GENDER (IN)EQUALIY IN CHINA
A few years after the conclusion of the 1949 Chinese Revolution, Mao Zedong proclaimed that "women can hold up the other half of the sky" (Fùnǚ néng dǐng bànbiāntiān, 妇女 能 顶 半边天), advancing the ideal of a woman's equal role in society. In the early years of the People's Republic, the ambition of the Chinese Communist Party was to transform gender relations through policies aimed at the development and progress of women; however, with the advent of post-Maoist China, traditional patriarchal culture once again prevailed and the potential path to gender equality came to a halt at the stage of mere rhetoric. Although in the last twenty years the Chinese government has developed a series of programs, among which "The five-year program for women's development" and "The ten-year program for women's development", aimed at achieving gender equality on various levels, to date these programs have not yet been implemented.
In this scenario in which the patriarchal view typical of traditional Chinese culture still seems to prevail, one of the areas in which we are witnessing more effective gender discrimination is that of the real estate reality: for various reasons, in fact, the woman tends to be impossible to accumulate capital through the acquisition of property. infact, the marital home tends to be registered only in the name of the husband, with the implication that marriage does not result in a joint management of property and property, nor an equal role.
There are many women who fear being categorized as "women-scrap", nowadays this is an increasingly common phenomenon, especially in the city. Feeding this fear is undoubtedly the pressure of friends, relatives and colleagues, but above all the pressure and the propaganda of the Chinese media. Even the National Federation of Chinese Women (Zhōnghuá quánguó fùnǚ liánhéhuì, 中华 妇女 联合会) is helping to spread the word "woman-scrap", despite the fact that it is an institution founded by the Party with the aim of protecting the rights and women's interests. In 2007 it was this Federation that created a definition of the term, referring it to still single women over twenty-seven.
.The problem of female infanticides, especially in rural areas, caused above all by the "single child policy" introduced in 1978, pushes parents to prefer male children, considered most suitable to contribute to the well-being of the family.
The New Marriage Law still considered it necessary, in 1980, to prohibit the mistreatment or killing of girls and their mothers, while it is a well-known fact that still today the births of the males are received with great celebrations of the whole family nucleus and instead give to the light a child is often the cause of quarrels and domestic violence.
.The Women's Federation has also tried to make women active subjects of their own improvement with the "Declaration of the four self-referentialities": Respecting themselves, Having confidence in themselves, Relying on themselves, Improving themselves
These points then converged in the governmental declarations of the Fourth Conference on Women organized by the ONU and held in Pechino in 1995.
Doing that, in contrast to the Mao years, ample space is given to the reflection on female potential and, in the academic field (the birth of the women’s studies).
Fiction celebrates in the cinema and on the small screen the modern, independent and autonomous woman who does not shine with reflected light.
The Government tries to ban, without great success, the novels of Zhou Weihui, the famous and scandalous author of "Shanghai Baby", which highlights in its pages the new model of a free and emancipated young woman, captured in a golden life and hedonistic, far from the work and sacrifices of the previous generation.
A few years after the conclusion of the 1949 Chinese Revolution, Mao Zedong proclaimed that "women can hold up the other half of the sky" (Fùnǚ néng dǐng bànbiāntiān, 妇女 能 顶 半边天), advancing the ideal of a woman's equal role in society. In the early years of the People's Republic, the ambition of the Chinese Communist Party was to transform gender relations through policies aimed at the development and progress of women; however, with the advent of post-Maoist China, traditional patriarchal culture once again prevailed and the potential path to gender equality came to a halt at the stage of mere rhetoric. Although in the last twenty years the Chinese government has developed a series of programs, among which "The five-year program for women's development" and "The ten-year program for women's development", aimed at achieving gender equality on various levels, to date these programs have not yet been implemented.
In this scenario in which the patriarchal view typical of traditional Chinese culture still seems to prevail, one of the areas in which we are witnessing more effective gender discrimination is that of the real estate reality: for various reasons, in fact, the woman tends to be impossible to accumulate capital through the acquisition of property. infact, the marital home tends to be registered only in the name of the husband, with the implication that marriage does not result in a joint management of property and property, nor an equal role.
There are many women who fear being categorized as "women-scrap", nowadays this is an increasingly common phenomenon, especially in the city. Feeding this fear is undoubtedly the pressure of friends, relatives and colleagues, but above all the pressure and the propaganda of the Chinese media. Even the National Federation of Chinese Women (Zhōnghuá quánguó fùnǚ liánhéhuì, 中华 妇女 联合会) is helping to spread the word "woman-scrap", despite the fact that it is an institution founded by the Party with the aim of protecting the rights and women's interests. In 2007 it was this Federation that created a definition of the term, referring it to still single women over twenty-seven.
.The problem of female infanticides, especially in rural areas, caused above all by the "single child policy" introduced in 1978, pushes parents to prefer male children, considered most suitable to contribute to the well-being of the family.
The New Marriage Law still considered it necessary, in 1980, to prohibit the mistreatment or killing of girls and their mothers, while it is a well-known fact that still today the births of the males are received with great celebrations of the whole family nucleus and instead give to the light a child is often the cause of quarrels and domestic violence.
.The Women's Federation has also tried to make women active subjects of their own improvement with the "Declaration of the four self-referentialities": Respecting themselves, Having confidence in themselves, Relying on themselves, Improving themselves
These points then converged in the governmental declarations of the Fourth Conference on Women organized by the ONU and held in Pechino in 1995.
Doing that, in contrast to the Mao years, ample space is given to the reflection on female potential and, in the academic field (the birth of the women’s studies).
Fiction celebrates in the cinema and on the small screen the modern, independent and autonomous woman who does not shine with reflected light.
The Government tries to ban, without great success, the novels of Zhou Weihui, the famous and scandalous author of "Shanghai Baby", which highlights in its pages the new model of a free and emancipated young woman, captured in a golden life and hedonistic, far from the work and sacrifices of the previous generation.