I realize that much of what I've written so far about gender has been in the abstract, urban, or American contexts, and I've written little if any on that topic in China. So, with the huge caveat that I am an even newer student of gender issues in China than of any other place---apologies in advance for all the cliches---I'll use this post to do just that.
In line with my earlier post on the role of women in 'traditional' agrarian societies, Confucianism, which exerts a huge cultural influence on Chinese society, has something to say about this. To the newly initiated, Confucianism is a socio-religious way of organizing society based around the sayings and philosophies of Kongzi, a 6th Century BC scholar. As I learned at the Confucious Temple and Museum in Beijing, his basic frame of reference was a series of responsibility based relationships: hence the notion of filial piety (where a child ought to be really respectful to hir parents) and the Mandate of Heaven (which says that if the governed no longer feel that the governing are doing so appropriately, the former have the right to overthrow the latter). On women, Kongzi spoke of "three obediences and four virtues." The first are submission to father before marriage, the husband after marriage, and sons after the husband's death. Virtues are propriety in behavior, demeanor, speech, and employment. These were meant to be reciprocal to mens' roles, but as you can guess, it was pretty hierarchical.
In practice, women in China were traditionally quite objectified---Chinese author Hua Yu makes a reference to Henrik Ibsen's "Doll" in The Doll House as a metaphor for this. Hence we see former practices like the binding of women's feet to make them more attractive, girls being made to marry early, very few women in roles of power, etc.
Along came Mao Tsetung, leader of a 1949 Proletariat Revolution, who famously said that "Women Hold up Half the Sky." Foot binding was outlawed, and women were said to have an equally important in the people's revolution, contributing to the workforce and marrying at their choosing. Weathered, hardworking women were pictured in communist propaganda, in contrast with the pampered, sexualized and objectified "doll" image of early 20th century Qing Dynasty and Republican China. This desexualization and utilitarianism of women might not have been ideal, either, as it was still an imposition of one party's (the Communist Party's) values over all women.
The invasiveness of the state set its biggest precedent in 1979, when the government entered womens' wombs with its 'one child' policy. Though its initial intensity was minimized after local protests, the policy limits the number of children a family can have to one, in an effort to limit population growth---families would have to pay large fees if they had additional children. This was more strictly enforced in rural areas, where local officials had to meet strict population quota targets in order to gain promotions, often resulting in draconian effects like forced sterilization.
Families, meanwhile, tried to "game" the policy by getting sonograms to determine the sex of a fetus and aborting the girls. (Female infanticide was only a little less common). The coming generation, as a result, has had some very skewed gender ratios, with whole villages of male majorities. Some say that by 2020, 30 million men may not be able to find spouses due to numbers alone.
Urbanization has changed the dynamic quite a bit. As I'd written in my earlier post about cities and gender, urban spaces have been more kind to women owing to the type of economies and employment therein, more liberal attitudes, and other factors. Urban women have been just as competitive as men in university placement, manufacturing work, services, and business. And in an extremely unscientific survey of foreigners in Chinese cities---chatting with a dozen or two friends and acquaintances---women in their 20s and 30s lso appear to be more comfortable speaking English, interacting with and learning from foreigners, and interested in what happens abroad. Chinese women are visible in media and to a lesser extent, business and corporate culture. Government bureaucracies, however, remain old boys' clubs (more on that later).
Mass movements and ideologies ("isms") not directed by the state have been taboo in post-revolutionary China, where the only "doctrines" (zhuyi) were Maoist, or later state-led and nationalistic. As a result, I've been hard-pressed to learn much about any "feminism" or feminist "movements" anywhere in China. But as always, some interesting meetings and conversations coming up, so hopefully some of that void will be filled.
In line with my earlier post on the role of women in 'traditional' agrarian societies, Confucianism, which exerts a huge cultural influence on Chinese society, has something to say about this. To the newly initiated, Confucianism is a socio-religious way of organizing society based around the sayings and philosophies of Kongzi, a 6th Century BC scholar. As I learned at the Confucious Temple and Museum in Beijing, his basic frame of reference was a series of responsibility based relationships: hence the notion of filial piety (where a child ought to be really respectful to hir parents) and the Mandate of Heaven (which says that if the governed no longer feel that the governing are doing so appropriately, the former have the right to overthrow the latter). On women, Kongzi spoke of "three obediences and four virtues." The first are submission to father before marriage, the husband after marriage, and sons after the husband's death. Virtues are propriety in behavior, demeanor, speech, and employment. These were meant to be reciprocal to mens' roles, but as you can guess, it was pretty hierarchical.
In practice, women in China were traditionally quite objectified---Chinese author Hua Yu makes a reference to Henrik Ibsen's "Doll" in The Doll House as a metaphor for this. Hence we see former practices like the binding of women's feet to make them more attractive, girls being made to marry early, very few women in roles of power, etc.
Along came Mao Tsetung, leader of a 1949 Proletariat Revolution, who famously said that "Women Hold up Half the Sky." Foot binding was outlawed, and women were said to have an equally important in the people's revolution, contributing to the workforce and marrying at their choosing. Weathered, hardworking women were pictured in communist propaganda, in contrast with the pampered, sexualized and objectified "doll" image of early 20th century Qing Dynasty and Republican China. This desexualization and utilitarianism of women might not have been ideal, either, as it was still an imposition of one party's (the Communist Party's) values over all women.
The invasiveness of the state set its biggest precedent in 1979, when the government entered womens' wombs with its 'one child' policy. Though its initial intensity was minimized after local protests, the policy limits the number of children a family can have to one, in an effort to limit population growth---families would have to pay large fees if they had additional children. This was more strictly enforced in rural areas, where local officials had to meet strict population quota targets in order to gain promotions, often resulting in draconian effects like forced sterilization.
Families, meanwhile, tried to "game" the policy by getting sonograms to determine the sex of a fetus and aborting the girls. (Female infanticide was only a little less common). The coming generation, as a result, has had some very skewed gender ratios, with whole villages of male majorities. Some say that by 2020, 30 million men may not be able to find spouses due to numbers alone.
Urbanization has changed the dynamic quite a bit. As I'd written in my earlier post about cities and gender, urban spaces have been more kind to women owing to the type of economies and employment therein, more liberal attitudes, and other factors. Urban women have been just as competitive as men in university placement, manufacturing work, services, and business. And in an extremely unscientific survey of foreigners in Chinese cities---chatting with a dozen or two friends and acquaintances---women in their 20s and 30s lso appear to be more comfortable speaking English, interacting with and learning from foreigners, and interested in what happens abroad. Chinese women are visible in media and to a lesser extent, business and corporate culture. Government bureaucracies, however, remain old boys' clubs (more on that later).
Mass movements and ideologies ("isms") not directed by the state have been taboo in post-revolutionary China, where the only "doctrines" (zhuyi) were Maoist, or later state-led and nationalistic. As a result, I've been hard-pressed to learn much about any "feminism" or feminist "movements" anywhere in China. But as always, some interesting meetings and conversations coming up, so hopefully some of that void will be filled.
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