User:Coco0245/Chinese patriarchy

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Chinese patriarchy refers to the history and prevalence of male dominance in Chinese society and culture, although patriarchy is not exclusive to Chinese culture and exists all over the world.

Introduction
Male dominance is the unequal power in relation to men as a group over women. Although the terminology for male dominance has drastically changed internationally throughout the twentieth century, the imbalance in power between men and women has been a consistent part of Chinese patriarchy throughout the twentieth to the twenty-first century.

It has been recorded that men have held the core role in Chinese families for quite some time. Even in the earliest records of historical women they were portrayed in ways that highlighted them as merely mens problems. Although there have been strides made towards equalling men and women in China there is still a persistent imbalance of power in Chinese patriarchy.

Dynamics
Mencius outlined the three subordinations. A woman was to be subordinate to her father in youth, her husband in maturity, and her son in old age. Familial relationships are prefixed, and family lifestyles and behaviours are constrained by social norms.

Classical Context
A cliché of classical texts, which is repeated throughout the tradition, is the familiar notion that men govern the outer world, while women govern the home. In the Han dynasty, the female historian Ban Zhao wrote the Lessons for Women, advice on how women should behave. She outlines the four virtues women must abide by: proper virtue, proper speech, proper countenance, proper merit. The "three subordinations and the four virtues" is a common four-character phrase throughout the imperial period.

Historical Context
As for the historical development of Chinese patriarchy, women's status was highest in the Tang dynasty, when women played sports (polo) and were generally freer in fashion and conduct. Between the Tang and Song dynasties, a fad for little feet arose, and from the Song dynasty onwards foot binding became more and more common for the elite. In the Ming dynasty, a tradition of virtuous widowhood developed. Widows, even if widowed at a young age, would be expected not to remarry. Their virtuous names might be displayed on the arch at the entrance of the village.

Confucian conceptions of filial piety has been focused on preserving the traditional role of the father as the primary leader and decision maker of the family. In the hierarchy of traditional Chinese cultural family life, the father and sons take prominence over the mother and daughters.

Women's Body Choices
Traditional practices in Chinese patriarchy consisted for a very long period of time with women having little to no say over there body. Traditions that included foot binding and arranged marriage in modern day Chinese culture have been virtually eradicated with little to no cases of being utilized unless wished to do so by the women themselves.

There is also the issue of forced abortions in China, especially for sex selection purposes; authorities have been accused of giving the women virtually no control over their bodies in this area.

Gender Pay Gap
In recent years the educational achievements on women in China have grown exponentially. Women have not only been scoring consistently higher but have also been pursuing higher levels of education. Even with the advancements in educational equalization there still seems to be a widening gap between male and female pay in China.

History
A lot of the foundation ideology of the Chinese society is based on Confucianism. Confucianism teaches the separation of gender role, that women should be responsible for family and domestic roles, while men handles the public responsibilities, facing the outside. Confucianism teaches that domestic power is less important to the society, comparing to the power of dealing with public affairs (men's role) like political power. Since men are more capable of dealing with bigger problems, they should also be the one making family decisions. They argue that women are not worthy of taking on the family's name or property, and thus the offsprings should always inherit the father's last name. Women were considered the opposite of men, and thus the opposite of strong, being submissive and weak.

In 1912, Foot binding was outlawed. Foot binding was a reflection of Chinese patriarchy because it showed the extent women would go to be liked by men. One of the beauty standards of women was having a small feet. While food binding was painful, it made movement and labor difficult for women. Food binding reflected the patriarchy ideology that women needed to be beautiful to men, in order to have value.

In 1919, with the May Fourth Movement, criticism of Confucianism's view on women begin to surface. People began to argue the misogyny nature of the confucianism theories. The May Fourth Movement also raises some feminism centered topics including "free love", free marriage, motherhood, and fertility problems. (Note: the focus of "free love" here is different from the western definition of "free love" nowadays, it mainly focuses on free from Arranged marriage ).

Moving into the 1930s, nationalism tried to promote a non-confucianism ideology through their New Life Movement. This was not accepted by the common public. At the same time, the communist party tried to exclude the confucianism ideology and campaigned on saving families from destructions. The new family structure and ideology was named "the new democratic family". This campaign did not change the patriarchy system in families in China. Women were still the follower in families, while men were decision-makers in and out of families. This was also the time when more patriarchy- advocating policies were created.

1949 is a landmark year in China with the ascension of power to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chinese women gained suffrage right in 1949. While this marks significant changes in women's right in the political world, their rights in the families have not changed. As a matter of fact, women's political opinion were essentially a reflection of the men's political stands.

The Culture Revolution in 1960s and 1970s marks the peak of criticism on Confucianism's patriarchal views. At this time, the west started to characterize Confucianism as the foundation of the patriarchy view.

In contemporary China, men hold most of the major positions of power within the country, especially in the political and military spheres. However, with the decline of traditional practices through the 20th century, women have come to have economic power. This is especially true in the cities, where the social stigma of being a working woman is virtually nonexistent. Although skepticism of unmarried, career-minded women is increasing with women who remain unmarried past the age of 25 are shamed by state media with the label leftover women.

Role of Women in Society
Despite attempts to make the country more egalitarian under Mao, China today is still a society in which patriarchal values are deeply ingrained. Women have achieved many freedoms previous generations did not have through legal reformation such as the marriage laws, but they still face similar social stigmas and pressure surrounding issues such as marriage and family. Chinese patriarchal traditions such as arranged marriages and housewives are no longer as common as they once were, however feminists in China still believe that women are often pushed towards traditional female roles within the home by their husbands and fathers. While it is true that men still typically take on the role of the head of the house, women make up 44% of the workforce and gender roles have been reshaped over the course of the past fifty years.

Sexual Violence
The conversation around gender equality in China is now largely focused on societal issues rather than legal ones, and women's activist groups frequently speak out on social stigmas and stereotypes. Sexual violence towards women is still an issue, and celebrities who speak about it often feel they have been silenced by the state. In 2021 tennis player Peng Shuai accused former politician Zhang Gaoli of coercing her into sex on her personal Weibo account, after which she was not heard from for another two weeks. She later retracted her statement through a Chinese state media outlet, however sceptics believe that the letter may have been faked. Shen's story was the latest in a growing list of women who say they have had their voices suppressed by the Chinese media when speaking out about sexual violence.

Education
China has always placed a great priority on educating its citizens, and formal education for women is as accessible today as it is for men. The number of women attending university in China has also increased over the past ten years, with a reported 44.7% of university graduates being female in 2018. The issue of social pressure still exists in rural parts of China however, where families can often not afford to have multiple children attend higher education. In impoverished areas, boys are much more likely to attend secondary and tertiary education than girls. Furthermore it has been shown that the more siblings a girl has the less likely she is to attend higher education within China.