China in the "Post-Patriarchal Era"

Abstract

Chinese society has been considered a typical patriarchal society. However, discussions on gender equality in today's China become mired in sharp conflicts between diametrically opposed points of view. One view maintains that gender equality has already been realized in today's China, and that the status of females is already very high. The other view holds that the status of today's Chinese females is constantly declining, and that there is an urgent need to show concern about, and seek solutions to the problem of gender inequality. Adherents of both views cite a series of facts and figures to prove that they are correct. This article maintains that the genesis of such debates rests on the fact that the concepts of gender inequality and intergenerational inequality have been mixed with the concept of patriarchy, that no detailed investigations have been made on the changes in these two dimensions, and for this reason only one aspect is seen while the other aspect is overlooked. This article finds, by means of fieldwork in a Chinese city, that the empowerment of young females does not come only from males, but mainly from elderly females. Hence, investigations into the mechanisms of patriarchy and social gender must be connected with analyses of intersecting factors such as gender and generation/age.