Introduction
In the last centuries, but also in the last decades, Chinese society has undergone profound change overall but especially regarding the role of women. In traditional China, women, as in most societies, were considered inferior to men. More precisely, they were constrained to stay at home and be obedient, their opinions were not relevant. On the other hand, nowadays, Chinese women are educated and are among the working force. Their position within society is not limited, at least in theory, but in this article we will see that they still face discrimination and cultural norms.
Women in Ancient Chinese Society
Confucian ideology
As said before, in ancient China women were not considered equal to men in either family or the state. The confucian ideology, which became important from the Han dynasty (206BCE-220CE) limited the role of women. Indeed, they were expected to obey their father in youth, husband after marriage and son if widowed. This is known as the “three obediences”. Consequently, daughters were less desirable than sons as it is shown in past literature where we can read that being born as a woman was unfortunate. The confucian scholar Mencius said the worst offense was to “have no sons”. Confucians teaching brought the idea of a “virtuous wife and good mother” who, if respected, was not involved in public affairs and stayed at home.
Women in Imperial China
Both politically and legally, their rights were very limited. Indeed, everything including official positions or official examinations were not available for women and this topic was seen as common sense. Regarding inheritance, law favored man and it was extremely rare for a woman to earn a piece of land and not the husband/father/son owning it. As you can imagine, the women had no say whatsoever in marriage, which were often arranged. The married woman became part of the husband’s family and often took care of the parents’ husband, this was often done with a dowry in exchange.
Cultural practices
Several practices emerged over centuries that restricted women’s freedom and could also be particular to China. For example, foot binding started with the Song dynasty (960-1279). Small feet, called lotus feet, were considered elegant and to do so, young girls were preventing their growth with multiple practices consisting of tightening the feet as much as possible, which could also cause death. It was a symbol of wealth as only rich people could afford their daughters not to work in the field, which was not compatible with having those lotus feet.
It is important that there were exceptions : some women still managed businesses, at the death of their husbands for example; others were writers or poets in Imperial China (Dream of the red Chamber highlights. Empress Wu Zetian even ruled China under the Tang dynasty, alone. This era, under the Tang dynasty, is also known to be a place where women were relatively more free. However, we need to remember that these examples were exceptional.
Between Imperial China and now
As China encountered modernity in the late 19th century those views were starting to get challenged (1898 reform movement and New culture movement (1910) or even the May fourth movement of 1919. With the Republic of China (1912-1949) many changes were brought as well as in Mao’s era (1950-1970s), and in the post Mao era; however, we do not have the opportunity to discuss those changes now but let’s focus on the current situation.
2000’s
Education
Nowadays, the situation is, as you imagine, totally different, women have almost the same legal rights as men which allow them to pursue education. In 2010, women were around 50% or above of the undergraduates in China which shows a remarkable shift from just a couple decades earlier. They are allowed to have the same education as men and consequently the same professional opportunities.
Professional opportunity
Chinese women now have the same education and professional opportunities as men. 60-70% of working-age women are working, a rate significantly above the global average. Furthemore, equal education allow them to account for 38% of specialized technical professionals (finance, medecine and academia) and to also be half of the internet entrepreneurs.
New problems
With new opportunities comes new social pressure. The most notable one is probably shengnü, which describes women in their late-twenties or older who are unmarried and following their professional career. This shows the social expectations that women should prioritize motherhood and marriage over their professional ambitions which shows China still has a long way to go.
Discrimination in the public and professional space still exists. While in theory everyone could access any job, if they have the qualifications, women often have a “glass ceiling” and are not able to get to the most important position in companies or the government (women make up 25% of the national people’s congress and around 17% of the communist party membership). In 2017, only 2 out of the 25 members of the Politburo (the most important political position before president) were women.
To finish on a positive note, anti-domestic violence laws were passed in 2015 but this issue still remains a big problem in China.
Conclusion
In ancient Chinese society women were just a shadow of their husband while nowadays they became independent, notably due to the access to education. However, even though the situation considerably improved we still have to remember there is a long way to go.
Références
Women in Ancient China, Cartwright
Asia society
Wikipedia (multiple times)
Asia Society Disruptive Asia
National Bureau of Statistics of China
Johnson Ian
0 Comments