Modern woman's dilemma: career or family?
Culturally inscribed roles
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The Chinese character, fu, meaning a married woman, consists of two parts, a “female” radical on the left and a “broom” element on the right. This suggests the long-established tradition in China that a married woman should focus on work in the home.
However, their living conditions depended on their husbands’ wealth. In poor families, women would have to do all the chores themselves; while in a rich family, most of the household duties would be done by maids or servants, and the major responsibility of a well-to-do housewife would be to manage the home.
But not matter how wealthy the family, the most valued merits of a married Chinese woman were to be a dutiful wife and mother.
The situation started to change with the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, as Chairman Mao Zedong exhorted women in China to “hold up half the sky”.
In the days of the planned economy, people worked in a less stressful environment as everything from jobs to food was provided by the government.
Up to 80 percent of Chinese women worked at that time, making the gender ratio in the workforce one of the highest in the world.
After that, more women received higher education and held formal jobs outside their homes. Nowadays, greater equality between the sexes has made Chinese woman more financially independent.
