Female infanticide was not a concern of the government. But man cannot find wife is a concern of the government.
[...] girls have been shunned by their families for refusing to tie the knot.
Young men are also victims of these highly sexist gender norms. How to be a masculine man, what is the success of a masculine man? It's all related to the money and the house and the cars.
According to the UN, more than 50% of Chinese men abuse their partners. And marital rape is not a crime in China.
Thanks for sharing, OP, that was an interesting video. It seems to me that besides the huge gender disparity caused by the One Child policy, a lot of these problems sadly are not unique to China....
Thanks for sharing, OP, that was an interesting video.
It seems to me that besides the huge gender disparity caused by the One Child policy, a lot of these problems sadly are not unique to China. Things like unequal pay, high rates of domestic abuse, and the pervasive attitude that any woman over 30 without children is a failure. The cynic in me doesn't see these issues going away any time soon, but I sure hope I'm wrong about that.
You are most welcome! I thought so too. I'm equally cynical about it. It seems like they really did want and tried to make the sexes equal, but even though they by law are meant to be, that just...
You are most welcome! I thought so too.
I'm equally cynical about it. It seems like they really did want and tried to make the sexes equal, but even though they by law are meant to be, that just wasn't ever the case in reality. And listening to the professor, it seems like the "iron girls" was more of a propaganda thing than anything else. That it was never real nor actually pierced the consciousness of the average Chinese.
I can only compare it to my own country where if you read the constitution and other laws etc., we are basically 100% equal with men. But in reality, there are still many aspects where women are seen as lesser than men - and also some where men are lesser than women.
I'm about halfway through a VERY long video about North Korean film culture (seriously it's 5 hours long), and a similar thing happened there with regards to women being portrayed as like national...
I'm equally cynical about it. It seems like they really did want and tried to make the sexes equal, but even though they by law are meant to be, that just wasn't ever the case in reality. And listening to the professor, it seems like the "iron girls" was more of a propaganda thing than anything else. That it was never real nor actually pierced the consciousness of the average Chinese.
I'm about halfway through a VERY long video about North Korean film culture (seriously it's 5 hours long), and a similar thing happened there with regards to women being portrayed as like national heroines of the communist revolution. But ultimately it was just propaganda, and in reality women were still subservient to men and needed to just keep quiet, pump out babies, and then raise them to be patriotic sons and daughters. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I can only compare it to my own country where if you read the constitution and other laws etc., we are basically 100% equal with men. But in reality, there are still many aspects where women are seen as lesser than men - and also some where men are lesser than women.
I'm sure this kind of thing happens all around the globe too, just to varying levels dependent on what society there is already like. We in the West like to think of ourselves as pretty advanced and progressive when it comes to women's rights, but being better than the alternative doesn't necessarily make things good. And not to mention that every day there's some new backwards-ass ballot measure or political group trying to strip away more rights to make things more like the good ol' days, which of course is women in the home raising babies and supporting their husbands and definitely not involving themselves in things they shouldn't, like politics.
I do actually believe that things will get better, but just nowhere near the pace that I would like. It's a bit morbid of a thought, but my feelings towards a lot of these backwards and keep-the-status-quo-no-matter-how-terrible sentiments is that they slowly die off with each passing generation. As one generation dies off that grew up with their moms staying home doing all the domestic duties and child-rearing while the fathers went off to work, the next generation grows up seeing some women enter the workforce in limited capacities and with unequal pay. The idea of women in the workforce slowly becomes normalized for them, just like the idea that husbands maybe shouldn't be beating on their wives. Then as those ideas become normalized and those people start dying off, hopefully newer, more progressive ideas start to emerge. And then hopefully in time those ideas will become normalized by the time the next generation comes of age. And the cycle continues. It's definitely a fucking snail's pace, but it'll get there one day.
Oh and the globalization of the world (and especially the internet) definitely speeds up this glacial progress. As one country progresses, word naturally spreads to other corners of the world who then see that it's something possible and maybe not too farfetched of a thing to ask for/demand. Just wish there weren't so many people/parties/movements around the globe trying to shoot themselves in the foot to halt this progress.
This was really interesting. I think the hardest part for me to hear was when the actress said that the infanticide of girls is not a problem for the government, but men not finding wives is a...
This was really interesting. I think the hardest part for me to hear was when the actress said that the infanticide of girls is not a problem for the government, but men not finding wives is a problem for the government.
From 2015 but still worth a watch. Some snippets:
Thanks for sharing, OP, that was an interesting video.
It seems to me that besides the huge gender disparity caused by the One Child policy, a lot of these problems sadly are not unique to China. Things like unequal pay, high rates of domestic abuse, and the pervasive attitude that any woman over 30 without children is a failure. The cynic in me doesn't see these issues going away any time soon, but I sure hope I'm wrong about that.
You are most welcome! I thought so too.
I'm equally cynical about it. It seems like they really did want and tried to make the sexes equal, but even though they by law are meant to be, that just wasn't ever the case in reality. And listening to the professor, it seems like the "iron girls" was more of a propaganda thing than anything else. That it was never real nor actually pierced the consciousness of the average Chinese.
I can only compare it to my own country where if you read the constitution and other laws etc., we are basically 100% equal with men. But in reality, there are still many aspects where women are seen as lesser than men - and also some where men are lesser than women.
I'm about halfway through a VERY long video about North Korean film culture (seriously it's 5 hours long), and a similar thing happened there with regards to women being portrayed as like national heroines of the communist revolution. But ultimately it was just propaganda, and in reality women were still subservient to men and needed to just keep quiet, pump out babies, and then raise them to be patriotic sons and daughters. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I'm sure this kind of thing happens all around the globe too, just to varying levels dependent on what society there is already like. We in the West like to think of ourselves as pretty advanced and progressive when it comes to women's rights, but being better than the alternative doesn't necessarily make things good. And not to mention that every day there's some new backwards-ass ballot measure or political group trying to strip away more rights to make things more like the good ol' days, which of course is women in the home raising babies and supporting their husbands and definitely not involving themselves in things they shouldn't, like politics.
I do actually believe that things will get better, but just nowhere near the pace that I would like. It's a bit morbid of a thought, but my feelings towards a lot of these backwards and keep-the-status-quo-no-matter-how-terrible sentiments is that they slowly die off with each passing generation. As one generation dies off that grew up with their moms staying home doing all the domestic duties and child-rearing while the fathers went off to work, the next generation grows up seeing some women enter the workforce in limited capacities and with unequal pay. The idea of women in the workforce slowly becomes normalized for them, just like the idea that husbands maybe shouldn't be beating on their wives. Then as those ideas become normalized and those people start dying off, hopefully newer, more progressive ideas start to emerge. And then hopefully in time those ideas will become normalized by the time the next generation comes of age. And the cycle continues. It's definitely a fucking snail's pace, but it'll get there one day.
Oh and the globalization of the world (and especially the internet) definitely speeds up this glacial progress. As one country progresses, word naturally spreads to other corners of the world who then see that it's something possible and maybe not too farfetched of a thing to ask for/demand. Just wish there weren't so many people/parties/movements around the globe trying to shoot themselves in the foot to halt this progress.
This was really interesting. I think the hardest part for me to hear was when the actress said that the infanticide of girls is not a problem for the government, but men not finding wives is a problem for the government.