China and India have numerous similarities. Apart from being located in the Asian continent, these two nations boast of being the most populous nations in their world. Each of these nations has over one billion citizens who define the countries. Far from this, these two nations have similarities when it comes to gender relations. Nonetheless, there are some variations on how different genders relate tone another as evidenced in this analysis
Gender Relations in China
The Chinese womenfolk are perhaps more advanced than their Indian counterparts thanks to numerous women-led revolutions in the past. Such revolutions have seen women take part in employment opportunities, which were traditionally reserved, for males. The women movements of the 1950s and 1960s saw women get encouraged to undertake new skills and jobs (Attane, 2012). Consequently, more women were involved in building dams and dykes. As the years progressed, women were considered as equal to men as they could own production means. This then meant that both men and women would contribute to the economic growth in equal measure, unlike their Indian counterparts. The modern Chinese woman is liberated and works with her male counterparts in similar tasks.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Gender Relations in India
The Indian society has in the past had distinct gender roles. This society is a patriarchal society placed men in leadership positions. However, the Indian society placed a lot of importance on the women; the women were allowed leadership positions especially in the Vedic times. More so women participated in religious activities alongside their men. Furthermore, the women were elevated to levels of divinity giving them equal roles with their male counterparts. The epitome of this empowering was the educating of female teachers who would teach Vedas. However, the tidings have changed for the modern Indian women. She is no longer equal with men, especially when compared with western countries. The modern Indian woman has to struggle to achieve this equality, though it is provided for in the Constitution. According to Sumanjeet (2017), lack of this equality limits the women’s access to opportunities and resources. More so, it cripples the hopes of future generations when it comes to securing better life prospects. In essence, their male counterparts through rape and female foeticide exploit women. It is almost acceptable to conduct an abortion if one realizes that she is pregnant with a girl as compared to one who is pregnant with a boy. The females in this country tend to work on manual and domestic chores, which fetch them little or no income. On the other hand, the men hold lucrative positions as they own production means.
Similarities of Gender Relations in China and India
While it is clear that each of these nations exhibits its unique gender relations characteristics, there are some similarities. Both of these nations are highly patriarchal with the male members making most of the decisions. More so, the males are at the center of making key policies, which puts the women at a lower level. As such, the women are mostly regarded as the homemakers and domestic workers with low wages. As a result, few women can thrive in these two societies. Most women get little or no education as they are usually tied up by domestic responsibilities (Greenwood et al., 2016). They then become less competitive in the workplace they cannot strike a balance between working in the corporate world while tending to families. Women who break this cultural barrier and thrive in male-dominated spheres are instead treated with suspicion. They are not deemed as the marrying types and men fear to marry them as they may dominate them. Such attitudes then tie the women folk to difficult, dirty, domestic, menial and low paying jobs as compared to males. On the other hand, the male counterparts are allowed to thrive as they head into almost all of the key economic, political and social sectors.
References
Attane, I. (2012). Being a Woman in China Today: A Demography of Gender: China Perspectives, 2012 (4), 1-11.
Greenwood, R. et al. (2016). An Exploration of cross-cultural and gender differences in East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. HCBE Faculty Presentations, Paper 76.
Sumanjeet, S. (2017). The State of Gender Inequality in India. De Gruyter, 15(1).
