In 2023, China ranked 41st out of 172 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's Gender Inequality Index (GII). Among the GII components, China's maternal mortality ratio was 23 out of 100,000 live births. In its education inequality, 68.3% of women age 25 and older had completed secondary education, compared to 77.9% of men. Women's labour force participation rate was 54.6% (compared to 75.6% percent for men), and women held 26.5 percent of seats in the National People's Congress.
Before the Chinese Communist Revolution Before the Chinese Communist Revolution, women were generally restricted to the traditional gender roles of wives, concubines, or prostitutes. Female oppression stemmed partly from Confucian beliefs about gender roles in society (such as filial piety), ideas which remain influential. Confucian discourses of filial piety presented the father-son relationship as the model of top-down relationships which reinforced patriarchal dominance in the family and hierarchical structures in lineage groups and communities. Wives were expected to be subservient to their husbands, kowtowing to their husbands.
Concubines had less choice than married women, and were kept as mistresses by men for sexual services or to produce children. Prostitution frequently resulted from women being sold into brothels by their parents. Legal during the Qing dynasty, there were few laws regulating prostitution; as a result, prostitutes were similar to slaves and lacked legal rights.
Marriage was defined loosely and encompassed wives, concubines, and slaves. Men were free to pursue sex from women in any of these three categories of "extended family". Women were prohibited from having sex with family slaves, a crime punishable by decapitation. Men were frequently polygamous (allowed one wife and an unlimited number of concubines), but women were permitted only one husband. This relationship between men and women in the household illustrated the power held by men in the family and their greater freedom compared with women. Women, for example, would generally lose social standing due to an extramarital affair. However, Qing laws punished both parties equally for premarital sex.
Foot binding
A noted repressive practice was foot binding. Foot binding originated during the Song dynasty, and was practiced by the wealthiest members of society in the 11th century. Over time, the practice increased and spread to the peasantry. Foot binding was intended to differentiate between upper and lower classes; it was considered attractive, with bound feet known as "golden lotuses".
It aimed to limit the growth of girls' feet, and began at age three. Foot binding eventually resulted in the arch of the foot becoming so angled that a woman was in constant pain and had limited ability to walk. Foot binding subordinated women to men in a number of respects. It was an essential component of marriage eligibility, since women often bound their feet to increase their chance of finding a better marriage partner. Men used foot binding to force women to be dependent; due to pain associated with walking, women were limited to household activities. Women with bound feet had considerable difficulty carrying out simple tasks (such as standing up from a chair without assistance) and a lower functional reach than women with normal feet. Foot binding encouraged the sexual objectification of women, since it fulfilled men's sexual desires and fantasies. It reinforced the ideology that women were useful only in sexualized, sedentary roles to satisfy men's desires.
Foot binding was such an established part of Chinese culture that the Emperor K'ang Hsi was unable to suppress the practice in 1650. Widespread anti-foot binding sentiment began during the late 19th century, and gained in popularity until the practice was outlawed in 1912. In 1997, the feet of 38 percent of Beijing women over 80 years of age and 18 percent of women aged 70–79 were deformed by foot binding.
Women's education The purpose of women's education was to reinforce their subordinate status and ensure that they obeyed rules made by men. Women were taught social norms which restricted their rights and behavior. Only middle-class and wealthier women would receive an education, indicating a family's superiority. Women were educated at home by teachers who followed social norms. In the Eastern Han dynasty, four books were used for women's education («女四書» – Nü sishu) including: «女誡» – Nǚjiè by Ban Zhao, «女誡» – Nǚ Lúnyǔ by Song Ruoxin, «內訓» – Nèixùn or Nüxun by Empress Renxiaowen, and «女范捷錄» – Nǚfàn Jiélù by Ms. Liu, mother of Wang Xiang. These books reinforced norms which harmed women and restricted their daily activities. Even more recently, textbooks in China are still being used to reaffirm stereotypes and gender inequality. The three obediences and four virtues which were adopted by many women are part of Nüjie. The three obediences were "obey father before marriage", "obey husband during marriage" and "obey sons during widowhood", illustrating the subordination of women to men throughout their lives. The four virtues were "female virtues", "female words", "female appearance" and "female work", designed to fulfill the needs of men and society. Women's desires and needs were trivialized, and education became a tool to maintain male control of women.
A woman's personality was also restricted by this education. Women were taught to be weak and subordinate, respecting the men who dominated them. The physical differences between men and women as well were emphasized; men were seen as yang, and women were seen as yin. Yin and yang are the opposite of each other, and women were not allowed to physically interact with men outside of marriage. Women (as yin) were considered a negative element, reinforcing their inferior status, and were sometimes forbidden from leaving their room to demonstrate their loyalty. Obedience to men and elder relatives was the essential element of women's education. Women were powerless to resist, since society would not accept women who challenged men. As a socializing agent, women's education played an important role in shaping their image and maintaining their subordinate status for many dynasties.
May Fourth Movement May Fourth Movement discourses challenged the traditional ideas about women, contrasting the idea of the "new woman" with that of the "traditional woman". The "new woman" reflected a secular world view, opposition to arranged marriage, and opposition to patriarchy. The idea of the "new woman" emphasised the urban and modern. May Fourth Movement discourses framed "traditional women" as rural, uneducated, and submitting to "feudal superstition". May Fourth literature often depicted rural mothers as participants in imposing arranged marriages and other feudal social constructs on their daughters.
Mao era During the planned-economy era of (1949–1978, also known as the Mao Zedong era), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sought to make Chinese women legally and socially equal to men. The Communist government attempted to challenge Confucian beliefs, and one of its main goals was to improve the social position of women by promoting their entry into the labour force. The constitution of the People's Republic of China, which was enacted in 1954, stated that women and men should have equal rights. To promote gender equality, the CCP promoted the slogan "Women hold up half the sky" to illustrate the importance of women to China's economic success. The CCP and the government implemented policies ensuring equal pay for equal work and equal opportunity for men and women.
In practice, however, wage inequality still existed during this era due to occupational and industrial segregation by gender. Enterprises typically divided their jobs into two groups (primary and secondary); men were more likely to be given primary jobs, and women secondary jobs. While women were entering the labour market, they were still expected to look after their homes and families. As a result, women were said to bear "a double burden" of work during the Mao era.
State feminism State feminism refers to the state's support of women's equality in the public and work sectors through legislation, often progressive state laws to ensure gender equality.Yang, Mayfair Mei-hui (1999). Spaces of their own : women's public sphere in transnational China. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis This state-supported feminism promoted employment opportunities for women in the public sector and provided benefits such as maternity leave and day care to female workers. State feminism also enforced laws prohibiting polygamy, the buying and selling of women, arranged marriage and prostitution.
Yang stated in her article, "From Gender Erasure to Gender Difference", that state feminism during the Mao era liberated "women from the traditional kinship patriarchy, but although women were catapulted into the public sphere of labour and politics, the feminist agenda was forgotten with the decline of gender salience and women's transformation into state subjects in a new masculine state order". According to Lisa Rofel, an American anthropologist studying feminism and gender studies, "The status of unfortunate widows (and their daughters) of poor families changed dramatically from 'broken shoes' to 'labour models' after 1949".Rofel, L. (2009). Other modernities: gendered yearnings in China after socialism. Berkeley: University of California Press. Although state feminism provided some legal protection to women, it did not achieve gender equality. Gail Hershatter agreed: "The communist revolution didn't change the work women did. Women had always worked. What the revolution changed is the work environment and the social interpretation of working outside of familial context."Hershatter, G.(2011). The Gender of Memory: Rural women and China's Collective Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved February 26, 2018, from Project MUSE database.
Post-Mao era Economic reforms and labour market Changing employment policy was a major part of China's reforms after the Mao era. Under Mao China formed the Tong Bao Tong Pei employment system, a centralised system which created government-guaranteed jobs. Due to widespread unemployment after the Cultural Revolution, the CCP and the government phased out guaranteed employment and reformed the employment system as part of larger economic changes.
Reform took place in three stages. During the first stage (1978–1991), the existing framework was adapted: maintaining planned employment as the primary form of employment and adding a two-track system permitting government and private-sector employment. In the second stage (1992–2001), additional reforms continued to promote the market-oriented employment system while maintaining a degree of planned employment. In the third stage (after 2001), the reform process was accelerated to generate a market-oriented employment system in which private-sector employment was primary. Market reforms took China away from central economic planning and towards a system based on capitalist market mechanisms.