Women In China Essays (433 words) - Chinese Women, Women In China

Women In China By Confucian theory, the woman is inferior to nearly everyone. She is to do as her husband wishes and in return receives little more than a pat on the back and is told Good job. Women's feet were bound as children, even though it caused severe problems later in life, because it was a sign of nobility. Through out China's history, women have been looked down upon by everyone. Even today, women are not equal to men in the home or work place. Are conditions under which women are treated getting better over time? It doesn't seem that people in China are treating women better than they were two hundred years ago. Women are unfairly laid off by employers in times of economic restructuring and are very often denied rights that have been passed by Legislation. There are many studies regarding unemployment in China. Conservative estimates are that between twenty-five to thirty million people are with out work in China. The staggering statistic is that nearly seventy-five percent of laid off workers were women. This is very illegal. Labor laws in China forbid disproportionate layoffs, but big business doesn't listen. These examples are just a few of many and only pertain to urban women. Women in rural areas are said to be even less equal than urban women. Mostly because of the wide spread poverty in the rural areas of China. Women are not offered the same schooling or job opportunities as men are in these areas. Government programs aimed at helping control poverty are failing quickly because of lack of funding. Studies show that in 1987, between one hundred and fifty and two hundred million women lived in areas designated as poor. This is a frightening number. Why should so many women live in poverty because of the arrogance of employers, so what if she's a girl? China's poor treatment of women isn't getting better. While the government tries to cover it up with false statistics and mislabeling of unemployed women, people are suffering. This doesn't only hurt the women of China, but the innovators of the future. There might be a girl sitting in her one room house in the most rural area in the country with better ideas the most recognized scientist in Hong Kong. The government has at least some power to do something about this major problem but doesn't. Why that is, the world may never know. Bibliography Human Rights in China Employment Threats to Women's Economic Independence http://www.hrichina.org/crf/english/99spring/e15_employment.htm Human Rights in China Rural Women: Less Equal than Urban Women http://www.hrichina.org/crf/english/99spring/e17_rural.htm Governmental Issues