The ambition to obtain a son has always been deeply entrenched in a Chinese family. The one child policy has led to millions of female infants being aborted, neglected, or exterminated due to the cultural disgrace of having female children. The Chinese government had revised in 2014 that if couples, one of whom is an only child, will be allowed to have two children. Even though I do agree that this is a better change, an article in The New York Times recently reported that as many as half of the families affected by the new rules are balking at the idea of a second child saying that children just simply cost too much (Miks). I argue that females in China today should be able to have an equal status as males under their limited child policy …show more content…
Rather than a religion, Confucianism deals primarily with moral conduct and ethical living and is often categorized as an ethical system. Confucianism has deprived women from thriving because of the elemental belief that women are lower than men. They believed that education was not necessary for women because their primary duty was only to produce a son to their husband so that they can carry on their name. These not only convince women into thinking that they are lower than men, but also make them believe that they don’t have a right to an education. According to the Confucian structure of the social order, women at every level were to be vested in a position secondary to men.
Since history, females were seen as lower than males in China and this belief grew stronger after the one child policy was exaggerated. The one-child policy has obviated over 400 million lives in China. This policy had caused more cruelty towards females than any other official policy in the history of the world
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Knowing that gender inequality is still around, many women are doubtful about becoming leaders. “Women’s organization is central to legal aid for women in China” (Lay). Chai Ling, a female leader – one whom I admire, reaches out to all the girls in China. Her organization, All Girls Allowed, is aimed to end China’s one child policy. Ling was the only female leader during the 1989 Tiananmen Square Movement that went against the communist government of China. During that time, she organized several rounds of hunger strikes. Unfortunately, “the military brutally ended the protests on June 4, 1989 with bloodshed, and the Chinese government listed Chai as one of the 21 most wanted students” (Chai). I believe that if gender equality was present at this time, there would have been more men who would support Chai Ling throughout this
Communists in the twentieth-century did nothing to help the revolution for women’s rights. The revolution ended up progressively getting better, but the communists did not aid in helping. In fact, communist ideas ended up destroying communism. In the 1900s, communism started in China; this ended up not working in the long run.
China’s One-Child Policy was a bad decision because it disrupted the traditional family ratio, disturbed the balance of the economy, and had drastic social costs for
During the 18th Century women in China continued to be subordinated and subjected to men. Their status was maintained by laws, official policies, cultural traditions, as well as philosophical concepts. The Confucian ideology of 'Thrice Following'; identified to whom a women must show allegiance and loyalty as she progressed throughout her life-cycle: as a daughter she was to follow her father, as a wife she was to follow her husband, and as a widow she was to follow her sons. Moreover, in the Confucian perception of the distinction between inner and outer, women were consigned to the inner domestic realm and excluded from the outer realm of examinations, politics and public life. For
Throughout history the role of women in Asia has changed drastically. In many areas, such as China, women were not treated socially, politically, economically, or culturally equal. China was a patriarchal society meaning that men had more power than women; this was mainly to do their Confucian beliefs. Politically, the literacy rates were much higher in males than in females; due to the fact that women were not allowed to receive an education. Additionally, a common tradition practiced by wealthy females was footbinding. Footbinding limited the physical abilities of women, ultimately making them dependent on males. Furthermore, economically, women could not own or inherit property as men could. Nonetheless, China was not the only Asian country where women were treated differently. The
Although the One-Child Policy in China had downfalls, the benefits overcome. In fact, many believe China’s One-Child Policy was not a good idea and had many flaws. I strongly believe China’s One-Child Policy was a sufficient theory in assisting environmental crises, strengthening feminine power, and revealing benefits of having singleton
Many vicious things were done to women in ancient china that are deliberate bottomless in other countries. Women were only deliberate possessions and had to conform their brothers and fathers no substance what. Fathers also look down on their daughters to the point where alternatively of being named they were deliberate daughter number one and daughter number two, etc. Once the woman was married alternatively of being real estate to her brother and father, she was now possessions to her husband and mother in law.
From physical distinctions, such as genitals, to socially constructed ones, such as gender roles. Not only has society constructed these inequalities, but religion was the basis of it. According to the world’s biggest religion, Christianity, women were inferior to men. Many religions, specifically the Abrahamic faiths, treated men as the dominant individuals in society. Women had to be inferior to protect their modesty.
The final reason that the one-child policy was a bad idea is because of the fact that China’s fertility rate was already decreasing and was one of the lowest rates compared to Brazil, South Korea, and Thailand in 1979 making the policy pointless and unnecessary. “The claim by the Chinese officials that the one child policy has helped avert over 400 million births simply cannot be substantiated by
In traditional Chinese culture, women were inferior to men. They were not allowed to make any decisions concerning their families. Their only purpose in life was to stay home and take care of the households. "A woman's duties are to cook the five grains, heat the wine, look after her parents-in-law, make clothes, and that's all! ...she must follow the `three submissions.' When she is young, she must submit to her parents. After her marriage, she must submit to her husband. When she is widowed, she must submit to her son. These are the rules of propriety." ("The Mother Of Mencius", p.34) That's the principle that was followed in traditional China. Some of the examples of this are discussed in this
Since 1980, China has made its people the subject of an intrusive and unfair, One Child Policy. This policy was the result of Chinese officials becoming worried of the countries jump in population from 1960 to 1980 causing a widespread lack of resources, so they decided to induct a law that would make force Chinese citizens to be limited to one child. Because of this controversial policy the question has been raised, did the one child policy positively or negatively effect China? The one child policy did negatively effect China and its people, because it resulted in gender discrimination, unjust punishments and was unnecessary due to the already declining fertility rate.
Not until the twentieth century did things start to turn around for women in china. This is when a woman’s movement began to spread and demanded an end to foot binding. Perhaps the biggest factor in women’s equality was communism. Communists believe that women were equal to men and the government started to pass laws in favor of women. One law was The Chinese constitution of the early 1950s which said that “Chinese women enjoyed equal rights with men in political, economic, social, cultural, and family life. The state protected women’s rights and interest, practiced equal pay for work and provided equal opportunity for women’s training and promotion (W., Jacob 2). Another law was The Inheritance Law, which allowed women to inherit family property. The Marriage Law eliminated arranged marriages and said that “both women and men [are] free to choose their marriage partners, and widows [are]
The Soga family was dominant in Japan for over a century, (6th through the 7th century), and even build temples there. 12 A marriage alliance was forged, from the 6th century, between the Japanese royalty households and the Paekche royal household, such that, Japanese princesses and Paekche crowned princes were married to each other. Thus, the two kingdoms shared blood ties. As such, the two nations aided each other during war. In addition, the scholars, namely Wang In and Ajikki, introduced the Confucian classic, Ch’o’njamun and Lunyu, also called the thousand letter text. 13 The crown prince Shotoku was tutored by these fellows, who later formed a government structured and modelled in line with the Paekche government with specific codes of
Women’s rights and equality were cornerstones of Chinese modernization, especially of Mao’s vision of an egalitarian socialist state (illustrated by his slogan that “women could hold up half the sky”). Increased female participation in labor seen as essential to the state and party agenda. While there were without a doubt many issues women still faced within this period, many policies of the Chinese Communist Party contributed to women’s equality. However, after Mao’s death and Deng Xiaoping’s rise to power and his vision of the nation as “Socialist with Chinese Characteristics,” and the implementation of China’s Open Door Policy, women have again become subordinated in many spheres of society. Yet instead of relying on male political theorists
These beliefs about the roles did not come out of nowhere. Confucius, the teacher of the religion of Confucianism, taught that women's roles were to look after the men in their families. Most did not question his teachings and continued to live with these “rules”. Not only the fact that they believed women were inferior to men and should stay at home, "people believed that women were both morally and intellectually inferior to men and thus needed men's control and guidance" (Tsai). While men were valued for their hard work and getting the money, women were disparaged because they “couldn’t live” without a man’s work.
When Western people think of Confucianism, they often think of it in a past sense- as something only relevant to ancient China that cannot be applied to modern day society. However, what these people fail to realize is that Confucianism’s roots have been so integrated into China’s society that the values have become a part of every day life. Without having to explicitly state that they are following specifics aspects of Confucianism, most Chinese people submit to them, often times unknowingly. However, Confucian values not only exist in the Chinese society, but also permeate into other areas of Chinese culture such as architecture and aspects of Feng-Shui.