Chapter 22 Conversation with Yugoslav Women's Delegation

(October 12, 1956) Mao Zedong: What about women's rights in Yugoslavia? Shent Yuerci[1]: The Yugoslav Constitution stipulates that women and men have the same rights. Mao: The Constitution is still only written on paper, and the actual implementation is still different from the provisions of the Constitution.I wonder if women have the same rights as men in capitalist countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom? Popovich [2]: Women in the United States and Britain enjoy the same rights as men, they have the right to vote and the right to be elected.But in some countries, such as Switzerland, women do not have the right to vote.

Chairman Mao: In China, after all, women who participate in the work of the government or the National People's Congress are also a minority.Although women's rights are stipulated in the Constitution, efforts are still needed to implement them before they can be fully realized. Shen: Chairman Mao is quite right.For example, in the early days of the liberation of Yugoslavia, half of the joint list of candidates for the National Assembly was women. That was because the joint list was put forward by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia[3], and those women on the list were generally able to be elected.When individual nominations were introduced, fewer women were elected.That's because in certain politically backward areas, that is, areas where people's political consciousness is not high, people are reluctant to nominate women as candidates.At present, Yugoslav women still occupy a considerable proportion in the People's Councils, Workers' Councils, Labor People's Socialist Union, trade unions and workers' self-management agencies.

Chairman Mao: Among the deputies to our National People's Congress, 12 percent are women; in the grassroots people's congresses, women represent 17 percent.In the people's congresses of the three municipalities directly under the Central Government, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin, female representatives accounted for 20 percent. Shin: In the Federal National Assembly of Yugoslavia[4], female representatives account for 6 percent.Women represent between 10 and 25 per cent of the parliaments of the various federal republics.In Slovenia's parliament, for example, 25 percent of deputies are women.In some grassroots legislative bodies, women represent 30 percent of the representatives.

Chairman Mao: In the future, the proportion of female comrades will be at least the same as that of male comrades, 50% each.It doesn't hurt if lesbians outnumber gay men.This goal can only be fully realized when the whole world has stopped fighting and entered a socialist society, when production has developed to a high degree and the cultural and educational levels of the people have greatly improved.The lack of respect for women's rights began after the emergence of class society.Before the emergence of class society, there was a feminist era, women were in the dominant position. I heard that at that time they did not need to dress up, but on the contrary, men had to dress up to please them.Equality between men and women can only be truly achieved when class society ceases to exist, when cumbersome labor is automated and agriculture is mechanized.After agricultural co-operatives, women participated in production and showed economic capabilities.In the past they did more housework and less agricultural production, but now they participate in agricultural production and their rights have increased.However, after cooperativeization, agricultural production still mainly relies on manual labor, and women also have to take care of housework. Therefore, only after agricultural mechanization can this situation be fundamentally changed.At present, in the heavy industry sector, male comrades are mainly engaged in labor, and in the light industry sector there are more female comrades.

Shin: The same problem exists in Yugoslavia.In some areas where heavy industry is concentrated, male workers make up the majority, so their marriage becomes a problem.At present, we have also begun to set up some light industries in heavy industry areas, which has increased the number of female workers. Chairman Mao: The same problem exists in China.Is family planning practiced in Yugoslavia? Bo: Yugoslavia is a small country with a small population, so the Yugoslav government has always attached great importance to increasing the population. Shin: We have started to set up some child welfare associations whose main duty is to take care of the mothers' children while they are working.At first such organizations were only set up in factories or large areas, but efforts are now being made to set up such organizations in general residential areas.In addition, we have service stations, mainly to help mothers who work too much and do housework.Thanks to the work of the service station, housewives have been relieved of many housework burdens, enabling them to participate more actively in political and cultural activities.Some female political activists and social activists are very busy at work, but they also have to take care of housework, so they are overtired and affect their normal work.With the help of the service station, the burden of housework can be lightened for them.

Chairman Mao: This is a very good idea. What are the work items of the service station? Shen: The work of the service station has different items according to the situation in each region.The main items are laundry, ironing, cleaning the room, taking care of children, sewing, cooking, delivering milk, bread, fruit, etc.The service station was mainly founded by the Yugoslav couples.Political education for women is mainly carried out by trade unions and socialist alliances. Mao: In Yugoslavia, is there any situation where parents’ income is not enough to live on because there are too many children?

Shin: There is no such difficulty, because every time a child is born, the state will provide a subsidy.But some parents do not use the subsidy for their children's welfare. In this case, women's organizations, trade unions and party organizations have to guide the parents of their children on how to use the subsidy.In Yugoslavia, we also provide convenience for birth control. We have set up some birth control guidance stations, and people can discuss with them any questions about birth control. Mao: In the past some people criticized us for advocating birth control, but now more people are in favor.A couple should draw up a family plan that stipulates how many children they will have in their lifetime.Such a plan should be coordinated with the country's five-year plan.At present, China's population has a net increase of 12 million to 15 million per year.The production of society has been planned, but the production of human beings is still in a state of anarchy and unplanning.Why can't we also plan the production of human beings? I think it is possible.We have a democrat named Shao Lizi[5] who advocates birth control.

Bo: May I ask whether workers or intellectuals are more in favor of birth control in China? Chairman Mao: Whether workers or intellectuals, as long as they have many children and heavy family burdens, they are all in favor of birth control. Shen: In Yugoslavia, we also publicize the knowledge of contraception. This kind of publicity is mainly done by the Women's Federation. We also research and manufacture contraceptive drugs.In addition, some methods are used to limit births, that is, parents with many children will be charged more childcare fees for their children. I wonder if this method can also be adopted in China?

Chairman Mao: I am afraid that this approach will not work here.Parents with many children already have financial difficulties. If their childcare fees are increased, the financial difficulties will become even worse.Our cadres used to enjoy the benefits of the supply system, and all their expenses were covered by the public.Now that the salary system has been implemented, the cadres have to bear the childcare fees themselves. This is objectively a restriction on having more children. Shen: Thank you Chairman Mao for your interview tonight. We are very glad to have the opportunity to talk with you.During our stay in China, we saw many things.We have seen productivity growth and we have seen a high level of enthusiasm among workers.We are particularly impressed by your care for workers' welfare and care for mothers and children.We have arrived in a friendly and comradely country, and we are warmly welcomed by the Chinese people, especially Chinese women everywhere, as if we are among old comrades and old comrades-in-arms.We had discussions with comrades from the China Women's Federation and exchanged experiences.We also met some lesbians who had a long history of revolution and exchanged experiences in revolutionary struggle.We have these strong ties that will help us build socialism successfully.We would like to thank the leading comrades of the China Women's Federation for making this visit possible and for arranging the schedule so well that we had the opportunity to see everything we wished to see.

Bo: I would also like to thank Chairman Mao and other comrades here.Chairman Mao always received every Yugoslav delegation when they came to Beijing. The leaders of the Yugoslav government and people were deeply grateful for Chairman Mao's gesture of hospitality, and they understood the significance of this gesture very well. Chairman Mao: We had a very good talk today, especially when we touched on some problems of human life itself. Published based on the transcript of the conversation kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

note [1] Shente Yurci, head of the Yugoslav women's delegation, was a member of the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist League and vice-chairman of the Federal National Assembly of Yugoslavia. [2] Popovich, then Yugoslav ambassador to China. [3] The Communist Party of Yugoslavia was established in 1919. At the Sixth Congress held in November 1952, it was renamed the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia. [4] The Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopted on April 7, 1963, renamed the Federal National Assembly to the Federal Assembly. [5] Shao Lizi (1882-1967), a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang.At that time, he was a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a member of the Central Standing Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.