Women
of China
The
Cultural and Religious Factors on Women
China is the most populous country
in the world and one of the most powerful. Even though China may be very
populous, its population is consisted more of boys than girls. China being
populated with more boys than girls was a big issue. So why was it that there
are more boys than girls? The reason why being so is because boys have always
had a good reputation in the Chinese culture and religion and society.
Therefore couples began to prefer sons rather than daughters.
Back in the ancient China, people studied on
the traditional Chinese cosmology. The Chinese cosmology said that the world
was composed of two complementary elements: The “yin” (the female) and the
“yang” (the male) and so that is what people believed (Kristeva). The “yin,” in
Chinese cosmology, stood for all things dark, weak and passive. As for the
“yang”, he stood for all things bright, strong and attractive. Girls were then
taught that “they were not the sun, the heaven or the lightness of day” but
instead boys were “the sun, the heaven and the lightness of day.” It was also
said that a woman’s status is “a little better than a slave’s” (Curtin).
People also believed that a woman
growing up was to pass three stages in life. The first stage was to be under
the authority of the father. Then the next stage was to be under the authority
of the husband and then the third was to be under the authority of her son when
her husband died. A woman’s role in life was to have children of boys to
preserve and pass on the family name and also find a job in the work industry.
If she did not fulfill what she was born to do (give birth to a male child),
she would be cast out of her husband’s home, shamed, and socially disliked.
This was like a dishonor to her husband’s name. Women were to be obedient,
unassuming, soft, timid, respectful, quiet and selfless. Men were to be the
opposite. They were to be strong and tough. As for women, they were also told
to tolerate criticism from her husband and “treasure proof and revere her
husband for ‘a husband, he is Heaven’” (Croll).
Girls as a Reproduction
“Female infanticide is an ancient
and still thriving practice.” Around the 1980s, village midwives were often
taught to have a bucket of water prepared when a woman went into labor. If it
turns out that the newborn was a girl, the newborn was plunged into the bucket
before she had the chance to take her first breath (McGowan).
The One-Child Policy was later
enforced in 1986. The ratio number of boy to girls became a dramatic change
even more. The preference of having a son became more of a hunger. For a couple,
having a son would be better than a daughter. A son would “support them at an
old age so that they can have a peaceful retirement,” meaning that the parents
did not have to go out and work anymore nor did they had to worry about bills. Daughters,
on the other hand, “have to be married off at great expense” (McGowan).
Therefore, sex-selection was banned
in most cities of China, but it was still possible to find a “doctor” who is
willing to do the abortion. Couples who tend to choose to have a girl as their
only child, are usually either financially independent, mad or highly
principled. Apparently, most of the people who are financially independent, mad
or highly principled, do not agree with having a girl as their only child and
so they choose to kill their daughter instead (McGowan).
Why not abortion? Abortion is costly
procedure to do, not just that but some have also complained about having to
stay and rest at home after having an abortion. So “instead of spending money
and losing income, they prefer to deliver the child and kill it” for it is the
best way/route to take. Having a son rather than a daughter is also a way to
“avoid the social embarrassment of having daughters but not son” (McGowan).
As a Son and/or Daughter of China
Parents in China are subjected to
their children for financial support later in life. Sons usually receive more
investment from their parents than daughters do and only sons are authorized to
inherit the land and the family property. In that case, children are obligated
to provide support to their parents once their parents become old and face
health problems or economic difficulties. Parents also invest in a son’s
“childhood to improve their capability to provide resources in the future”
(Lei).
Daughters, on their marriage,
receive a small dowry. After marriage,
daughters are considered now a part of their husbands’ family. And so, before
going off to get married, they are expected to start paying back their parents
before they leave the family to join their husbands’ family. To pay back, they
are expected to do everyday housework and take care of family members (Lei).
My Own Opinion
When I first learned these things
about China, it was surprising and at the same time not really. I could not
imagine China’s people actually doing what was said and behaving how they were,
as described. China has changed a lot. Though I know that there may be still
some people who would still choose to abort their child daughter just to have a
son, I hope that the all the people of China can one day understand that both
male and female children are equal in every way and that gender is just a
performance and not an actual sex.
In my culture, the boys are also a
more valued gender than the girls. With similar beliefs, as of China, sons were
believed to would support the family and preserve the family name later in life.
As for girls in my culture, they are to be home and do house work and that was
all they did. Once married, they are also considered as now a family member of
the husband’s family. Though the people of China would do anything to have male
children, as in abortion and killing their child, my people would just keep
trying until they were able to have a make child: meaning that even if it takes
as many tries as to even having seven children or maybe even twelve. Being able
to relate to this, I felt like as if I was one of those lucky girls who back in
the days was able to live. It was something really strong that I could connect
to and feel it.
So what if China did not change, imagine how
it would be like today? There maybe would a way more of a difference of the
number of boys compared to the number of girls who live in China. China would
also still be dominated by men in the country. I think that men would also be
able to do whatever it is that they want (if they dominated the country of
China) as in disrespecting women by increasing the number of rapes and abuse. And
so overall, I am glad that the way they thought has at least changed a bit. Now
the question that I have is… will there ever be one day as to where women would
be more valued than men? And that men would be dominated by women?
Citations
Croll,
Elisabeth. Changing Identities of Chinese Women: Rhetoric, Experience, and
Self Perception in Twentieth-Century China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University
Press, 1995. Print.
Lei,
Lei. "Sons, Daughters, And Intergenerational Support In China." Chinese
Sociological Review 45.3 (2013): 26-52. EBSCO MegaFILE. Web. 17 Oct.
2013.
McGowan,
J. "Little Girls Dying." Commonweal 118.14 (1991): 481. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.
Curtin, Katie. Women
in China. New York:
Pathfinder, 1975. Print.
Kristeva, Julia. About
Chinese Women. New York: Urizen,
1977. Print.
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