page_title: All-China Women's Federation
section_title: 1949–1966: Founding and early years
hierarchical_section_title: All-China Women's Federation / History / 1949–1966: Founding and early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Cai Chang, Chinese women's movement of the outstanding leaders. 中文（简体）‎: 蔡畅（1900年5月14日－1990年9月11日）中国妇女运动的杰出领导人。
context_page_description: The All-China Women's Federation, also known as the ACWF, is a women's rights organization established in China on 24 March 1949. It was originally called the All-China Democratic Women's Foundation, and was renamed the All-China Women's Federation in 1957. It has acted as the official leader of the women’s movement in China since its founding. It is responsible for promoting government policies on women, and protecting women’s rights within the government, while liberating them from traditional norms within society and involving them in social revolution with the aim to promote their overall status and welfare in Chinese society. With the establishment of the organization women achieved momentum and power in the political life and among the male elite and required representation as a united political community.
context_section_description: The All-China Democratic Women’s Federation was established on 24 March 1949 as China's first country-wide women’s organization, and would be renamed the All-China Women's Federation later that year.  Women who had been dominant in the women’s movement and the CPC were included in the federation’s leadership. Cai Chang, a prominent leader in the women’s movement since, an active CPC member, and a veteran of the Long March, was the first chair of the organization. The organization began as a federation of various regional women’s groups with the dual goals of building a socialist China and promoting the status of women. The ACWF soon developed beyond its original mission of promoting gender equality, and it became a tool used by the party to mobilize women for economic, political and ideological motives.
  The early stages of the organization were characterized by a focus on Marxist–Leninist ideology. The CPC viewed the women’s movement as a part of the larger Chinese revolution against the feudal past, but some leaders in the CPC argued that because most of the women continued to do domestic work, and did not actively participate in the revolution, this contradicted the Marxist–Leninist ideology. The ACWF contested this assertion, stating that the economic conditions were not at the point where jobs could be provided to all women. Therefore, housekeepers, wives and mothers who were dedicated to their work could indeed be seen as contributing to socialism.
  To emphasize the contribution of women, the Five Good Family Campaign was introduced in 1956 to acknowledge efforts in areas such as education, managing the household, establishing connections with neighbors, keeping the house clean, and self-improvement. Promoting this campaign and ideology was important to the ACWF, and it encouraged local chapters to form women’s congresses to spread the message.  By 1953, there were over 40,000 officials working to spearhead local organizing campaigns.
  Around 1957, the ACWF entered a new phase, dropping "Democratic" from its name, as the federation was formally incorporated in the party structure. It entered the administrative hierarchy of the state, and declared itself a mass organization. Formal inclusion into the state apparatus altered some of the duties of the ACWF. The ACWF was now responsible for spreading political propaganda among women, guaranteeing the inclusion of women in political campaigns, marketing the campaigns to Chinese women, and organizing parades, meetings and demonstrations to encourage female participation in campaigning. The CPC sought to use the ACWF to promote its gender-specific ideas and create a formal channel to mobilize women.  The ACWF also established affiliations with other mass movements: The YWCA of China and the Women Personnel Section of the Trade Union.
  In addition to this, the ACWF played an important role internationally for the CPC. As a communist country in the Cold War, China had difficulty establishing diplomatic connections. ACWF was able to reach out to women’s movements abroad, and even hosted 23 delegations from other parts of the world for the Asia Women’s Representative Conference in December 1949. This enabled the PRC to go around the diplomatic blockade and forge connections with other countries. However, soon the Cultural Revolution would begin in China, which forced the ACWF to discontinue many of its policies.
caption: Cai Chang, the first president of the ACWF
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