Women's Changing Status in China

On the day of the wedding, female family members would bathe and dress the bride. Either the matchmakers or the oldest female in the family would carry the bride to the groom’s house for the wedding . The couple would receive gifts from their family members and their clothes would be tied together to represent their union. The bride and groom would be lectured on their duties to each other. Women were responsible for obeying, trusting, and taking care of her husband, while the men were told to take care of wife and family before himself. After the wedding ceremony, the matchmaker would guard the newlyweds as they prayed for four days prior to consummating their marriage. Unsurprisingly in this largely patriarchal society, men were permitted to take more than one wife, while women were to remain tied to one husband. Adultery was acceptable for men, while women were executed if they committed adultery

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

It is known for being flourished with women rights. The Song dynasty’s society definitely had its differences to Tang, “For instance, the prime minister of the Song dynasty might take a bath in the same public bath house as everyone else, which would be unthinkable in the Tang Dynasty”, (Wang, 2003). This is quoted from a secondary source from a professor studying Chinese history and shows how different the societies were between the two. Men were still greatly superior to women in this period. In contrast with the Tang dynasty, women in this period despite it following the Tang dynasty, were not allowed into positions of great importance like government officials or be involved in politics and were just expected to stay at home and take care of the household. But women of this period, unlike those of Tang, were had equal societal and legal rights that enabled them to control their own dowry, able to establish small businesses and were equal to men when it came to terms of inheritance, (Yuan, 1984). Essentially, Tang dynasty women were bolder and more active in the society where the women of the Song dynasty were more academically inclined and well reserved and respectful. Although the society themselves were different in certain aspects, women’s role between the two were similar. Both of these dynasties were divided by gender,

I chose this topic because I view women as the backbone to the development or a nation, therefore the Chinese woman is paramount in one of the world’s great civilizations. The role of women in Chinese culture has changed over the years. When we consider the position that women held in ancient Chinese society we find that they have come a long way to be where they are today.

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

When it comes to discussing the manners and customs that dominated in China in the past century, numerous topics appear. Thanks to the numerous written testimonies, we can almost reconstruct the life and experiences of people in ancient China. Of course, many of the practices described are not only interesting, but surprising. In this paper I am going to take a closer look at the status of women in ancient Chinese family.

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 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

China is an ancient civilization, patriarchal society, and an extremely large country. Why is China significant in our society? According to the Asia society, the article stated, “more than 1 billion people live in China” (Zimmerman, 2015). The role of women in China has changed drastically at the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911, and the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The transition of the women’s role was from enslavement and oppression in ancient China, to one of egalitarianism in modern communist China. Chinese women lived with rules by Confucius in his analects for two thousand years. The Confucius doctrine mentioned women were not equal to men because women were inadequate of an academic education. Throughout ancient

Firstly, the relationship expectations in Chinese customs and traditions were strongly held onto. The daughters of the Chinese

Women living during the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty lived in a society where gender roles were strictly imposed. The Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty existed in two distinctive time periods, but the roles of women were indistinguishable between the pair. The Han Dynasty existed from 206 BCE-220 CE, while the Roman Empire lasted from 27 CE-476 CE. The treatment women received in the Han and Roman societies were all based on gender and stereotypes. Women’s roles in marriage, domestic life, and society in the Roman Empire and Han China portrayed their limited freedom and voice.

Medieval China, as seen in the Stories from a Ming Collection, was characterized by distinct separations between men and women’s abilities, typical old fashioned family structure, and a desire to advance their social status. Throughout all the stories in this book, it dives deep into different aspects of how men and women are treated, how families were structured and how that affects their lives, as well as the values these people held. A very common trend in the stories was how different men and women were treated and the limitations they may or may not had.

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.

Additionally, women were expected to do certain tasks in the household that would keep them busy throughout the day and keep them from interfering with the outside, where men were supposed to be. Mozi, who was a great Chinese philosopher, mentioned that “women rise at

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