The existence of women throughout China’s history was that of total inferiority. As the Chinese society developed women became subordinate to men. Even when death comes, this lesser position was brought out in the discoveries of ancient graves. They showed the wife’s corpse in a bowing position towards her husband. However, the social stature of women in China has grown tremendously compared to 20,000 years ago.

In 1949, the Communist government took over China. One of the Communist party’s principles was that of equality for women. This was a big change for the women of China. For the most part, women are given equal rights with men. Especially in large cities. However, this doesn’t apply to 100% of Chinese women. In many areas in China, women are still looked upon as inferior to men. Therefore, the struggle for equality and the end to sex discrimination continues.

Since the year 221 BC, the philosophy of China has always been male dominance over women. In the 5th century BC, Chinese philosopher Confucius set three rules for women to follow. The first was “obedience to the father before marriage, obedience to the husband after marriage, and obed

Chinese history has been traced as far back as 500,000 years ago. However, China has a 4,000 year recorded history. The Chinese lived along the Yellow River 7,000 years ago. They were hunter-gatherers and evidence shows that the society was matriarchal. “Decent was traced through the women and men lived in the homes of their wives.” (Tan p. 12) Women were respected and all of the children took their mothers’ maiden name.

When the Xin dynasty began (2100-1600 BC), attitudes towards women started to change. As society became more stable, the ill treatment of women increased. Men started to take control of the family instead of the women. Now “decent was traced through the male.” (Tan p. 13) As a result, when a woman got married she lived within her husband’s home. During this dynasty, the importance of being a man began to surface. “The Chinese had begun ancestor worship; that is, sacrifices were made to ancestors in order to ensure them a happy afterlife. These sacrifices could only be made by male descendants, and this meant that a male heir was necessary to perform the rituals and continue the family line.” (Tan p. 13) Parents also valued male children for two reasons. One was that “males carried on the family name and they could work the fields or bring honor to the family by passing state exams and entering government service.” (Green p.88) As a result of this preference for males rather than females, female infanticide occurred in huge numbers all over China.

During the Han dynasty (206- AD 220), rules were set out for women to follow. These rules dealt with marriage and pregnancy. Laws were made for divorcing a wife. There were seven grounds for divorcing a wife. These grounds were, “not bearing a son, being licentious (lacking moral or sexual restraint), not waiting on her mother-in-law, nagging, stealing, showing jealousy, or contracting an incurable disease.” (Tan p. 18) However, there were three issues to consider in which a man could not divorce his wife. If “the wife had no relatives to support her, if the wife had observed the three-year mourning period for the death of a parent-in-law, or if the man had been destitute when he married her.” (Tan p. 18) These new rules improved the conditions, however, women were still subjected to their husband’s demands. The Han dynasty also required women to marry and have many children. Emperor Hui Di laid down a law that stated that, “women over fifteen who remained single would be subject to a poll tax five times the normal.” (Tan p. 19) Mothers were excluded from taxes for three years after they gave birth. Pregnant women received two hundred pounds of grain.

According to a census taken in 1990, China had 758,901 scientists. Of those 758,901 scientists, 3,517 are women. In the profession of health and medicine, there are about 1.25 million women working. “The majority of gynecologists and obstetricians are women.” (Tan p.45) This is mainly because Chinese women rather consult female gynecologists rather than male. It may also may be an end result of conditioning.

The Song dynasty (960-1279 AD) did not improve women’s condition at all. This was the dynasty where the crippling foot-binding practice first began. A new rule was enforced to limit the movements of women. A strip of wood was anchored onto the soles of their shoes so that every step they took made loud noises. The next step was the binding of the feet. “Foot-binding was a means of keeping women well under the thumb of men. A woman was crippled and imprisoned in her own house.” (Tan p.30) Foot binding began when the girl was five or six years of age. “The binding was a strip of cloth about two inches wide and nine feet long. All five toes were turned under and bound beneath the arch of the foot. The long binding was then wrapped around the foot from the arch to the instep and

Some topics in this essay:
Hui Di, Mao Zedong’s, Yellow River, Changes Ching, China Shang, Ten Sisters, , Feudal Age, China Communist, BC Chinese, women china, chinese women, foot binding, tan 13, qing dynasty, women express themselves, kill themselves, elementary schools, attitudes towards, sex discrimination, outside home, people’s republic china, women china women, wives concubines kill, concubines kill themselves,