Struggle of the Chinese Woman in the 20th Century - Essay Example

Struggle of the Chinese Woman in the 20th Century Presented Struggle of the Chinese Woman in the 20th Century China is a country that best portrays transformations over a series of stages shaped by political, social, and sometimes economical factors. An important factor that has contributed to transformation in China is international pressure and influence from external worlds especially from the western countries. These transformations particularly impacted the Chinese women; their roles and standing in the society were transformed along the political, social, and economic lines. For example, China in changing to a communist society, women embraced new roles and were transformed from being men servants to fully pledged independent workers. Women even later became soldiers for the new communist state. Chang’s novel wild Swans best exemplifies the different roles played by three important women generations as represented by her grandmother, Yu Fang, her motel Bao-Qin, and herself as Jang Chang. The different women clearly bring out the different roles of women in three different generations. In this paper, I will argue that in the three different Chinese historical contexts, the Chinese Confucian society relegated women to lower levels of economic opportunities, while they were used as tools of exploitation by men, However, this perception changed with continued entry of foreign powers and elements in China, weakening the earlier Confucian society, by challenging the Confucian principles that resulted to a much patriarchal society model. Confucian in this context will be taken to be strong correctness of social relationships, governmental, and personal morality as well as increased justice and sincerity in the society; these had much emphasis on ancestral worship, family loyalty, respect for elders, and increased loyalty of wives to husbands. Almost a century ago, A Chinese famous feminist Zhen wrote several critical essays regarding the contemporary world in China. These essays were related to the totality of all social relationships in china, mostly linked to the role of the woman in the society at that time.1 Zhen concerns were more focused on how a woman as a trans-historical global category was treated in unequal social relations in social and labor practices, rituals, laws scholarships among others. The idea of the talented woman in China was thus actively dismantled by both men and women who found the family and social role of such a woman to involve a lack of public engagement with undesirable social values, which could pervert the otherwise rigid cultural society.2 The new talented woman was thus criticized by the society and dismissed in all aspects in her urge to improve their skills in various fields; the society did not prefer such women, resulting to increased internal reactions against the ways in which the elite woman had fashioned themselves in socially practical terms.3 Such description presents the vivid ideas presented by Chang regarding the role of women at the beginning of the 20th century to portray an oppressive society that had no chance for woman. For example, Chung’s grandmother was a concubine of a warlord general when china was in Chaos.4 Being a concubine of a general was perhaps for security reasons both politically and economically and portrayed women to be relegated to a class that could not make any independent decision, but had to dance to the man’s wishes. This is in contrast to her great grandfather, who was the only son, making him to be of supreme importance in his family socially. The son was taken as the only way a family name could be perpetuated, without which a family name had to perish, which was betrayal to the ancestors.5 Chung further elaborates that males at that time brought money and money brought power as without the two, no Chinese could feel safe in a place where injustices and fear were the order of the day. Thus, to escape such fear and injustices, one had to be associated with a mandarin. This explains the fact that Jung’s grandmother was forced to be a concubine to the general who could provide both security, injustices and offer the protection required from such unjust society. A woman was thus expected to play fiddle to a man of substance who could ensure both justice and protection. As the society did not take regard for a woman, her grandmother was not taken to any school though her great grandfather had been taken to a fine school way before. However, the aspects of talented and hardworking women despite their relegation to the background still appeared in this context. The women as Jung explains used to sew for local tailors and dressmakers; they had to do work till late at night to save a little money unitll their eyes could be damaged and their fingers ached. 6To add to the male superiority complex, Jung’s great grandfather was married very young at fourteen to woman who was six years his senior in a role of woman that was expected to help in bringing up her husband.7 As Karl indicates, though the women were not literate, they continued to struggle hard to gain financial freedom that could have guaranteed them power in the society.8 However, their low earning and dismal jobs dumped their spirits infighting the contemporary society’s perceptions regarding a woman. Many of them though trying hard ended up with many defects resulting from hard labor to improve their economic situations. Education was thus the only channel through which these women could have challenged the contemporary society. Karl further notes that the internal reaction in Chinese society in this period was led by the literate and talented women from noble families who had retained both political and social power by being economically strong, and establishing strong bureaucratic success ties.9 Thus the uneducated woman was relegated to the social cultures of looking after their husbands, as Chung’s great grandfather was married too early before he realized the importance of a marriage, in a ritual that was understood to contribute to the well upbringing of a man. A man was thus an important symbol in the society, with the women only playing a supporting role in the man’s life. Falling in love was shameful and marriage was not as a result of consent between two people, but an agreement signed between two parents or adults even way before a child is born. These cultural beliefs that deemed any women in the early Chinese society to flourish economically, or socially, particularly in poor backgrounds, which had no money or power; these were instrumental in the society at this time. However, her grandmother was born in a period which marked the beginning of transformations from the earlier strong and crude cultural practices such as feet binding that treated women as objects to please men in marriages, and she even had to go to school in a transformation initialized women enlightenment in the early 1900.10 From 1900 China was under a lot of foreign influence, which dominated large parts of the country as the country had lost much ground from the past wars, and especially the opium wars and the China-Japan war of between 1894 and 1895. In addition, the period was marked by numerous numbers of Christian missionaries entering mainlined Chine with much influence both in rural and in urban areas. This time involved transformations in the society as more foreign powers had interests in China thus influencing the Chinese people. These transformations were portrayed in missionary schools where the girl child in contrast to the earlier society was able to attend schooling. Jung’s grandmother was thus enrolled in a school and learned many skills including playing Chinese chess and design.11 This was characteristic of a reforming society, noting that her father ignored the wisdom of the time that a lower class woman was better illiterate.12 Thus the missionary school was more probably the place of her schooling implying the entry of numerous missionaries in china in this period, was instrumental in reforming the society by offer the girl child a chance to attend formal learning similar to the boy child. The transformation was thus accelerated as marriages though still arranged by adults were made a bit formal, where a respectable woman, meaning a learned woman could not be introduced to strange suitors to avoid lowering their prices; the value of women was slowly being realized and were henceforth viewed with respect due to the influence of education.13 Thus, in order to promote education, the social related women’s literacy was perceived as both a public and a family good, where the level and content of education for women was shifted from the local boudoirs to classrooms.14 In addition, after the collapse of Qing dynasty in 1912 the Chinese women advocacy towards achieving their rights such as being included in voting rights suffered a blow. There was henceforth no central government nor agreed election procedures, but the women continued to express the urge to be included not only in the voting rights, but also in constitutional duties as being recognized as a person and a citizen as well as confronting and withstanding any form of verbal, visceral and violent opposition.15 The newly enlightened class of women thus persisted in the pursuit for both opportunities and political involvement. In addition, some of the rituals that were oppressive and discriminatory to the women were later abolished by the 1949 communist revolution. These included the foot binding and arranged marriages practices, but girls especially in rural areas continued to suffer from unequal treatment.16 Chung’s mother was brought up and went to schooling when the country was under much influence from missionaries and foreign powers, and a time of prosperity, which followed the fall of Qing dynasty that had ensured prosperity in the country. The presence of foreign powers also initiated numerous movements that were initiated by elite women with a bid to improve the status of women in the society. The May Fourth Feminist Movement between 1910s and 1920s viewed women’s lack of education and rituals such as bundled feet to be among the factors contributing to China’s slow achievement of a strong and prosperous future, where even males were involved in this movement.17 Women rights were further improved after the 1949 revolution when the new government of the People’s Republic of China guaranteed the equality of both men and women by uplifting the woman’s status in the society. In this period, women were involved in political, social, and other economic involvements, and though males still enjoyed more privileges, the period marked a transformation period from the earlier perception of women in the society, to a more accommodating society that recognized women. Thus Chang’s mother marked a steep transition from the era of Chang’s grandmother to a modernized era which Chang had later to enjoy. Being a wife to a government official, her mother enjoyed much of these rights due to numerous advocacy groups. Her age of 18years during the communist revolution of 1949 well corresponded to the rules passed by the new communist government that marriage had to be by consent and for those over 18 years.18 Her mother was therefore able for the first time to marry based on consent and love, a move that was not considered appropriate in the age of her grandmother, and was even married to an elite government official, implying she enjoyed much of the privileges accorded to a government official and not the discrimination that her grandmother suffered. Jung’s birth in 1952 marked another new age of modernization and increased advocacy in women‘s rights. However, the period was marked by serious conflicts and turbulence in the political scenes in China. From the 1950s, the status of women was drastically improved through continued advocacy by many organizations, which were set up under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). For example, in the Chinese revolution of 1949, the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF) was formed as a party organ organization to move women towards the policies and programs of CCP. The organization though heavily politicized provided a new focus on gender issues in China; it advocated for employment of women and labor equity in China, and closely worked with academic women’s studies centers as well as being the official link to the Committee of the Status of Women to government programs and donors. This organization was responsible for linking women to donors and gender development programs on issues regarding women’s rights.19 Jung was thus born in a period when women rights advocacy on the international platform were on a higher level for the first time implying Chang and her mother enjoyed much of women rights that were never enjoyed by her grandmother. The family life was more moderated as the government initiated campaigns to advocate the importance of a harmonious family life, in response to widespread divorce rates that followed enactment of the Marriage Law.20 The divorce rates were a manifestation of women trying to claim their space to make decisions and enjoy their freedoms in man dominated world. The 1958 Great Leap Forwards Movement was perhaps the most instrumental in advocating the contribution of women in employment cycles. The government launched massive campaigns to speed up economic developments in industry and technology.21 Women were pressured to join the labor force with massive numbers of women for the first time enjoying much support from government to engage in meaningful and gainful employment. The role of a woman as a household worker was thus largely transformed with new centers to replace these roles. These included cafeterias, nurseries, and kindergartens mushrooming in various places and were staffed by women. In addition to freeing women from domestic jobs, this period saw many women in entrepreneurial activities as they came up with initiatives such as nurseries and cafeterias to solve the problem left by the large numbers of women taking up gainful employment in demanding jobs. However, despite the major developments in this period, women were still humiliated by the government in those efforts to pursue their careers that did not go well with interests of the communist regime. For example, Chung as a young writer ready to develop her potentials and discover the world of intellects was faced with a harsh reality of limitations to the freedoms enjoyed in China. Mao’s tyranny particularly was not ready to offer any chance for writers who were viewed as dissidents of the political regime for criticizing its ills. For example, between 1966 and 1967 Mao carried out great purge that was remarked the great Cultural revolution ,where her father was forced to burn his beloved collections of writings, even writing for oneself was considered to be a blaspheme to the regime.22 In addition, women took the roles that were considered men’s roles for the first time as Chang worked as an electrician and a peasant, though these jobs illustrated the frustrations of women as they could not venture into their areas of interests due to strong control by the communist regime. However, after moving to Brittan with her mother, there were more freedoms in China in 1978. After Mao’s death, more women were offered scholarships to study abroad on academic and not political grounds. This stage marked the final transformation of the current Chinese state into modernization, where the country made great steps towards observing the women’s right to be in tandem with the rest of the global world. The modernity that Chang realized on her visit to London which was marked by: a free society that offered no restrictions based on classes, while the Mao regime that she was used to treated everyone according to class and family background that was later to determine one’s career.23 The modern society treated people with dignity and did not segregate according to class or gender. This may be compared to the dream of Chinese women, a country that from the 80s greatly relaxed the control it had on people’s lives as it moved to a market based society where government responded to services and resounded to an increased expectations in human rights through NGOs and political life were still being controlled by the regime.24 The 80’s government relaxation on control and increased human rights advocacy based on international bodies led to massive gains in woven empowerment. For example, currently China has more than 70% women literacy levels, with the poor areas having more than 50% literacy levels, which is a commendable rate compared to developing countries. The fact that Chung can exercise her freedom to write, more women have rights to pursue their careers and dreams in virtually any sector, with the current society having embraced and accepted these changes. The fact that China has made major transformations towards a globalized market implies that much of the changes in women empowerment in China in the 20th century have been driven by effects of foreign powers and the need to have a global market, which requires a country to open up and integrate her policies to accord to international policies and programs. These foreign peers included the various missionaries and foreigners in early 20th century, and after Mao’s death in 1976. In addition, local NGOs in China were mainly controlled by foreign NGOs in their struggles towards women rights and were later to be integrated in similar organizations under UN. Therefore, much of the changes in women rights in China resulted from education impacted to the locals by missionaries, the presence of foreigners in the country, and foreign activism bodies that strengthened the local women rights activism efforts. In addition was the need to open up to the outer world particularly in a globalized economy, where China had to follow suit in integrating with other countries. These were all foreign powers with direct effects on China. References Chang, J, (1991). Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, NY: Touchstone Rockefeller Center Karl, R.E., (2011). Thematic Review: The State of Chinese Women’s History. Gender & History, 23(2); 430-441. Kaufman J., (2012). The Global Women’s movement and Chinese Women’s Rights. Journal of Contemporary China, 21(76), 585-602 Li, Y.L., 2001. ‘Womens Movement and Change of Womens Status in China Journal of International Women’s Studies, Read More