Abstract: In the Collectivization Period, the gender-based division of labor in rural areas experienced a change from “men working in the fields while women sitting at the loom” and “men responsible for external affairs while women responsible for internal affairs” to both men and women engaged in farming work. At the beginning of the Period, rural women were still engaged in traditional handicraft and subsidiary production. In order to solve the shortage of labor force in agriculture, young women were mobilized to participate in farming work. Women’s involvement in productive work will advance their emancipation- this is essential to the idea of women’s emancipation in China. However, women’s participation in farming work did not achieve gender equality, which the ideology had promised. There is no causality between women’s participate in farming work and their emancipation.

Key words: Collectivization Period, Tangcun Village in northern Hu&rsquo, nan Province, gender-based division of labor, evolution