Womens rights in Asia and the United Arab
China and Saudi Arabia are two of the worlds most conservative and traditional societies.
Each prides itself on respecting the values of their past, but how well do their cultures
respect women? The role of women has changed drastically in the last hundred years
across the world. Increased access to education, more equitable inheritance and divorce
laws, and protection from violence and persecution are generally agreed on by all societies.
The ultimate goals of feminism and the societal structure needed to achieve these goals,
however, is not universally accepted. Each nation considers its culture to be the most
respectful of women, but equality between the sexes has yet to be achieved anywhere. I
will explore the development of womens rights in China and Saudi Arabia, and present
both the benefits and drawbacks of their diverse treatment of women.
The first two sections will present the history of womens rights in China and Saudi Arabia.
Section III will use UN documentation to analyze the conditions of women in these
cultures today. In conclusion, I will use the United States as a third foil to asses the various
interpretations, successes, and failures of feminism today. Each society has achieved
different objectives towards womens rights, and the future of feminism is not the adoption
of one countrys policies, but rather a fusion of different policies and traditions from around
the world.
I. History of Womens Rights in China
Throughout its 4,000 years of history
China has been ruled by numerous dynasties and kingdoms. Despite the long and
occasionally divided history, mainland China managed to maintain an impressive amount
of cultural continuity. Chinese culture, based on the teachings of Confucius, is strictly
hierarchical, traditional, and closed. In the Chinese caste system, womens rights have
never been a primary focus.
Confucianism is the core ideology behind Chinese culture, and analysis of the implications
of Chinese culture starts here. Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, lived from 551-478 BCE.
His teachings focused on human beings as teachable, and capable of achieving moral
perfection, given enough hard work and personal sacrifice. Instead of the numerous rites
and rituals required by the worlds major monotheistic religions, Confucianism specifies
the particular duties for individuals based on their position in a given relationship.
According to Confucian ideals, filial piety- based on the respect a child shows their
parents- is a virtue that should be held above all else. In any unbalanced relationship- such
as son to father, or government official to emperor, or wife to husband- the younger, less
experienced and weaker member must obey the older, stronger and more experienced
individual completely and without hesitation.
While loyalty and respect are underlying values that any society should value, Confucius
also demands subservience, docility, and unquestioning deference from the inferior
individual in a relationship. The Chinese dynasties understood the long-term implications
of this value,
and employed Confucianism- and the tenant of filial piety- to create a formal and rigid
caste structure. The family unit, with filial piety strictly defining each members
responsibilities and power, would serve as the model for the entire society. Just as the
husband/father/oldest male is the undisputed power in the house, the emperor is the
undisputed leader of China. And just as the child and or wife would be expected to follow
the commands of their father or husband, the general populous would be expected to
follow their political leaders. The tenant of filial piety provided justification for Chinese
rulers to continue their authoritarian rule, but it marginalized the rights, opportunities and
freedoms of large sections of the Chinese population.
The exploitation of the masses under the Confucius Chinese Caste system can be studied
from the lens of class, race, age, or gender. From the class-based perspective, the rural
agrarian farmers have lived in poverty for centuries working land that they do not own.
From a race-based perspective, only native Chinese were allowed to gain positions of
authority, and other races and religions were barred from participating fully in Chinese
society. From the age-based perspective, the youth have never been able to contribute fresh
new ideas to the system because they are prevented from attaining positions of power, or
even speaking their mind, until reaching a certain age. While all of these claims of
discrimination raise valid complaints, the treatment of women as secondary citizens is
perhaps the most overt oppression
in traditional Confucius China. While there were differences within each empire and
across generations, the status of women did not change significantly until the twentieth
century.
Women in traditional China culture are considered inferior to men. While such broad
generalizations typically serve no purpose and are impossible to justify, the practice of
female infanticide encapsulates this blatant gender bias. Chinese parents have long valued
sons over daughters, and this deplorable practice has shifted the population dynamics of
China to create an imbalance in the breakdown of the sexes. Chinas modern one-child
policy has exaggerated this practice, leading to a male to female birth ratio of 120:100 in
2000
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5953508/ns/world_news/t/china-grapples-legacy-its-missi
ng-girls/). The reproachable practice of killing girl babies is exemplary of the preference of
males to females in Chinese culture.
In Confucius China, the segregation and persecution of women was not only socially
accepted, but legally enforced. Women were not allowed to hold positions of power, to
claim inheritance, to apply for divorce, or to act independently in public. Marriage did not
create a relationship among equals, but a relationship more similar to that of parent to
child. The wife was expected to work, bear children, and do the husbands bidding.
