Discussion 7



Personal Statement

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Personal Statement

How did women in Japan and China begin to ‘revolutionize’ the role of women in 20th Century Asia?

The role of women in both China and Japan was considerably different from that of European or America continent in the 20th Century. Social and cultural structures were way different for women in different regions. They were deprived of social privileges in many regions of the world. The absence of such social privileges ignited the revolution by women during the 20th century. In China and Japan, the revolutionary movement for getting social privileges was way different from that of other regions.

In both China and Japan the revolutionary movement was influenced by the second wave of feminism in Europe and America. During the year 1910, the second wave of feminism majorly influenced the neo- Confucian ideology set around the concept of a good Wife or wise mother. The Seito magazine played an important role in making women aware of their new rights and duties in changing centuries. They started negating the ideas of neo- Confucianism. This magazine was later banned as it started promoting the ideas about freedom for love and marriages.

Gradually, the Chinese society started attracting the influence of the new wave of feminism in Japan. Majority of the women’s started writing and behaving in the way as was practiced in Japan. In between the years of 1915 and 1925, a new movement of emancipation emerged in China. These years are also classified as the years of violent struggle by women in China. This movement by Women in both China and Japan during the 19th century was set against imperialism and traditional cultural norms.

Did the changes and efforts in China and Japan differ significantly from the European efforts for suffrage?

The efforts against male dominance in both the Asian continent (China and Japan) ad European continent were ideologically alike. However, they differed significantly in the ways they were carried on. In Europe, the feminist movement was just against male dominance and for getting equal rights, this is the reason the movement was carried majorly in a peaceful manner. Compared to the European efforts against suffrage, the Asian women had to fight many evils. They were confronted with a more striking ideology in the form of Confucianism and they experienced more oppression compared to those in Europe and the Western world. This is the reason that during their efforts against neo- Confucianism and imperialism, they were subjected to forced disappearances, violence and were stared regarding as ill- minded citizens. This ill- mentality was generally referred to challenging the established norms in both China and Japan.

Bibliography

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Judge, Joan. “Talent, Virtue, and the Nation: Chinese Nationalisms and Female Subjectivities in the Early Twentieth Century.” The American Historical Review 106, no. 3 (2001): 765–803.

Molony, Barbara, and Kathleen Uno. Gendering Modern Japanese History. Harvard University Asia Center, 2008.

Tamanoi, Mariko Asano. “Women’s Voices: Their Critique of the Anthropology of Japan.” Annual Review of Anthropology 19, no. 1 (1990): 17–37.