History - China

Did the position of women improve?

Intro

·         Imperial China was a patriarchal society

·         Confucius encouraged the obedience of wives to their husbands

·         The only exception was Cixi, an empress who ruled for 20 years in the Qing dynasty

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·         Mao and the CCP outlawed foot binding in 1940 which was done to make women more attractive to men and to make them hobble (can’t run away or anything)

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·         One of the PRC’s first acts was to reform marriage

·         Concubinage was abolished, arranged marriages were discontinued, dowries were forbidden, those in an arranged marriage could divorce, all marriages had to be officially recorded

·         However, because this threatened to disrupt social order, it was allowed for soldiers to overrule their wives pleas of divorce

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·         Laws in the 1950’s gave women the right to own and sell property, so during land redistributions, women got property…