Womens role in the Song
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Institution
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Introduction
In the Song dynasty, women were treated as inferior hence their values were not respected as compared to their male counterparts. Moreover, in the Song, the society changed the Confucianism doctrines and led to rise of neo-Confucianism. In this respect, the confusion teachings were based on political discourse, the family systems and the scholar-official class. Furthermore, the Confucianism teachings influenced the intellectual and moral codes of the society. However, the society was affected by other theologies such as Daoism and Buddhism. In the song, the rise of neo-Confucianism led to introduction of old doctrine. Therefore, it was intended to renew principles that would keep women inferior to men. The changes were introduced to make keep women subservient to men. Therefore, women were able to become less independent in a society that was dominated by men.
According to Confucianism teachings, women were inferior to men. In addition, they were petty-minded, jealous and naturally quarrelsome. Since Tang to the Ming dynasty, most of the Chinese were in villages with a wide range of people. Some villages had hundreds of people while others thousands.
Confucius lessons were referred to as the Analects. In this regard, the Analects became the benchmark of intellectual discourse in China nearly two centuries following the death of Confucius. Confucian doctrines were based on the idea that men are of intrinsically good nature. Moreover, Confucius advocated for prominence of familial virtue.
According to Confucianism, all males should have conducts that respect their parents. On the other hand, a woman was supposed to pay all respect to her husband, parents-in-law, her parents, her own sons and even male relatives. Therefore, women were under suppression from their own sons, her husbands and their fathers. In addition, women had no freedom to pursue their vision, goals and objectives in their lives. Unfortunately, in case her husband died, a woman was supposed to remain loyal to him under familial doctrines. She was also supposed to either remain as widow or commit suicide. Most notably, after the death of her husband the society encouraged the wife to commit suicide because it showed high value of filial piety. Therefore, women were under direct mercy of their societies although controlled servants and children.
The society also adopted other doctrines such as Buddhism and Daoism. Buddhism introduced less harsh conditions for women. However, Buddhism provided mixed benefits for women because it had no ideology related to women. Pursuant to Buddhist principles, a bodhisattva is able to symbolize itself in form of a child, female, male or even an animal. The symbol depends on the kind of being that the bodhisattva tries to save. Therefore, Confucianism was the centre of intellectual and moral law.
Nonetheless, in the Song, the society tried to reintroduce Confucianism teaching in more modern China. Furthermore, neo-Confucianism adopted newer doctrines such as Buddhism transcendentalism. The main aim of neo-Confucianism was to protect the imperial order. Just like Confucianism, the neo-Confucianism maintained the familial virtues. In this regard, the role of women was evidently submissive to men. Under the neo-Confucianism, a man was considered superior over a woman. The role of a woman was to serve her husband. In addition, she was required to please her husband and bear him sons. The sons were considered essential because it helped a man to continue his family line. A woman who had sons had cemented her place at the center of family and home. Just like in Confucianism, a woman in neo-Confucianism was expected to commit suicide when her husband died and not to remarry. Similarly, many widows had to starve to death after the death of their husbands instead of remarrying. Furthermore, wives had no personal rights and freedoms since their husbands controlled their fate.
Moreover, men encouraged their wives to weave fabrics and raise silkworms that they (men) could sell in the market. However, women were not allowed to go to the market as they were tied at their homes. Most importantly, women had no inheritance rights. Therefore, they could not claim anything from their husbands or parents. In this regard, they were at male family members mercy. Most importantly, since women had no rights of inheritance they were more vulnerable to harsh patriarchal society.
Women were also subjected to a wide range of social expectations and rules. For instance, women were expected to be home-markers and child-bearers. Additionally, they required to maintain and prepare the ancestral rituals according to the traditions. In the neo-Confucianism, ancestor worship was an essential part of their religion. In addition, male family members were required to have sacrifices. The woman of the house was supposed to be the main caretaker in the rituals for the ancestral shrine. In addition, the tradition had held great importance of these rituals. However, the ancestral rituals were tedious, time-consuming. Therefore, they became a burden to women because they had the responsibility to maintain them and they played a key role to household coherence of Chinese Neo-Confucian. In this respect, her role in the ancestral shrines tied a woman more closely to family and home.
In the Song, the society introduced foot binding in order to make women more subservient. It was a practice where the womens feet could bind especially when they were small girls. The practice was intended to make the entire foot squeezed and with a length of less than three inches. Moreover, the practice was very painful to women. Similarly, it was done in order to make women to be more dependent and fragile as compared to their natural state. Women whose feet were bound were unable to stand or even walk hence they could not leave their homes for long period. Furthermore, although women were subject of their male dominance in the society, they were supposed to instil the same values to their children. Therefore, neo-Confucianism did not allow women to use their intellectual values but invited them to be subject of patriarchal doctrines.
The husbands in the Song were allowed to have as many concubines as they could. However, concubines lived in a different room in the house from their wives. In the song, the concubine served as both the sexual partner of the husband and servant to legal wife. Sometimes a concubine could compete for precedence with the wife. The role of the concubine was to bear children. Nonetheless, sons from concubine were entitled to legal rights just like sons from their wives. If a legal wife did not have a son but a concubine had a son, then the legal wifes would be dependent on the son from the concubine during her old age. In addition, many families with poor background sold their daughters to wealthy persons in order to serve as their concubines. During famine, many daughters were sold to slavery because they were considered to be outside their ancestry. In this respect, daughters served as sources of wealth for their fathers. Furthermore, concubines were supposed to dance for their husbands.
Other domestic roles of women in the Song were to prepare meals, tend the children and weaving. In addition, they had roles in sewing and spinning. The daughters of farmers were required to weave mats while women were midwives and maidservants. Additionally, women were allowed to engage in production such as in rice growing, tea production and sericulture. They were also required to pamper silk worms that helped them to spin their cocoons during silk cloth production.
The education in the Song was reserved for men. However, women had a role to play in their households particularly in the imperial families and ruling elite. Therefore, women in these families received education and training on their responsibilities and family roles. Furthermore, they had a crucial role to play in early education of their children hence they were educated on classical primers and texts they taught their sons prior to their school days. Most importantly, women taught family traditions in case their husbands were unavailable or could not do that. In the song, women education experienced widespread of literacy and printing.
Conclusion
In the song, Neo-Confucianism played a central role in the lives of people especially women. The role of women during this period such as in ancestral rites and home duties kept them out of public domain and tied them at home. Their roles were moulded to serve their husbands and remain subservient.
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