Like other countries in the world, female gender in China faced a lot of marriage and family discrimination as they were considered the minority group. China's old family system was encouraged and based on Confucianism. One of the concepts which were used mostly in China was the yin and Yang, based on this term; women were associated with different discriminative terms such as soft yielding, passive tranquil and reflective. On the other hand, men were associated with terms such as dominating. Most literature work which was published during this time encourage worm to remain submissive to men. In one of the literature, books of rights, there are three rights which were documented to dominate in China, the first is that children should obey the old, citizens should obey the law and women should obey their husbands. "If women showed any authority in the family, it did not bode well for them; this is shown in a quote from the" "Book of Demands," "When the hen announces the dawn, it signals the demise of the family.” These are some of the issues which the feminist movement of the 20th and the 21st centuries based their ideas on as documented in some of the literature written by women in China (Dicker & Piepmeier (Eds.), 2016). The fight of these women in China was to find a way to fight for women recognition, equity, and equality in China. The feminist movement authors in China were also given a boost and massively impacted positively by May fourth Movements events. There were numerous ideas which were documented by women authors in China during the feminist movement in a 20th and 21st century in China. As shall be discussed in the paper, these authors’ perceptions of feminism were also affected by May Fourth Events in China as they were writing down the ideas of feminism in China.
The first feminism, idea which was documented in most of the literature written by women in the 20th and the 21st century was women education. Education is paramount in enhancing autonomy. Without education, there I increased independency, and this makes bullying for the dependent inevitable. In the Chinese time, women were considered to be in the lower ranks of men. This placed in a position where accessing education was an issue and this resulted in a massive number of uneducated women in China. The women tried several times to raise their voices against this discrimination before 20th and 21st century, but their voices were too weak and could not challenge this kind of autocracy in the society. The idea to fight equity in education and fight for women to be educated purposely for autonomy and contribution to the Chinese society was one of the major topics of women authors in the 20th and 21st century. During this time, Journals, Newspaper, and other materials which were published by women authors gave much emphasis on education of women. For instance, the Lady’s Journal focused mostly on the importance of education of women not only to the women but also to the national benefit (Croll, 2013). Note, the Confucianism in China encouraged women education, not for them to support themselves or to gain economic and social independence, but for the family sake. In this education system, the ladies were encouraged to be educated in good ways of becoming good mothers to their children's and good wives to their Husbands. This article and journals such as the Ladies’ Journals’ authors believed that women “should facilitate the exchange of knowledge between women and that such education would teach women to be virtuous mothers and good wives for the sake of the nation.” This idea was rubbished in literature in the 20th century and 21st century. The women authors insisted that women should not only educate to facilitates or help their families or be good wives and mothers to their husbands, but also to stabilize economically, be independent and contribute to the economy of the country. They rubbish the idea that if women were educated, they would instill the virtue of the piety and patriotism in their children (Chen, 2011). The authors argue in many journals they wrote that not only should the women be educated to perform this role, but should also be given a chance of education to enhance their participation in the national agendas.
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Another idea was gender equity and equality. One of the main purposes of women suffrage in other countries such as USA and England was equity and voting right for women. Some of these ideas made a headline in most of the literature which was published by women authors in the 20th and the 21st century. The Confucius laws confined women in China, and they were to obey and be submissive to their husbands. As a result, there was a massive underrepresentation of women in this country mostly in the political and the social status in the society. Women were not equal to men as it was believed that they occupied the lower rank in the society to men. The Chin, which was one of the respected laws in this land stated that "'Great Righteousness is shown in that man and woman occupy their correct places; the relative positions of Heaven and Earth,” ( Lorber, 2010). Women were not permitted by this laws to participate in political and social matters of the country. In the early 20th century, some women tried to come up with groups and stood up against this issues, but due to lack of support, they were unable to make any effect. The ide picked up in the mid-20th century and spread to the 21st century in China. It was fascinated by the women authors who published countless literature spreading the idea of women equity in China during the 20th and 21st-century feminism movements. The role of literature leads to a government in Chinua approving the communist revolution which was the women rights, and this put more pressure on the government to advocate for gender equity in China. In this journals and books which were written by women authors, solemn advocated for the equity in treatments of all genders. They wage war against issues such as wife beatings and forced marriage. For instance, He-Yin Zhen was more concerned with the relationship among patriarchy, imperialism, capitalism, and gender inequality as global historical problems in most of the essay she wrote. The period of the revolution was marked with some women authors writing about equity, and this forced the Government of China to enhance a state policy which promoted equity among men and women (Lianfen, 2010).
Impact the May Fourth movement in China had on the authors and literacy work during the feminist movement in a 20th and 2nd century.
The events impacted the feminism literacy in China during the May Fourth Movements in China. To have a better overview of the impact of the May Fourth Movement among the Feminism authors and the literacy in China, it would be better to understand May fourth movement and why it came to happen. “May Fourth Movement , intellectual revolution, and sociopolitical reform movement that occurred in China in 1917–21. The movement was directed toward national independence, the emancipation of the individual, and rebuilding society and culture .” One of the focus of this movement was to rebuild the society and make China strong politically and economically, and this is where the feminism literature found its roots. The period before the May fourth movements were marked with the massive oppression of women and there were few literature works which majored on the women rights and their participation in the social developments. Note, during the time of the May Fourth Movements, it was a coincidence that during this time, in countries such as USA and England, there were women suffrage movements and this played a big part in influencing many kinds of literature during the day fourth movement to fight for the rights of women in the country. The first impact of the May forth day event on the literature was an opportunity for the women through their literacy work to push for agendas such as equity in among the women and men in China. The authors used many examples in USA and England to justify their case in the fight for the equity in China. These writing literature were part of the revolution organized by many leads in China which were to oversee the end of the traditional Confucian movements and laws in China. During this time, China was in a declining fall of the Qing Dynasty and one of the reasons which most of the literature written by women during the 20th the most of the 21st century pointed was lack of women included in the country's affairs. “The link between women’s status and a nation’s status in the modern world made women’s emancipation, together with human rights and modernization, an integral theme in the symphony of the New Culture.” The May fourth day events thus gave the literature a chance to spread their agenda of equity in China. It gave women authors an opportunity to spread their idea of women revolution and feminism in China, and this was a perfect time when their voices were heard.
Remember, one of the reinforcements of the May Fourth Movements was a justification of the idea that women were supposed to be educated not only to instill ethics in their children and maintain their homes as good wives and mothers but also to be part of the growing economy of China and activity participate on its building. The main focus of the May Fourth Movements was to rebuild the country and make it independents, in their many books which were written during this time by women authors, the authors argued that the nation would not be built by the bunch of uneducated women in the country. The women were to be given education as a tool of autonomy. Since this was one of the key issues of the May fourth movements, the books which were written during this time were read and also the news covered a wide area of China. "As a result of girls receiving an education around the early 1900s, they were active, educated participants by the time of the May Fourth Movement and the fight for Women's Emancipation. Although it was a big accomplishment to achieve education for girls in China, the schools were still gender segregated, with very few female colleges, as well as many other aspects of Chinese society such as the workplace." In this sense, many authors noted that the Mya fourth movements played into the game of the women literature and feminism movements in China. The fact that most of the Agendas which were pushed forward by this movement were geared towards elevating the women and this was one of the agenda most of the authors in the 20th and the 21st-century target.
The last bit is supported. The authors and the literature work during this time needed the support of the leaders, the media and the citizens for the message they were spreading to be valid and reach many people in the society. This was quite important. Note, there was a time in the early 20th century when many scholars and women authors on the rights of women started to spread, however, by this time, there was no support for such movements, and this inhibited their growth (Jacka, 2014). This was one of the factors which gave the authors an edge during the May Fourth Movement. The scholars were advocating for one thing in common with the leaders who pioneered the May Fourth Movements. Their books and most of the literacy work which was published during this time were used as instruments to push for the reforms which were needed and this gave the authors an edge to sensitize women and the entire community on their rights and the rights of women in the society, and also push the government to recognize women rights in the society. This led to the massive spread of feminism movements in the world.
In summary, feminist movements in the 20th and 21st century in China was majorly enhanced by the literary work of the women authors and the May Fourth Day events. The authors did what they could to ensure that they sensitize the community and push the government to recognize women as part of the society and as individuals with the ability to contribute positively to the society building.
References
Chen, Z. (2011). The May Fourth Movement and provincial warlords: a reexamination. Modern China , 37 (2), 135-169.
Croll, E. (2013). Feminism and Socialism in China (Routledge Revivals) . Routledge.
Dicker, R., & Piepmeier, A. (Eds.). (2016). Catching a wave: Reclaiming feminism for the 21st century . Northeastern University Press.
Jacka, T. (2014). Rural women in urban China: Gender, migration, and social change . Routledge.
Lianfen, Y. (2010). New Ethics and Old Roles: The Identity Dilemma of New Women in the May Fourth Movement. Social Sciences in China , 5 , 015.
Lorber, J. (2010). Gender inequality: Feminist theories and politics . Oxford University Press, USA.
