Thinking About China
Opinion

China’s Hypocritical Push for Global Women’s Causes

Beijing pushes for gender equality abroad while only paying lip service to it at home.
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China’s Hypocritical Push for Global Women’s Causes
Employees work on a production line of drones intended for export at a factory in Ruichang, Jiangxi Province, China, on Nov. 27, 2024. STR/AFP via Getty Images
Stu Cvrk
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Commentary

As part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Mao Zedong’s ideological war on the Chinese people during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), the slogan “women hold up half the sky” was frequently repeated by CCP functionaries. The slogan was intended to convey the communist theory that women were equal to men in their contributions to society and that, under the CCP’s rule, men and women should have equal roles in cultural, social, economic, diplomatic, and political spheres.

Stu Cvrk
Stu Cvrk
Author
Stu Cvrk retired as a captain after serving 30 years in the U.S. Navy in a variety of active and reserve capacities, with considerable operational experience in the Middle East and the Western Pacific. Through education and experience as an oceanographer and systems analyst, Cvrk is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he received a classical liberal education that serves as the key foundation for his political commentary.