How has Confucianism affected gender equality through social relationships in modern day China?
Confucianism placed their footprint on China during the times of the Qin dynasty, and along with it, this religion has stunted the growth of gender equality, leaving women fighting for their rights. Usually, one wouldn’t think that Confucianism plays any part in the social relationships of China, and how they affect gender equality, but it in fact does. In social relationships such as the education of children in China, the workplaces, and even the homes of China, Confucianism has restricted women from flourishing because of the underlying belief that women are secondary to men.
For hundreds of years, girls and women in China never got the chance to an education because of the Confucian belief that males are more valued than females, which therefore leads to the thought that women shouldn’t work. According to www.womeninworldhistory.com, –“Confucianism was adopted as the government's state doctrine, with his thoughts becoming part of official education.”(Women) This not only indoctrinates females into thinking that they’re lesser than men, but also makes them believe that they don’t have a right to an education. Confucian roots are based in this piece of evidence because, women were often like maids, and were at the bottom of the food chain. In addition, the World Bank also states that because of the global financial crisis, essentially, Confucian beliefs will come back to haunt the Chinese, and instead of pulling boys out of school to save money, they will pull the girls out, since the man is the one who is supposed to provide for his family. (Women in) Although the Chinese have been working to solve the issue of gender inequality, they still have a long way to go. A way they could improve this is, is by listening to the new UNICEF report that says, “eliminating gender discrimination and empowering women will have a profound and positive impact on the survival and well-being of children.”(Rycroft) By increasing the ratio of females to males that attend school, China could greatly change the situation of gender inequality in schools, as well as also improving their economy and even banishing the Confucian beliefs in the homes of the Chinese.
Probably one of the most negatively Confucian affected areas of China, are the homes of the Chinese. An example of how valued women were at that time is, “”Woman’s greatest duty is to produce a son””. (Women) Women were thought of simply as a vessel to carry a child, and afterwards they were sentenced to hard labor and a demeaning, worthless life. Secondly, “In history, Chinese women had been in a humble status and required to obey men -- from their fathers, husbands to sons - in a strict hierarchy.”(Jianyang) This is the effect of Confucianism to modern day China since there is still evidence that this is still being practiced. Finally, Chinese women were expected to be, “never thirsty, never hungry, never sleepy, never tired, and never has to go to the toilet.”(Sanna) As you can see, the Chinese viewpoint of women were very unrealistic, and often times, Chinese women didn’t even want to live. The discrimination against women (with help from Confucius) started in the homes, and eventually transgressed to the Chinese workplace where various types of discriminations flourished through the subconscious state of everyone involved.
The current workplaces of China are in a wreck because of the global financial crisis, but also because of the current inequality between females. An example of this is, that according to Chinese regulations, “women have to retire 5 years earlier than that of men”(Jianyang) This is a ludicrous rule because if a woman is fit to work, they shouldn’t have an age limit to retire. Another reason why the workplaces of China are being discriminative is, “11.2 percent said they lost their jobs for having babies,”(Jianyang). This is discrimination because female workers should be allowed to get maternity leave instead of having to loose their jobs, and in the end, not being able to support their baby. Finally, “statistics indicate there were 337 million female employees in China by the end of 2004, accounting for 44.8 percent of the total workforce.”(Tingting). This isn’t right because, the percentage of total women and men working in China should be an equal distribution.
Finally, although Confucianism has ridden many women of their chance to a better life, China has shown steps to move forward in removing the gender inequality based barriers. For example, the percentage of females who work in the Chinese workplace is slowly increasing, and it won’t be long since it’s an even distribution of genders in the Chinese workplace. Central beliefs always influence a main power, and Confucianism affected the Chinese government by increasing it’s power as one of the most influential countries in the world, but hopefully one of these days, they’ll be a global representative of how women are treated equally to men.
*An Asian Studies project I did earlier this year.
Priyasha M.™
Thanks for the review.
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