Lives of Traditional Chinese Women - History Essay Sample

In a typical traditional Chinese family setting, men have always been considered to be the center of the family while women always took the backstage. The women in traditional China had defined and pre-determined roles that revolved around house chores, bearing children (preferably sons) and tending to the farms and gardens. Beauty was never a determining factor when it came to the choice of a wife by the Chinese men. All that was considered was the "femininity" of a potential wife. For years, this has been the usual way of life for the Chinese women, which has grown over time to become part of the Chinese culture (Oliver, 1971).

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Traditionally, the Chinese women were perceived as good only when it came to doing the general house chores and tending farms. The men, on the other hand, were tasked with duties which were seen as being more important and required use of intelligence or strength. Some of the chores that the Chinese women engaged in included ensuring that the children were always clean, serving their husbands drinks, going to the market, preparing meals for their families, weeding, fetching, water, weeding among others. In the traditional setting, men were only seen working with women during the planting and harvesting seasons, but after that, women would assume all of the other responsibilities like winnowing the grains and separating the grains from the pods. Women were not allowed to engage in economically viable opportunities that had financial rewards, unlike men whose primary aim was to fend for the family and so were considered the right people to participate in such activities (Schwartz, 2009).

The Chinese women were never educated. The general perception was that there was no need of educating a woman only for her to sit at home doing nothing meaningful with the education. The only form of education that the Chinese women went through was a ritual (considered as training) that was conducted before them getting married. Only girls who were deemed to have attained the "eligible" age of 15 and were engaged and those who were not engaged but had reached the age of 20 were allowed to be part of the ritual. The girls during the period of the rituals would pass through a series of pre-marital teachings where they would be taught to be obedient, self-disciplined, and to respect their husbands. This was the period where they would be taught how to gain the approval and respect of the in-laws, especially the father and the mother-in-law (Oliver, 1971).

The ancient Chinese women were taught how to behave while in public which included their speech and dressing as part of what defined a virtuous woman in traditional China. To bring out the importance of the tutelage, they would always be conducted in worship houses or ancestral temples for three months by a highly experienced tutor. After marriage education was also carried out on women, who were newly married or had been in a marriage for a sometime. According to the Chinese patrilineal and patriarchal cultures, women were supposed to leave their homes and go to their adopted families. These married women were taught how to blend into their adopted families and how to gain appreciation and respect from their husbands. (Peerenboom, 1995).

With regards to family relationships, women were only considered as daughters, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law. There were three rules and four virtues that they were mandated to follow and uphold. There were three obedience-based rules that they had to follow which included obedience to their fathers before marriage, obeying their husbands during the marriage, and obeying their sons when their husbands were no more. They were not allowed to voice their opinions and were expected to always submit to their fathers, husbands, and sons. Chinese women were never allowed to choose their husbands. The responsibility of scouting for a spouse was left to be handled by matchmakers who were often the parents of the girl. After marriage, women were expected to give birth to boys. In fact, the importance of a lady was seen through the sons they bore while the unlucky ones who bore daughters were considered not good enough. Sons were treated as gifts, and whenever they were born, the whole village would be filled with ululations and celebrations. As for the daughters, their birth signaled the beginning of trouble, both for them and their mothers. Girls during ancient China used to have their feet bound so that they would be crippled from running. This made women be regarded only as properties and would be transferred from their fathers to their husbands and mothers-in-law as a way of getting rid of them (Peerenboom, 1995).

Ancient Chinese women were also not allowed to participate in religious matters. Their husbands never allowed them to visit the temples and other holy places as it was seen as going against the Confucianism norms and ways. They only helped out during the preparation of major religious ceremonies but had no permission to attend (Schwartz, 2009).

Though these practices have come to disappear with time and the Chinese women have gradually managed to gain their place in the society, it has not been an easy journey. With no importance attached to them in the communities in which they lived, only being viewed as tools of pleasure, procreation, and work, Chinese women have had to grapple with a lot of struggles and opposition. Nonetheless, through education, these women have managed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they are worthy of undertaking any responsibility bestowed upon them, just as worthy as men or maybe even more (Schwartz, 2009).

Feminist theory perspective: the life of a typical traditional Chinese woman can well be analyzed from the feminist theory perspective. This is because the place that was traditionally defined for women is considered to exhibit the highest level of gender inequality according to the feminist theory. The Chinese traditions clearly seemed to value the boy child more than the value they put on the girls. Women were ever sidelined only proving useful when the task at hand amounted to nothing short of house chores and farm duties. For instance, in 1949, the illiteracy level among the Chinese women was at the 90% mark, a clear indication that not much emphasis was put on the importance of having educated girls and women in the Chinese community. The feminist theory, therefore, finds a direct application to the analysis of the plight of the traditional Chinese women at an age when gender inequality based on social and cultural roles was the order of the day (Sands & Nuccio, 1992).

References

Oliver, R. T. (1971). Communication and culture in ancient India and China.

Peerenboom, R. P. (1995). Law and morality in ancient China: The silk manuscripts of Huang-Lao (No. 145). SUNY Press.

Sands, R. G., & Nuccio, K. (1992). Postmodern feminist theory and social work. Social work, 37(6), 489-494.

Schwartz, B. I. (2009). The world of thought in ancient China. Harvard University Press.