by Joan Inong

Created on: September 22, 2008

Today women have an almost-equal footing in a man's world. Women have the right to vote, women are running for various government offices (including the presidency), and women are not culturally or socially bound to males. However, women's rights in ancient China were virtually non-existent. Females were suppressed because they were deemed less useful or valuable than males. Essentially, this viewpoint was not created in the space of a few years. It is really part of China's ancient social foundations.

In modern times women can wear or dress however they like. It is generally agreed that being able to choose how one appears, whether privately or publicly, is part of a person's rights. On the other hand, ancient Chinese women were socially pressured, even forced, to bind their feet because men believed that it was more attractive. Not only does this reason seem preposterous, but the binding of the feet was also socially important. A daughter whose feet has been bound since the age of two or three is more likely to marry a wealthy man (who would have also believed in this cultural phenomenon). The woman did not have a choice as to whether or not she wanted her feet bound. If her family tells her to do it, she has to do it in fear of shaming her family. Feet binding only became illegal in China in the early 1900s.

Women were also not allowed to learn academics as boys were allowed; this is an excellent parallel to the western hemisphere's early treatment of females: they were not allowed to learn academically but instead were forced to stay at home to learn domestic duties such as weaving, taking care of the children, cleaning, etc.

Ancient China also protected the male from acquiring a sort of bad reputation regarding marriage. For instance, men could marry and still keep concubines. In fact, most of the time men were encouraged to sleep around because this kept him happy. Of course, women did not have a say in any of this; most of the time, they took the pain and lived with it, even while watching their husbands have children with various other women.

While today divorce is quite common, ancient China prohibited divorce in many cases, especially if women were the first to ask about obtaining one. It was deemed shameful for her and her family. If a woman was divorced by her husband, she was considered to have brought shame upon the family and herself, and these women tend to live secluded lives, lacking friends and even family.

Women's rights in modern China may have gained some footing over the past couple of centuries, but cultural and social foundations that have existed for thousands of years is difficult to remedy in just a few decades. Therefore, it is only safe to say that China is in a transition period.

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