Ban Zhao Lessons For Women

The empires of Rome and China were very great ones, they both had many similarities and differences in the way they ran their empires. One major difference was the way they treated their women. Both Chinese and Roman women were unequal in social status than the men of the empires were, but they were definitely treated different in both empires. Women of China were treated quite harshly and were expected to take orders at all times by their husbands, and were to serve them always. This started to happen especially after Confucius died because he taught people to treat each other the same, “after his death women became less free and lost status,”(Arvind 10). Women of Rome were treated like goddesses; they were to stay at home as housewives

Like the Analects, Ban Zhao's writings do not attempt to address what is right or wrong about society and the role of women within it (Ban Zhao, Lessons for a Woman, 1). Instead, she blames the lack of female education on the ignorance of men, and maintains that although men understand their own place in the society, they fail to realize that the complementary role of women is one that must also be taught (Ban Zhao, Lessons for a Woman, 3). Her writings serve to rectify this

The author of this passage, Ban Zhao, seemed to be very knowledgeable and influential to young women. Since the setting takes place in Asia, I think that the author may have been influenced to write this piece by other woman of her country. Taking clues from the style of writing I can infer that this piece was written in a past since it uses words and phrases that seem dated. When looking over this writing piece I can heavily agree

The Tang was a very aristocratic society that is known for being the “Golden Age” in Chinese history, with some of the greatest developments in the society occurring, (CD Benn, 2002). The dynasty made the unheard-of move of allowing women to sit for the Imperial examination and serve as government officials, with women enjoying the unprecedented power in politics (CD Benn, 2002). Charles Benn’s book, “China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang dynasty”, is a secondary source in the form of a book, published in 2002. He is a professor studying Chinese history, in particular, the Tang dynasty, and in his publication, details the lives of Chinese people in this dynasty. Women had much more freedom than seen in any dynasty before it and it gave women a voice and saw women with almost as equal rights in society, with women finally being able to enjoy the privilege of education and marriage

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.

Based on Lessons for Women, women in the China were taught that they were unworthy, unsophisticated, unenlightened and by nature unintelligent. (Strayer

Part One- What I found interesting in The Talented Women of the Zhang Family is the cultural and gender differences the Han and the Hakka during the Taiping Rebellion. The Hakka people considered everyone as equal, while the Han has very different expectations and standards for male and female. For instance, footbinding serves a standard of beauty for the Han women, while “Hakka female leaders forcibly unbound the feet of captive Han Chinese women” (Mann, 7). The Han people hold traditional culture doesn’t allow female to continue study after they entered their teen years. For example Zhang Qi, forbidden his daughter to every make a poem in public because he believes one of women’s virtue is to not have a talent since a lady has no saying

Furthermore, instead of arranged marriages that only benefited the patriarchal head, intellectuals pushed for marriages based on love which would create happy and productive citizens . In addition, based on her mother’s experience, Bao Qin rejects arranged marriages and intends to only marry for love . After hearing of two concubines who drug Cousin Hu’s mother to feign adultery and gain the favour of her husband, Bao Qin is enraged by the historic “powerlessness of women, [the] barbarity of age-old customs, cloaked in tradition .” With the broad shift from tradition as well as her own personal experience, Bao Qin rejects traditional gender roles and seeks to create her own. Furthermore, as China became divided into separate spheres of influence and opened to international markets, British and American industrialization brought new ideas of opportunities for women, challenging established gender relations . With new economic opportunities and education, women could become self-reliant, broadening their choices and their role in society. Consequently, after disobeying her parents’ command to attend Mr. Liu’s funeral, Bao Qin was able to support herself by enrolling in a new teacher training department . Reducing patriarchal control, industrialization allowed children to head to schools and factories, no longer needing to rely on their parents for education and work . As a result, while foreign

Wu Zhao belonged to the Tang Empire, which according to the author which “…was a true empire, encompassing many lands, many peoples, and many ideologies. Multi ethnic and cosmopolitan, Tang China was perfectly suited for the ascent of a historical anomaly like Wu Zhao…” (Rothschild, 2008, p. 11) In a sense, there was a conflict of traditional Confucian values which promoted a patriarchal society and the liberal Steppe culture which gave women more freedom and rights. China at that time was a cocktail of these cultures which led to a significant impact on the lifestyle and values of peoples in that era. Women were bold and tough, and unlike earlier societies, were no longer confined socially and sexually (Rothschild, 2008, p. 12). While did not exist a perfect equality between men and women, women of that era were allowed to live without hiding under the dominance of the male Yang. As the author talks of the Silk Road, it is mentioned that,”…In this free-wheeling milieu, women donned men’s attire and rode horses…” (Rothschild, 2008, p. 15) .This “cosmopolitan” (Rothschild, 2008, p. 16) society was the foundation for the Tang Empire. Another important factor was the prevalence of Buddhism as a religion of the masses. Buddhism, in itself, helped united much of Asia, and was a common platform for men and women, unlike in Confucianism where

Wu Zhao was born into a family of nobility in Wenshuai the Shanxi province. Her father was Wu Shihuo had her educated in politics, history, and music, she had refused to do other things other girls her age would do. She had also traveled with her parents. She had come to be the Empress by becoming a concubine to the Emperor, Tang Taizong, in 638 C.E. the emperor had heard about her beauty so she was brought to him. After his death, she became a concubine to his son and successor. She soon rose above the other wives and became the emperor’s chief wife. She had given birth to two sons in 652 and 653 C.C., which angered the wife of Gazong, to get rid of her Wu Zhao accuses her of murdering her daughter in 654 C.E. she was found guilty. Wu Zhao

The oppression of women has been brought into light in the recent years but it was the norm in many societies in early history especially in premodern east Asia. During that time, the roles of men and women in society were determined by great scholars that had the power to get their voice to be heard and set general rules in society. In China, scholars like Confucius, Mencius, and Mozi had great impact on the way people divided the roles between men and women. The overall oppression of women in premodern east Asia can be seen through quotes from great scholars about how women should be obedient to men, should not make important decisions in their families, and are not spoken of equally to men in society.

Lessons for Women is a book of conduct written during the Han Dynasty by Ban Zhao (C. 45-120) to advise the women of her family on the proper conduct of a wife. Ancient China around this time was a Confucian state in which the society was control by the belief in order and harmony. The book contains seven chapters that talks about: humility, husband and wife, respect and caution, womanly qualifications, wholehearted devotion, implicit obedience, and harmony with younger brothers- and sisters- in law. This work of literature reflects on how a proper women was to behave obediently to the husband, by being devoted and respectful to avoid humility to herself, her parents and her clan. It gives the readers an idea of the power that men had over women during this time period and the exceptions for both roles of husband and wife. Lessons of women informs the readers that women during the Han Dynasty had no control over their own lives and the philosophy of Confucian had a huge influence on the society’s everyday life. Ban Zhao emphasizes the importance of distinctions between men and women, and their separate natures.

In China, women were put in subservient positions to society. They were quiet, obedient creatures who "gathered patience". Song speaks of how women learned to provide for their families, as they were "learning to stretch the family rice". Women were expected to serve a purpose and be seen and not heard.

In fact, it urges people to not to be sexist toward any gender. Sexism has been around forever, and although we have made some amazing progress, we still have it. I could point out all of the sexism that women/men have to face almost every day, but I don’t have enough ink at my house to print out that many papers. The sexism that I have encountered on many occasions is catcalling. If you don’t know what catcalling is, it’s basically a man shouting very vulgar things to a woman. Not only does it make you feel you uncomfortable, but it makes you feel like an object. If you don’t thank them for their “lovely’ comment, you get called some pretty nasty names (slut, whore, bitch,

I was a bit conflicted over some of the reading material, specifically Erica Jong’s piece titled, “He Hears, She Hears: Ten Genderbender Vocabulary Words”. In the piece Jong goes to outline differences in the interpretation of certain words between the genders. My problem is in the way Jong seems to generalize these differences among all members of each gender. I find that generalization upsetting, particularly since I don’t believe that some of the gender generalizations she makes applied to me or many of the women I know. This was the case when Jong makes the assertion that women think of rules as guidelines, hints or mere suggestions; while men see rules as unbendable. (Jong, 135-136) I strongly disagreed with this statement and asked my two sisters about their opinions of rules and they also disagreed with Jong’s pronouncement about the genders and rules. Furthermore, I find the fact that Jong would make such blanket statements for a whole gender, problematic when her article is trying to point out the problems with the genderization of the interpretation of words amongst the sexes. I feel that by making such blanket and overreaching statements Jong is in fact perpetuating the very thing which she is criticizing. Furthermore, by failing to acknowledge that variability does exist she alienates and puts people such as myself on the defensive about our gender identity. Am I any less of a woman because I tend to see rules as unbreakable? Like most males