The New Socialist Woman-Ideals Of Womanhood In Propaganda Posters 1949-1966

In this dissertation I am exploring the relation between propaganda art and the emancipation of women.I am offering a new angle to look at the Chinese women's rights from the point of view of propaganda posters.Ever since the Chinese Communist Party won the civil war,they were concerned with improving the lives of the women.But in order to do that,they needed to face hundreds of years of Confucian tradition that has created an archetype of a woman in Chinese society.Women had their roles withing the family and were expected to behave in certain manners.Now,however,the Party wanted women out of those roles and out of their homes and out in the fields and factories.Therefore,they used propaganda posters to promote new patterns of behavior and ultimately to create a new archetype of womanhood.This is what I call the new socialist woman – a set of features and behaviors represented in propaganda art from 1949-1966 that overall added up to an image of a woman.I am analyzing various propaganda posters from that period to answer the question of who was the new socialist woman and how does she compare to the traditional model.