Did the position of women improve in imperial china? essay plan

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

Paragraph 1

· 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)

Paragraph 2

· 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

Paragraph 3

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

· However Mao’s collectivisation…