Women’s roles, expectations and responsibilities continue to dramatically change in various ways as the Chinese society transforms across different political eras. Based on the marriage and family structures, childbirth to education, political activity, and workforce participation, women both in China and Japan have continued to take part in significant historical transformations that continue accelerating across the previous centuries. For most people, exploring actual evidence of the changes as well as witnessing the continuities is way more exciting as a social prospect as compared to simply reading texts or watching different documentaries (Ba & Chin, 2001).
Clearly, there are several ways which history offers illustrations of the shifting beliefs and values concerning women in both Japanese and Chinese lifestyles. Here, some of the most conspicuous elements of the same include investigations of the design in the early nineteenth-century women’s contribution, analysis of the communist propaganda information since the Revolutionary period and listening to historical narrations of young women growing up in Japan and Republic of China as it is popularly known today. These changes are apparent as the comparison of these snapshots in due time helps in examining various sources which are also instrumental in adding value and raising peculiar questions about the lives of women in understanding the context of their progress.
However, gender inequality in these two countries continues to raise issues in popular values, the workplace, and family life. The notion behind this is expressed in a proverbial phrase which says a good wife makes a wise mother (Ba & Chin, 2001). Most of the beliefs in these two cultural set ups continues to directly impact the beliefs which relate to the roles and responsibilities of women. Most Japanese women are not able to easily realize those ideals but could believe that they are on their own as their children’s interests and those of the society were placed as fundamental priorities.
This best placed them at home as devotion themselves to their children and family in most cases, while their children were still young. Most Chinese women found particular satisfaction in such family life not to mention their children’s accomplishments that helped them gain a fundamental sense of fulfillment in doing good jobs such as being mothers and household managers (Enchi, 2002). In other households, the women were particularly responsible for the budgets of their families and arrive at independent decisions in relation to the life-styles, careers, and education of their families. Research also indicates that most Chinese women took up the social blame for issues and problems that hit their family members. Women had good relationships with fellow women and they could share challenges and family issues. This contributed towards the liberation in the 20th Century. The interaction between men and women was mainly within the confines of the family. Women were discriminated in the places of work and men did not want to interact freely with them at work.
Women in the 20th century had a raised status in the society because of communism. They were more elevated through education and improved health care. However, this does not mean that they did not suffer oppression from men. Educated women were deterred from working by their husbands. In essence the family unit was a major source of oppression for women in China and Japan. Men seemed to dominate all spheres of life and they did not want their women to rise up against the oppression. This was evident in the rural areas. Women were also oppressed by being denied top positions at their places of work. Women voiced their frustrations on issues of discrimination in employment and other forms of oppression. This expression was voiced through women organizations and movements such as the All China Women federation. Men oppressed women by having secret affairs outside marriage. The women did not have a right to question such men. For instance the army soldiers could abandon their wives in rural areas and have illicit affairs in the urban areas. Women also voiced their frustrations through legal means. The new constitutional laws in the 1950s saw the number of divorce on the rise because of the awakening of the women. In the new order rights within the family were clearly defined. This has been reflected in the high rates of divorce that were witnessed in the 20th century especially in urban areas.
Women are always a controversial topic in all periods. Whenever, women take the responsibilities of giving birth, feeding and caring the whole family. “In many prehistoric cultures, women assumed a particular cultural role. In gatherer-hunter societies, women were generally the gatherers of plant foods, small animal foods and fish, while men hunted meat from large animals.”(Wikipedia) However, the status of women did not be raised though they played important roles in this society. Women are discriminated and ignored in many aspects, such as education, health and equality that were more serious among working class women. In order to achieve more rights and equality, the first feminist movement exploded from 1848 to 1920 and there are three waves that are all significant to this world and women. The first wave went through from 19th century to early 20th century, the second one was between 1960 and 1980 and the last one began in the 1990 and continues today. All these three waves functioned differently and existed with different reasons. However, the situation is getting better and better year by year.
According to the data from OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), younger women today are far more likely to have completed a tertiary qualification: in 19 of the 30 OECD countries, more than twice as many women aged 25 to 34 have completed tertiary education than have women aged 55 to 64. In 21 of 27 OECD countries with comparable data, the number of women graduating from university-level programmers is equal to or exceeds that of men. Moreover, 15-year-old girls tend to show much higher expectations for their careers than boys of the same age. ( http://www.oecd.org/general/educationlevelsrisinginoecdcountriesbutlowattainmentstillhamperssome.htm) China is a country with a large population (1.3 billion). The problems about women are relatively serious than other countries. “The status of women in China was low, largely due to the custom of foot binding. About 45% of Chinese women had bound feet in the 19th century. For the upper classes, it was almost 100%. In 1912, the Chinese government ordered the cessation of foot-binding. Foot-binding involved alteration of the bone structure so that the feet were only about 4 inches long. The bound feet caused difficulty of movement, thus greatly limiting the activities of women.”(Wikipedia) Besides these, female new-born are usually received a crucial decision: be killed or abandoned. Most of Chinese parents are preferred males than females because they believe males have better abilities on everything.
Japanese women are dominated by their father; eventually dominated by their husband or master. In the book The Waiting Years, The girls were basically offered for sale by their families. Once funds were paid for them they were more or less slaves and certainly had no right to leace their masters. It was a bit shocking to know that the typical age of these girls was 13 to 15. The girls trained in household duties and also service the sexual needs of the master of the house. We see Tomo and the girl develop a relationship thought they have every reason to dislike and distrust each other. It is not openly stated but the husband to be very brutal in his relations with both his wife and the new maid. The Waiting Years is a very subtle, cerebral work that takes us deeply into the lives of the women in a late19th century Samurai family.
The power of the good wife and wise mother discourse was such that it obliterated the right of generations of women in early modern Japan to voice their desires or to assert themselves as active speaking subjects. Instead, women were required to exhibit mythological maternal attributes such as an innate capacity to nurture. Wise mother were required to produce the sons who would contribute to the nation. Daughters remained peripheral to the national narrative.
The family is an important social unit in all society. The main-family structure did not survive the post-war changes to civil law, but the basic paradigm of relationship between main and branch divisions within a larger association survives in Japan today as a model for corporate and commercial organization. The story shows us the responsibility of women in Japan. The women in Japan and China failed to acknowledge any right to her own subjective desires in 19th century. During that period, the tradition towards the thinking between the man and woman ‘s sins are also the same as the present times where in society can accept men who will have its concubines whether it was secret of identified as long as the man will provide or support the family.
Awareness of western values began to alter self-conception amongst the women. Women at this time felt that they deserved more freedom and liberation than they were receiving. In the institution of marriage, they demanded more than the basic needs of food shelter and clothing that were being provided by their husbands. Women started demanding for more romance and intimacy in accordance to what they saw in the western values in the family. The exposure of women to books, films and other western materials heightened tensions in the family when women started demanding for change. They sought changes in their relationships with their husbands and demanded more rights. In this light their husbands were not willing to let go their cultural values and norms. This heightened conflict within the family and in some cases led to divorce.
Chinese and Japanese women have lived up to the right to life of a normal length. This can perceived from their ability to liberate themselves from the oppressions of men and equal rights within the family. The women have also lived in good health and nourishment that came with the end of communism. However, they failed in their ability to avoid unnecessary pain. This is because their quest for equality in the family led to divorce and they sometimes ended up in pain. The women in China and Japan had a success in grabbing the opportunities for education thinking and being creative. This can be evidenced with the many opportunities that came because of their education and empowerment in the 20th Century. In light of the formation of a good community, women have been a success in China and Japan. They have participated in leadership, employment and social change in these two countries. As depicted in the books, women have excelled so much in the self-determination of one’s life. This has been witnessed in the way some of them have struggled as single mothers and brought up their children without support from men. Women in China and Japan have achieved success in seeking play, laughing and seeking leisure. This has been witnessed in their own efforts to search for materials that bring life and happiness in their lives.
References
Enchi F., (2002) The Waiting Years. New York: Kodansha International
Ba J., Chin P., (2001) The Family. New York: University Press of the Pacific
