linguistic:voice_change, structural:summarization
Women's labor advancement

The Great Leap Forward's focus on total workforce mobilization resulted in opportunities for women's labor advancement. Increasing collectivization of labor brought more opportunities for women to "leave the home", thereby increasing their economic and personal independence. The number of women in state institutions and state-owned enterprises more than tripled during the period 1957 to 1960.

As women became increasingly needed to work in agriculture and industry, and encouraged by policy to do so, the phenomenon of Iron Women arose. Women did traditionally male work in both fields and factories, including major movements of women into management positions. Women competed for high productivity, and those who distinguished themselves came to be called Iron Women. Slogans such as "There is no difference between men and women in this new age," and "We can do anything, and anything we do, we can do it well," became popular.

Neighborhood production teams established during this period offered women labor that allowed them to leave the home without leaving the neighborhood community. This mode of labor provided urban women with the right to work while still preserving existing forms of household social life.