The Role of Women in Chinese Culture Essay

Classical China and India both had established and organized patriarchal society in which different gender roles had stemmed. For instance, in China the head male figure, such as a Father, was always in charge. This probably evolved from constantly respecting their elders and the role that women obtained in classical agricultural societies. India likewise, they had a strong tendency to put males in charge—in the Indian caste system, women were always at a lower rank than men. Even though they were important and respected among society, women were still encouraged to worship their husbands like gods. All of these structures that Classical India and China had standardized contributed to them being an organized patriarchal society.

In studying Chinese women and American women the research clearly shows that there are some similarities than differences in the areas of legal rights, education, employment, domestic life and health care. Subcultures can add variations to the average women in both cultures, but for the most part American women have fought for women’s right for a longer period of time and now enjoy more cultural freedoms then the Chinese women that are just beginning to fight for them freedoms.

the women had expectations to be a real woman and marriage was often forced without the woman's say. Women were idolized as perfect beings with no flaws and no say in many things, since men dubbed the philosophy upon them, they were “objects”. In china women were respected among their families, and in greece women were also seen as objects and given no voice in who they would marry. Today it is different, although women are still considered inferior today, we can still choose who we would like to marry and we also have many rights.

Marriages and pregnancies were fragile due to diseases, widows were prized, and the chief purpose of women was to bear children

During the time of Ban Zhao, women were expected to be very subservient to their husbands, as Ban Zhao explains on page S9-10. Ban Zhao was a very educated woman for her time (S9-9), so she probably was taught to be subservient in her education. Most likely woman were taught this when they were raised. They were also expected to be very obedient to their parents-in-law regardless of the command. (S9-10) Women were not allowed to have personal opinions about the commands of their in-laws. Women in this society were probably not warriors or political officials, at least not in many cases. They were probably less active in social life than their male counterparts, although they may have been more social with each other. Men seem to have advantages

One of the family-related reforms during the late 19th/ early 20th century is the shifting toward monogamy and away from polygamy. Because there was a movement where the Jiating yanjiu promoted xiao jiating, independent family, instead of the traditional da jiting, joint family, during the New Culture Movement, there seems to be no need for concubine or female servant since marriage was supposed to be love based and not on the family’s arrangements. The husband and wife come together with their own free will, there is more emotional satisfaction, which lead the married couple “more productive, and their increased productivity, in turn, made China stronger” ( Glosser 120). Liao Shu’An, a member of jiating yanjiu, offered eight rules as the

Marriage was seen as an opportunity to move up the social ladder and the goal was to have children. However marriages also provided comfort and companionship (Andrews 87). In order for a marriage to occur the woman’s father would offer the future husband a dowry in order to assure the new couple could live comfortably in their new life (Andrews 88). If a couple intended to get married there were many steps that needed to be taken so society would accept the marriage.

The Song Dynasty (960-1279) was the height of woman’s power in late imperial China. Remarriage of widows was common despite disapproval. Women were allowed to own and to inherit property through the death of a husband or father. Elite women controlled the household’s finances and servants. The women’s dowry remained in their control after marriage (Tanner). Their control of land and household gave women more value in terms of government and economy, because women could contribute to society similar to the way a man could through the production of food and taxes. Therefore, elite women had the most power and played a greater role in society than woman of a lower class. However, a woman’s power was still limited due to

The size of a woman’s foot was often used by a man and his parents to decide if a woman was attractive or marriage worthy. Small feet were seen as a valued trait because it demonstrated that a woman could be subjected to physical suffering. This physical suffering proved that a woman was capable of obeying her husband. (Hong, F., 1997) Foot binding was also attractive to prospective husbands and in-laws because it demonstrated that a woman’s family was wealthy enough to practice foot binding and keep their daughters from working in the field.

limitations. Back then, a woman’s sole purpose was to get married and to care for her husband

Then it was seen as the woman had gained the most and that marriage was a way to change her terrible (no tradition) behavior was before marriage and how marriage change (saved) her and made her a great woman. Worthy of the great king and her farther (family/kingdom) . From the marriage she stops being the monster and actually turn into a great

Women were treated horribly because of their reputation for being useless and were put below everyone else in society. This led to Chinese girls being put below their brothers because of their low status in society. Only rich children were educated and they were educated through the religious beliefs of Confucianism. Poor children were forced to do manual labour to help the family. In bad times, the son was always seen to be more important, therefore being helped through and girls were completely forgotten about. Foot binding was a practice carried out to allow women to marry into a rich family. Without bound feet, women weren't seen to be beautiful. Religion was also independent and went by the five virtues of Confucianism. Humanity, Honesty, Knowledge, Integrity and Manners. This showed lack of women consideration, lack of education and had to

Women were completely controlled by the men in their lives. First, they where controlled by their fathers, brothers and male relatives, and then eventually they were controlled by their husbands, too. Essentially, their sole purpose in life was to find a husband, have children, and then spend the rest of

Under the similar work pressures, wives often get more involved in everyday family matters, from what to eat, how to raise children, to financials. Strong-willed, independent by nature and striving for equality are the ways people describe modern Chinese women comparing to women in neighboring countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, where men are more in dominant positions. As a result, Chinese men, used to be the only pillar of their households not long ago, now become more likely to react to circumstances at home instead.

In a traditional Chinese family, the purpose of marriage was to continue the family line and produce the next generation that would fulfill the rights and duties of ancestor worship. To fulfill this duty, the traditional Chinese family aimed to have many sons and marry in daughters-in-law that would then produce the next generation. This however, was not the reality of all families and as a result, those without sons had to seek alternative forms of marriage. When major marriage was not an option, families looked to alternative forms of marriage and adoption to further the family line in the absence of sons.