Photo: manyverse

The topic of feminism is one that faces almost all societies, not least of all China. This blog is one Chinese woman’s opinion and explores the idea that feminism hasn’t, and never did have any place in Chinese culture.

Male and female equality is something we’ve been hearing for a long time now, so much so that Chinese people are getting sick of hearing about it. Of course, the ‘place of women in Chinese society’ will always be a controversial topic and one that is often brought up for discussion. Especially at around the time of the Twin Sessions meeting (see: Hu, What, Where, Wen – a Quick Guide to the NPC & CPPCC) lots of women representatives raise the question of how to effectively increase the status of women.

But is the level of Chinese women in society, at the end of the day, high or low? This is the key question that has surrounded debates on feminism in China.

Women would say: Modern women can never catch up with the level of men, especially professionally. The gap will never be closed.

Men would say: Women don’t have a low status! The wife looks after all the money, if she says jump, I jump. How can you say women don’t have status?!

Needless to say lots has been said on both sides of the fence. However, recently published figures show that in China almost 80% of Chinese women control the family finances. With this public opinion trumpeted that the status of women in China is reaching new heights and even surpassing that of men!

This is a complete distortion of the place women hold in society! To say that this proves that women have a higher place in society is to apply too simple a logic to the argument. They are completely missing the point that even back in ancient times when women where like slaves, it was often a woman’s job to handle the household finances. Indeed, a man married his wife just so she could take care of day to day things like running the house.

Photo: daylife.com

Indeed, there are many men who see dealing with domestic finances to be a ‘girly’ and emasculating task. The man brings home the bacon and leaves ‘her in doors’ to sort out domestic affairs. So for women to be doing this is just a continuation of tradition, nothing new.

What should be noted is that a woman’s status at home and her status in society are two very different things.

These two statuses should never be confused. For many women at home their word is law, with the husband as well as children following her instructions to the letter. But as soon as the woman gets out into society in a wider context she looses much of her power and influence. It is common for women to replay this feeling of lack of power outside the home with power inside.

In actual fact, the position of Chinese women in society has improved since the founding of the PRC. With the passing of time, so the distance between the two sexes has decreased. Before China was a classic agricultural society with a man’s power and a woman’s lack of physical strength creating a natural imbalance. With new technologies come new jobs that allow women more equality, however at a certain point one reaches saturation and the gap cannot be made any narrower, this is because men and women are basically not equal.

Photo: mca.org.my

Male and female inequality is the natural order of things.

This is not simply some poisonous leftovers of China’s feudal past, but the laws of nature. Even in another few hundred years, there will be no more equality than there is now. Women are built differently, they give birth, are designed to feed children and age quicker than men. This is a biological rather than political question. As soon as men have periods and give birth the same as women, the sooner we can then talk about equality of the sexes.

As far as things like matriarchal societies are concerned these things are oddities and come about in non-agricultural societies. For women, asking to be equal to men is pointless, the main thing is just to make sure that you gain personal development and good quality of life. What China needs is a fair balance between the sexes, with both men and women doing what they do best and supporting each other, without either being taken advantage of in any respect.

Some netizen comments to this blog:

1. What do you mean by equal? What about in the work place and salary? I earn RMB 900 a month and my female boss makes RMB 180,000 a year, men and women aren’t equal!
2. Look into it a bit more, ok, men don’t have periods but we they wet dreams. Plus, other societies even now are matriarchal, like some in Northern Europe. Equality between the sexes is something we should be fighting for!
3. Equality between the sexes is in law, not in terms of society, in which case it will never happen as we are biologically too different.
4. Women are getting more and more dangerous the more power they get, give them an inch and they take a mile! Society is changing beyond balanced, just look at the state of marriage now.
5. I agree, China needs balance not equality between the sexes. Women just weren’t built to act like men and shouldn’t be expected to do so.

Do you agree with the author’s point that men and women can never be equal, just well balanced? Let us know your comments on Chinese women.
See the article in its original form at Su Qin’s Personal Space

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