Gender Differences In Chinese Culture

Until the 20th century, China’s dominant ideology had been Confucianism and as Confucian teachings were a cornerstone of the society, its patriarchal ideology had been closely tied with oppression and control of women. Their societal roles were extremely minimal because they were always considered as subordinates of men for more than 2000 years. However, as Chinese youth started to gradually abandon the traditional Confucian values along with the adoption of Western ideas, Chinese women were partially liberated from the conventional values as well. Moreover, by the time of Cultural Revolution in 1966, Mao’s great aim was to abolish the gender difference as a whole, especially among the youth, who were a critical component of Mao’s revolutionary …show more content…
Consequently, it was crucial for him to inspire as many youths as possible including the women. For instance, one of Mao’s popular slogans during his revolutionary regime was, “Time has changed. Men and Women are the same. Whatever men can do, women can do, too.” (15, Zhang) The idea of “youth” was gender-neutral and the term “gender difference” was no longer applicable to the young revolutionaries. As a result, Zhang also remarked that “[she] was never made to feel that [she] was inferior to or different from boys, either at home or at school.” Furthermore, the militant character of female revolutionary youths was even more strengthened by the establishment of Red Guard. They were encouraged to be brought to the labor force with the famous example being Dazhai’s “iron girl” model. Just looking at the cases of those female youths, it is fair to say that the Chinese society during the revolution was completely free of gender …show more content…
After the end of the Cultural Revolution and Mao’s death, the revolutionary fervor no longer had its space in the society. Those women who grew up unconscious of gender difference did not fit into the political and social atmosphere that demanded women to return to their pre-Cultural Revolution status. In some sense, I believe the women of educated youth were taken advantage of Mao’s socialist construction and immediately abandoned afterwards. Such problem was not Mao’s fault per se but I believe the consequences were inevitable due to the deep-rooted flaws of the Chinese society. Although China had strived to overthrow traditional societal