Throughout history, stereotypes of women- ideological, ethnic, and sexual- seem to exist in all societies. Today and throughout history, women have benn viewed on many, many different ways. Throughout most of history, and in most cultures and societies, women were viewed as "the weaker half" and their purpose was to run the house and take care of things such as cooking and the kids. Via much reform in the United States, American women today are for the most part, viewed as equals to men, and given an equal chance to succeed in life. Unfortunately, many countries and regions of the world, even today, treat women terribly and with no respect.
The subject of women and their placement in Chinese society has been an ongoing topic for years, dating back to the beginning of China, as we know it. In China it has taken an entire political movement to reveal the importance of one half of the human race. In many books such as William Hinton 's Fanshen, Jack Belden 's China Shakes the World, and Edgar Snow 's Red Star Over China, the changing placement of Chinese women is a major part of the story. Women fought and started working, women spoke out and marched and they stood up for themselves. The idea of women 's Liberation (women obtaining equal status with men) in China was a long and hard fought struggle that took much fighting and brave people.
Women 's Liberation in China began with the democratic revolution (attempt to overturn the feudal rule of a landlord class), and completed in the socialist revolution. With the increasing amount of bankruptcy in the rural economy over the past few years, men 's domination over women has been weakened. "The authority of the husband is getting shakier every day". (Ching-Ling, 202)
The speed of the Women 's Liberation movement closely resembled the advance of the democratic revolution. In 1930, women 's status was apparently raised because of the eve of the war against Japanese
Cited: - Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch. African Women. Boulder: Westview Press, 1997 - Young, Marilyn B., ed Women In China. Michigan: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, 1993 - Beale, Jenny. Women In Ireland. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1998