Although she does use a concept of patriarchal ideology she makes little use of feminist theory or analysis, but her observations and comments together with the voices of women she interviewed do show in a variety of ways exactly how patriarchal ideology can operate in the realms of production, family relationships, household structures, and child-rearing. Some of these mechanisms
SOUTH AFRICA: A DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR,
by Julie Frederikse, 192 pages. Beacon Press, Boston, MA. Price US$12.95. In South Africa: A Different Kind of War, Julie Frederikse has assembled a fascinating array of documents that reflect the efforts and the determination of a people struggling for democracy in the land of their birth. On the one side, the documents include excerpts from programs of the South African Broadcasting Corporation and speeches of government officials, clippings from pro-government newspapers, and leaflets printed by the government for distribution in the black community. On the other side, the documents assembled include excerpts from speeches by community leaders,, clippings from opposition newspapers, broadsheets, and pamphlets printed by some of the well over 500 organizations affiliated with the United Democratic Front and by the African National Congress, resistance songs and poetry, photographs, and interviews conducted by Frederikse with South Africans from many walks of life: men and women, young and old, black and white, students, workers, union organizers, community organizers, social workers, members of the clergy, ex-detainess who were tortured, and parents of detained children, of men, women and children killed in the townships and rural areas by the security police, and of young men and