Chinese women in the mid-twentieth century essay

The positions of men and women were differentiated by all civilizations during the history of mankind. But in China the differentiation between men and women is more obvious comparing to other cultures.  The preference of boy children by families in China is just one of many disturbing examples of this differentiation. The conservative traditional status of Chinese meant that for thousands of years Chinese women confined themselves to their homes. This status existed till 1905, and then the first revolutionary change has happened to the women of China: education of women was allowed by the government. In 1905 government education of women was non-existent; fifteen years later over four hundred thousand girls were studying in various schools. It may sound shocking for a person of Western civilization, but before 1905, broadly speaking, none but the “oldest profession” was open to a woman; now none is closed.

Present essay is dedicated to the changing status of Chinese women in the mid-twentieth century.  It should be emphasized that the women’s social roles were significantly changed when the Communist Party came to power in China in 1949. Studies confirm that Chinese women used the opportunities provided by the industrial development of their country and became efficient employees in professions such as teaching, social work, and medicine, student activism, and politics. In addition, Chinese women have started to gain more political rights in the second half of the twentieth century. It was a puzzle that the Chinese woman, that were so dependant for thousands of years when once released, at once finds intense interest in politics.

. Thesis: The significant changes in social roles and rights of Chinese women’s have started to change since 1905. Still the most substantial amendments have happened when the Communist Party came to power in China in 1949. Studies confirm that Chinese women used the opportunities suggested by the new policies and industrial development and started to actively engage themselves in professions such as teaching, social work, and medicine, student activism, and politics.

1. Social roles and social changes of Chinese women

• The cult of ancestor-worship as an origin of differentiated positions of men and women in China
• The influence of Confucius on lives of Chinese women
• Women’s place in Chinese History

2. New status for Chinese women that was introduced 1949

• The policies of Mao’s period that aimed to improve the social status of women and reduce discrimination against women

3. Career opportunities for Chinese women in the mid-twentieth century
4. Marriage and family issues of Chinese women the mid-twentieth century

The positions of men and women were differentiated by all civilizations during the history of mankind. But in China the differentiation between men and women is more obvious comparing to other cultures.  The preference of boy children by families in China is just one of many disturbing examples of this differentiation. The conservative traditional status of Chinese meant that for thousands of years Chinese women confined themselves to their homes. This status existed till 1905, and then the first revolutionary change has happened to the women of China: education of women was allowed by the government. In 1905 government education of women was non-existent; fifteen years later over four hundred thousand girls were studying in various schools. It may sound shocking for a person of Western civilization, but before 1905, broadly speaking, none but the “oldest profession” was open to a woman; now none is closed.

Present essay is dedicated to the changing status of Chinese women in the mid-twentieth century.  It should be emphasized that the women’s social roles were significantly changed when the Communist Party came to power in China in 1949. Studies confirm that Chinese women used the opportunities provided by the industrial development of their country and became efficient employees in professions such as teaching, social work, and medicine, student activism, and politics. In addition, Chinese women have started to gain more political rights in the second half of the twentieth century. Chinese women who were so dependant for thousands of years after their release immediately found intense interest in politics.

Thesis: The significant changes in social roles and rights of Chinese women’s have started to change since 1905. Still the most substantial amendments have happened when the Communist Party came to power in China in 1949. Studies confirm that Chinese women used the opportunities suggested by the new policies and industrial development and started to actively engage themselves in professions such as teaching, social work, and medicine, student activism, and politics.

1. Traditional social roles of Chinese women

China is very interesting region for studying the history of women’s role in the development of their country and in the society.  It is known that Confucian teachings have a powerful influence over the minds of Chinese people that build their ethical norms upon these teachings. According to the Confucian teachings, the patriarchal family system is the major value and the younger sons and wives possess neither personal individuality nor personal property in the family. (Lan and Fong, 1999) The social roles defined by Confucius posed the following roles on women: daughter, sister, wife, daughter-in-law, mother, and mother-in-law. (Ayscough, 1937)

Chinese people have followed the ideas of Confucianism for centuries. These views had dominated the politics, culture, economy, religions, social life, and education of Chinese people for centuries, and clearly these values are incorporated deeply into the national character and the mechanisms of Confucianism to some extent are still could be found in every aspect of the Chinese life.

Confucianism teaches women to obey not only her father and husband but also her son. But it has to be taken into account that Confucius lived in a feudal age. Lan and Fong (1999) note that although these Confucian norms are truly important for every Chinese, they were developed and applied towards the objectives, ethics, social norms, mode of living, and political institutions of the feudal age and not towards the Chinese society of the twentieth century.  Chinese society is rather conservative and traditional, despite the fact that the history of this country has witnessed even outstanding women-rulers.  Still the majority if society believes that the women role should be defined by domestic work in the first place and only after that by her public interaction.

Consequently to the way the roles of women are divided n the family (at the lowest level of social strata), the same way the roles of women are defined in the public sphere. Simply speaking, the gendered division of labour and differentiated social roles of men and women are the major characteristics of the social life in China. Obviously, the public performances of the women in China are often been veiled. (Lan and Fong, 1999) It could be said that the social roles in China were extremely differentiated till the mid-twentieth century.  Traditionally men were perceived as the core of typical Chinese family. Often in the historical references women are referred as loyal, brave and devoted but also as the ones who are fond of intrigue, manipulation, and in addition as selfish creations.

• Chinese women’s attitude towards their traditional role and their attempts of resistance

It is a fact that the oppression creates resistance. And therefore, it’s not surprising that although the majority if women followed and obeyed the traditional social roles that were posed on them by Confucian teachings, some women of this country attempted to speak about their rights, to share their experiences by gathering together but their status and rights were officially changed only in the mid-twentieth century by the new regulations of the Communist government.

2. The changes in the social status for Chinese women

It may be a subjective opinion, but changes of the social position of Chinese women is one of the major positive results of the Communist ruling in China in twentieth century. In order to support this statement the argument of Hinton (1991) should be mentioned that the extraordinarily large majority of the Chinese people were glad about the results of China’s democratic revolution. It has transformed the very traditional imperial society values including the position of the women in Chinese society. When Communists came in into high office in 1949 they undertook the legislative initiatives that included economic, social, and political development.

The changes of the social status for Chinese women were initiated in 1905 and received the further development after 1949. The traditional status of Chinese women was first challenged in 1905. Without a doubt, it was a dramatic and extraordinary change for Chinese women because the government allowed their education. It has to be explained that till that time the education was not available for Chinese women, but fifteen years since the allowance, hundreds of thousands of women and young girls participated in the educational process. Obviously, it sounds shocking, but Chinese women had no real opportunities both in education and in profession, except of so called “oldest profession”.

But the most significant changes that influenced the social status of Chinese women took place in the mid-twentieth century when the when the Communist Party came to power in China in 1949. Industrial development and the new social principles of equality introduced by the government have led to the changes in the women’s social roles. The most common career opportunities that became available included social work, health care, education, and politics. It is not surprising that after their long time dependent position. Chinese women became very active in social life and even started participate politics.

China’s democratic revolution, coming so late in this long series, united an extraordinarily large majority of the Chinese people-men and women of all classes and all walks of life, even including large numbers of landlords-under one banner, and it won a powerful victory in 1949 both militarily and politically, by which I mean the revolutionary forces won the battles, won the war, and won the hearts and minds of the people.

Faure (2006) says that adoption of the Marriage Law in 1950 is another regulation that influenced the position of women in China, because this document claimed women are equal to men.

• New career and urban employment opportunities for Chinese women in the mid-twentieth century

Following the Communist concept, the women could achieve liberation and gender equality only through their engaging into social production. Women’s employment outside the home was one of the focuses of the Chinese Communist Party’s social policy, because in accordance to the Communist concept the employment was an important factor in the process of women’s liberation. Liberation consequently leads to the formation of the creation of the society based on genuine gender equality. (Honig and Hershatte,1998)

Perry (2003) claims that the socialist, planned economy had a powerful influence over the women employment policy in the Communist China.  It had its own positive and negative sides, advantages and disadvantages. ‘Local governments assigned each resident a permanent job either in a state or collectively owned enterprise. Once assigned, mobility was largely restricted to promotion within the work unit and a work unit was not only a production unit but also an all-encompassing welfare institution that covered employees’ health care, accident insurance and maternity leave.  Employment meant lifetime security.’ (Perry, 2003)

Actually, it became a rule for women after 1949 in the large cities of China to work.  Surprisingly, after the social changes that took place in the mid-twentieth century among the female urban population of China, the percentage of Chinese women employed was substantially higher in comparison even to Western world and developing Asian countries. But the majority of women held the subordinate positions.

Clearly, the changes in the career opportunities for Chinese women were significant and fast, although it was confirmed by a number of studies (as noted by Honig and Hershatte (1998) that the liberation was not as right as it was planned in accordance with the Marxist theory that was the basis  of the Mao’s policy. It appeared that women faced many difficulties at the stage of entering the workforce market because employers often suggested women the least-skilled and unfortunately the lowest-paying jobs. These positions were frequently suggested to women by neighbourhood-run enterprises that were able to provide fewer benefits than the state-owned companies. (Honig and Hershatte,1998)

It also appears that the policy of the encouragement of the women employment outside their homes by Chinese government wasn’t consistent. It has changed its position in 1950s -1960s during the period of urban unemployment.  The real tough economic situation and the government plans towards full female employment clearly contradicted each other and therefore a decision was made by the government to make women leave their jobs and to provide their support of the socialist construction by doing housework. Therefore, a conclusion cold be made that the claimed by the Communist government true gender equality was not achieved.  Furthermore, Chinese women managed to fulfil two vital roles, such as a primary responsibility as mother and wife and an employee.

Unfortunately many Chinese employers believed that the women are focused on family more than anything else and it results in their work incapability (comparing to men). So, this was the situation Chinese women have faced with in terms of employment opportunities and conditions till the end of 1970’s.

It could be added that the situation with women employment in 1980’s was not only the logical continuation of the workforce market trends that that developed in the previous years but also was influenced by the economic reforms implemented by the government since 1978.  1980s in China were characterised by the shifts in the economic and business functioning. For instance, previously the process of job assignment was strictly centralized and the employees had not right to choose the kind of job they wan ted to do. In addition, the private business considered illegal in China till 1978, but later the situation has substantially changed and the organisations obtained the rights to hire or fire their workers and finally the establishment of the private companies was allowed by the government.  The results of such social liberations included the range of new job opportunities for young people (and women too). It should be mentioned that other trends that characterised life in China in 1980 has influenced the role of women and its ability to earn money. The cost of living in the cities was constantly increasing at that time, so it meant that the family’s income depended on both parties’ contribution. But it should be noted too that the new tights that were given to employers were sued by them in order discriminate against women.  The specific employment fields that gladly accepted women as employees were small companies that operated in such traditional sectors as cooking, sewing, and childcare. It is known that indicated sectors are considered the purview of women. (Honig and Hershatte,1998)

2.2. Marriage and family issues in the mid-twentieth century

Before the events that happened in 1949, weddings were very festive events for Chinese people, but when the Communist party came to power, it has started to encourage the simple weddings and people were told to avoid the extravagance. The aim of such policy may be estimated as rather fair: the married couple was considered by the Communist government as the union between equal individuals, and not as the result of agreement between families that based on material benefits. State control over marriage process was arranged by the replacement of marriage ceremony by legal registration. But it has to be pointed put that the traditional considerations of Chinese people won over the government initiative and truly festive weddings continued to prevail over the official registration. Even massive state propaganda was not able to convince the population, and thus influence the situation with extravagant weddings. This tradition was revived in the late 1970’s as an important part of Cultural Revolution (which was the element of post-Mao economic reforms). But without a doubt, despite the changes introduced by Communist government, the women still weren’t free to decide whom to marry; parents still were involved in the selection of the partner and in arranging of the wedding. In addition, consumerism became a trend of post-Mao era in China, and therefore marriage was considered as an perfect opportunity for people to display the wealth and status in the community.

Conclusion

In conclusion it should be noted that the Chinese women’s performances obviously were veiled. For many years in accordance with the traditional patriarchal family model, gendered division of labor, differentiated social roles that were based on the principles of Confucianism, women in China played apparently insignificant role. The first significant change into their social functions was introduced in the beginning of the twentieth century when women obtained the right for education and employment.

But the most significant changes in social roles and rights of Chinese women’ happened when the Communist Party came to power in China in 1949. Chinese women used the opportunities suggested by the new policies and industrial development and started to actively engage themselves in professions such as teaching, social work, and medicine, student activism, and politics. But in reality many employers have certain fixed beliefs about the capabilities of Chinese women, therefore many of them worked in the sectors that are closely related to traditional women roles such as cooking, sewing, and childcare.

According to Perry (2003) housewives weren’t particularly praised ort respected in the Communist society because these women weren’t active participants in social production. Therefore housewives became increasingly a historic relic in the twentieth century China. Women’s life was closely related to the employment in the Mao era and the role of urban women has received substantial development since the mid-twentieth century. As Perry (2003) indicates ‘women’s employment enhanced their status at home since their income was vitally important to the family in the egalitarian low-income system of the Mao era’. (Perry, 2003)

Although officially women social roles have seen massive transformation, the equality claimed by Communist ideology was not achieved. Women managed to fulfil two roles at once: mother and employee. In addition is should be emphasized that despite the external influence over Chinese society by Western civilisation and the concepts that were adopted by Communist government, traditional considerations are still very strong among Chinese citizens. The development of the women social roles goes on. According to Song (2006) the equality between men and women was introduced as national policy in China in 1996, and as a result of this legislative initiative the government has held enormous training classes to publicize the policy and passed new laws such as the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women and the Infant and Maternal Care Law.  (Song, 2006) Women try to claim their rights by actively engaging in every aspect of the modern life of Chinese Society, including economics, politics, and culture.