The Role of Women in Chinese Society - Essay Example

Essay: Compare and contrast the role of women in Chinese society with their role in Japan for the period from 300 A.D. to the middle of the thirteenth century. Japanese and Chinese societies have many things in common and the overall role of women in both countries has remained the same throughout history. Women are assumed to be obedient creatures subservient to men. They are supposed to get married to a man, bear children and help husbands in their work. Throughout ancient China, men have remained the dominant gender.

They were seen as food producers and were assumed to have transcendent importance (Duiker & Spielvogel, 2008, p. 88). However, there have been many periods where women have been given considerable freedom and civil rights. For instance, 618-907AD was the era of Tang in imperial China. This period is marked by considerable freedom for women. Probably in Chinese history, women were never this much liberated. But one thing should be considered this freedom was available more to the urban women than the rural women, who along with their husbands and daughters were breeding silkworms, making textiles, and helping their husbands in the field.

Japan on the other hand has been ruled by women empresses too. Empress Shotoku (764-770) is one such name. But the overall rule of society has been associated with men. One aspect of this is the religion of Buddhism, which doesn’t give salvation to women (Winkler, 2007). Another factor that contributed to the male dominance is the Samurai warriors who were looked upon as fierce warriors and were made of all manly things.