Han Dynasty Women

The women of the Han Dynasty have traditionally been portrayed as a subjected people.Though they were expected to be submissive to men, they were not altogether powerless.
In many ways, they had control over their own lives. First, even though they were expected to be respectful to their husbands, they were given the highest respect as a mother and by fulfilling these duties earned a position of respect. Second, they were considered the master of the home, which allowed them the ability to control the way the household is run. Finally, they gained control over their own lives by maintaining propriety and the rules of society.
In order to better understand the role of women during the Han Dynasty, it is first important to understand the context of the society in which they lived. The Han Dynasty was a time of great growth and development for Chinese history. Much of society was dictated by
Confucian ideals, including the way the people related to each other. Confucius’s five relationships dictated the way that people related to each other, including the way that women were expected to interact with people in their life. Confucianism also influenced the ideals the society tried to achieve, such as filial piety and virtue. Ritual and tradition was important to the higher society. This time period is characterized by it’s Confucius nature, and this helps to explain the position of women in regards to the rest of society.
First, women were expected to be respectful and submissive to their husbands, but this respect was returned in the respect each person was expected to have toward their mother. The five relationships of Confucius dictated that a woman submit to their husband. This meant that in all things, the wife should put her husband first. It was not acceptable to be anything but loyal to his decisions and his condition. For example, Liu Hsiang, a Han century biographer, wrote a short biography of the Widowed Wife of Wei. When she was first married to Wei, he died.

Instead of returning to her parent’s home, she spent the appropriate three years of mourning and never remarried. The biography states “She wrote a poem decrying the opposite deportment and to the end was faithful to her deceased lord.”1 This story

● Respect:
○ Submissive to man pg. 107 (book letter)
○ Family pg. 60
● Home
○ In charge of maintaining the home
■ book letter
○ Children
■ Mencius's mother pg. 39
■ pg. 46
■
● Propriety
○ pg. 109
○

1

Liu Hsiang,
The Biographies of Eminent Chinese Women
, IV. 3. found in Albert Richard O’Hara, T
he
Position of Woman in Early China
, (Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1981) 106