What changes did communist regimes bring to the lives of women?. World History

In the Soviet Union: Women had full legal and political equality; marriage became a civil procedure among freely consenting adults; divorce and abortion were made easier and legalized; married women could keep their own names; pregnancy leave for women was mandated; and women could now work in factories in the country's drive to industrialize. The Communist Party set up a special organization, whose radical women leaders pushed a feminist agenda in the 1920s by organizing conferences for women, training women to run day-care centers and medical clinics, publishing newspapers and magazines aimed at a female audience, providing literacy and prenatal classes, and encouraging Muslim women to remove their veils. In China, the Marriage Law of 1950 was a direct attack on patriarchal and Confucian traditions. This decreed free choice in marriage; relatively easy divorce; the end of concubinage and child marriage; permission for widows to marry; and equal property rights for women. The Chinese Communist Party also launched a Women's Federation, although its leadership was less radical than the Women's Department (Zhenotdel).