Communism DBQ

Communism in the twentieth century did not aid women in their struggle for rights. In theory, women were supposed to have equalized rights like men, but not in actuality. Communism popularized during the socialist movement in the 19th-century in Europe. Factory workers who would spend most of their lives laboring in undesirable conditions started the Industrial Revolution to overthrow capitalism and the rich owners above the working class. After the revolt, communism was forced upon countries like East Germany, France, Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania by the Soviet Union as a way to create a barrier between them and Great Britain who apposed the spread of communism. They promised these countries a better way of life through communism, but did

Sadly, there was little improvement in women taking on these government careers. The biggest increases were only 3%, and resulted in just two career fields: Junior research associates and associate professors. The rest either decreased or had a 1-2% increase by 1959. It was believed that women were able to attempt these careers, but were unable to advance; they knew this, so women didn’t bother to try.

Cuba’s Communist Party also brought up the concern of women not taking up advance careers. The president, Fidel Castro, announced to the Federation of Cuban Women in 1974 how positions are not being filled by enough women. He even goes on to address, “This discrimination even exists within the Cuban Communist Party, where we have only thirteen percent women... [T]hey often have higher revolutionary qualifications than

It is stated that women have high communist credentials, yet, in spite of these credentials, only 13% of members are women. Even with the new revolution in the works, women still are struggling to be just as involved in the Party as men due to the still existing patriarchy.

During the struggle for women’s rights, many would argue that they were all equal, but some happen to be more equal than others. This was a phrase often used by higher-ups who had a more lavish lifestyle during the downs of the Communist Party. Around 1981, the countries forced into communism, or who had chosen it, began to suffer because they could not feed the working class, Romania especially. A letter addressed to Elena Ceausescu (wife of Romanian Communist dictator) in which an anonymous women’s group expressed, “In your capacity of communist woman, wife and mother, where is our foodstuff... after so