How Does Gender Equality Affect A Little Change?

Women in ancient Rome and China were very different but quite similar as for as their treatment and roles were concerned. In both cultures they were under the protection of their fathers until they married. When they married they were to stay home and be wives, they were not formally educated and learned to manage their households. They were not allowed to disgrace their families in any way and were inferior to men from the moment of birth. Chinese women whether from a noble or a poor family could not escape oppression, but it was somewhat easier for the women from Noble families. (8) Comparing the women of Ancient Rome (750BC – AD500) and the women of China (350BC – AD600), from the roles they played in

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.

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

In both the Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire, women were seen as delicate figures and had limited political freedom. Women in Han China were required to be accompanied and led by a male, whether

Gender refers to the socially constructed categories of feminine and masculine. It is one of the major factors in social difference and inequality in today’s society. Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. It arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles. Using a paragraph based approach I intend to individually analyse various aspects of gender differences referencing to the theory of socialisation and also making links to the works of Marx, Durkham and Goffman. My essay will cover different aspects of gender inequalities still present in today’s contemporary society.

During the Song Dynasty (960–1279) in Ancient China, the gender in which a person was born as, changed their whole path of life. Their role in society, their education, their power in the household were very different depending on if they were male or female. A typical female had much less power compared to a man; they were considered the inferior gender. It was unfair, and to an extend, cruel, the way that women were treated compared to a man, but during that time in China, it was so normal that no one questioned it. The roles that each gender held were rigid, quite different, and clearly not equal. As China gained power during this time and became more powerful, women were greatly downgraded by men because men were thought to be the ones

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

Women have had changing roles in every society for centuries. Depending on the country, some women have had a harder time achieving equality. One of these countries is China. These women have faced such obstacles as foot binding to concubines. Until the twentieth century women were not considered equals in their society.

An example of gender inequality is shown in Document 5.1. It states that Confucius rarely talks about women and the reason being that he, Confucius, believes women have limited importance in Chinese society. Document 5.1 also talks about the work of Ban Zhou, a Chinese woman born into an elite family (which shows that China is a very patriarchal society in which Confucianism was abundant through China), and she was given a fine literary education. One of her works, Lessons for Women, talks about how the Chinese society was unfair to women and how the principles of Confucianism affects women's lives and their behavior. She refers to the marriage of man and woman to the Yin and Yang: Yin being the feminine side showing emotion, softness, and weakness and Yang being the masculine side showing power and rationality. She also writes about how childbirth for women was treated poorly. The child would be placed under the bed and given a potsherd, piece of a broken pot, to play with. The placing of the baby girl under the bed indicated that she was lowly and weak and the giving of the potsherd signified house labor and that house labor would be her first duty in the household.

Women were subordinate to first their fathers, then their husbands, and finally, their sons. But, during the Han dynasty, women could sometimes gain power through their sons. Other than that, women always had fewer rights than men. For example, a woman couldn’t divorce her husband, but a man could divorce his wife. These principles that were brought on by Confucianism lasted throughout all of the dynasties.

As China faced new international pressures and the change to a communist society, gender relations transformed women from servants of men to full independent workers, who finally became soldiers of the communist state. In Jung Chang’s novel, Wild Swans, the three women – grandmother Yu-Fang, mother Bao-Qin and daughter Jung Chang – exemplify the expected gender roles of each generation. I will argue that Confucian society presented few economic opportunities for women to support

One way that some people tried to deny the sexist behavior in China is saying that women actually have more power than men. They supported this idea by saying that women can control their sons or husbands which directly reflects on controlling Chinese society. This argument is invalid because, although women did have some sort of control over their sons and husbands, it was not the kind of control that would affect their career or important decisions. The kind of control that they had was within the family. For example, if they wanted something to be done within the family and they knew they did not have the power to do it, they would try to use their husbands or sons as an excuse. However, this did not have a great effect on the important issues of their husbands and sons. Even if they were going to use the males as an excuse, the males have the ultimate decision and control of whether they will listen to the wife or disregard her wishes.

Within China’s history, women in China did indeed live under constraints but they were not as the modern world would perceive. Through China’s literature, the woman’s position is one that was changing as the cultural and values changed during the dynasties. A woman in China also maintains their sense of power though that changed as well. Overall women adopted under the constraints that they lived in but at times used their own strength and voice.

The civilizations of ancient Rome and China have long traditions of women occupying a lower position in society than men. While this was a common idea, in practice, there were significant differences in the way the two cultures treated women. Specific developments in both Rome and China led them in two very different directions with regard to the type of lives women could live. Although ancient Rome (750BC-AD500) and China (350BC-AD600) were both oppressive patriarchal societies, the application of technology, widespread use of slavery and the translation of government policies created more personal freedom for Roman women than Chinese women during that time.

The women in Tibet before the Chinese takeover enjoyed a very high social status. They had a very active role to play in the family and in the society as a whole. Women were warriors, leaders, mothers, traders and business women. There wasn’t any sense of men being superior to women in society; nor were the women restricted in any way or bounded in what they were supposed to do. An egalitarian way of living was practiced by the Tibetans.