Division Labor between Man and Woman in Modern China - Essay Example

due: Division labor between man and woman in modern China Division of labor between men and women in China, especially in the marriage institution, is a topic that mainly revolves around how the Chinese society has been defining what roles should be assigned to each gender in the political, economic and social fields. Patriarchy has played one of the major roles in division of labor because even though there are some reforms in China so that gender equality is upheld, men continue enjoying the privileges of getting work that is considered of a high social status while women get petty jobs. This shows how gender status plays a role in labor division. The Chinese society has also forced women to give up a lot in term of their education and even acquiring wealth, so they do not make men feel inferior and for them to get a chance to be married. In a news article done by Lovell (2014), she states that the employment of women in China has dropped from 77.4% to 60.8% over the past two decades (para 4). She continues to state that a graduate female intentionally lowered her standards by dropping her employment so as to not look intimidating to suitors. That alone reveals that the division of labor especially in marriage institutions, men are supposed to dominate over their wives, and this strongly shows that gender inequality is present in labor division. In China, gender segregation plays a major factor in the division of labor between sexes whereby women are given jobs that are considered of lower standards while men get the jobs the jobs that are of a high standard. Chinese girls are brought up in situations whereby they are expected to master domestic skills at a very early age and they are expected to master household skills and when girls are brought up in such situations they limit themselves to the kind of lifestyle they grew up in making them not pursue and big careers when they are big women. They then limit themselves to become housewives and men prefer this because they get no competition from their spouses. China is among one of the countries that have been highly viewed as gender segregated, and this makes the distribution of labor roles between man and woman mainly to revolve around the limitation of a person according to their sex. Industries that have been highly viewed to have the highest numbers of gender segregation are those that dominate the economy sector such as the construction industries, social security, and social welfare just to mention but a few. The industries that have the lowest numbers of segregation are those that do not dominate the economy of China. These industries include farming, forestry, agriculture, etc. This shows that women are considered to be weak and, therefore, the jobs, and the tasks that they are expected to perform are not of high standards. This shows how the society has taken part in dictating what the roles of a man and woman should be and how women’s labor force is not that relevant. Patriarchy is also a factor that leaves women in desperate situations because men are highly considered than them, and this makes them be treated unequally. Patriarchy also dictates how women who are of a high social standard should live. This is because when a woman climbs the social ladder and becomes a person of a high profile, she is expected to lower her standards so as to not make a man feel inferior and so that she can get married. In a news report done by BBC on left over women, a psychologist, Leta Hong Fincher said that women who are financially stable and educated face a challenge of not being married. Women who are also in a marriage of unequal financial arrangement always want to walk away, but they fear if they do so they might end up being single for the rest of their lives. Women who also purchase properties together with their husbands end up giving up their rightful ownership because they fear staying single their whole life (Jamswiss 5:30-7:25). Women in China suffered under the Confucian patriarchy system, but in the Mao’s era their social status improved because they participated in the labor force. But even though they were included in the work sector, they were concentrated in the sectors that had the low wages and benefits and also had fewer career opportunities compared to men (Fan, Kanbur, Wei & Zhang 486). This shows that, even though, equal division of labor was in a way achieved, men continued enjoying a wide range of opportunities than women who were given little options that were not that suitable. In the social matters of domestic work in the family, men seem to have run away from such responsibilities and are still doing so. Women were expected to undertake the responsibility of working and also taking part in their traditional duties of being a mother. This has made women to be at unequal terms of division of work between men, because they have to be answerable to the two major tasks that they partake and this most likely affects women who live in urban areas (Zang 53). In the traditional Chinese society, boys were highly preferred than girls. This concept has disadvantaged many women because they are not only considered not of much relevance by the society. This has contributed too many women who have the potential and the right qualification to develop themselves in the field of work and career lack the ability to do so because they lack support. That is why some women give up everything they have worked for especially those who are in the marital status because they know that they will not get any support from their spouses. In the Political world, there is no equal division of labor. This concept is most likely credited by the traditional ways of the Chinese people. Women in the traditional setup did not engage in a lot of political issues in the communities. They normally engaged in normal kind of house chores while men, on the other hand, dominated the political field leaving women entirely out of decision-making. As stated in a news article by MacLeod (2013), China is still a sexist country, where the politics in China is dominated by men and women struggle to reach the highest political positions (para 2). This shows that political labor between men and women is not evenly distributed, and this makes the women be misunderstood and not to get the rightful presentation. The effectiveness of labor force offered by women is also declines because many women are subjected to domestic violence. The sad thing is that China law has an inadequacy law against gender violence, and women who report such incidences are viewed as people who are diminishing the family. This makes the women not to be effective, leading to unequal labor division because women are made to feel inferior. The number of women in China’s workforce since 1990 has been dropping. In 1995 the women comprised about 38.6% of the workforce in China but later on as the years proceed it reduced to 37.6% in 2008, therefore, there has been an increase in the lack of jobs amongst women (Cooke 216). In conclusion, the division of labor in modern China still has its short comings. This is mainly credited by the fact that The Chinese society is still in the era of patriarchy and male chauvinism, and the situation is not getting any better. This is because instead of the society appreciating how the woman is progressing and accepting that she can also be of the same qualification as a many in many fields, it is suppressing her and her abilities. The family is also not taking the responsibility of supporting the daughter, especially the fathers who would rather support their sons rather than daughters. Division of labor is, therefore, a matter of gender inequality in the Chinese society which should be rectified by the government so that there can be equality amongst both genders. Works cited Cooke, Fang Lee. Human resource management in China: New trends and practices. Routledge, 2013. Fan, Shenggen, S M. R. Kanbur, Shang-Jin Wei, and Xiaobo Zhang. The Oxford Companion to the Economics of China. , 2014. Print Jamswiss BBC World News: Chinas "Leftover Women with Leta Hong Fincher. YouTube. YouTube, 17 Apr. 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A63_RopBEQ Lovell, Julia. Leftover women gender inequality China. 5 June 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/50/leftover/women-gender-inequality-china. MacLeod, Calum. Chinas Women Struggle to Breach Male-heavy Politics. USA Today. Gannett, 11 Mar. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. .http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/03/11/china-politics/1972109/ Zang, Xiaowei, ed. Understanding Chinese Society. Routledge, 2012. Read More