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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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It seems things are more equal in China in some ways. Women play a greater role in the workforce, they seem more forceful, emancipated, and in the home Chinese women seem more dominant and assertive, not just letting their man boss them around. Some Chinese men also seem sort of passive. Despite it being so modernised, I've heard Korea and Japan are still a bit sexist and there's this image of women acting a certain way and being demure. The stereotypical husband/father in Korea is almost an authoritarian ogre.
Would SE Asia be more like China or Japan/Korea? Vietnam seems more like China, with women playing larger roles, and in Thailand females seem to play a major role. Despite Islam Malaysia and Indonesia aren't too bad, I mean Indonesia has had a female president. Same with the Philippines.
Or is this just an outsider's perception?
People used to talk about how patriarchal Chinese society was/is, but growing up it often seemed the opposite, compared to say the societies like the Middle East or something.
It seems things are more equal in China in some ways. Women play a greater role in the workforce, they seem more forceful, emancipated, and in the home Chinese women seem more dominant and assertive, not just letting their man boss them around. Some Chinese men also seem sort of passive. Despite it being so modernised, I've heard Korea and Japan are still a bit sexist and there's this image of women acting a certain way and being demure. The stereotypical husband/father in Korea is almost an authoritarian ogre.
Would SE Asia be more like China or Japan/Korea? Vietnam seems more like China, with women playing larger roles, and in Thailand females seem to play a major role. Despite Islam Malaysia and Indonesia aren't too bad, I mean Indonesia has had a female president. Same with the Philippines.
Or is this just an outsider's perception?
People used to talk about how patriarchal Chinese society was/is, but growing up it often seemed the opposite, compared to say the societies like the Middle East or something.
Due to the one child policy, many families now only have a daughter. So these daughters now get benefits of education and family investment which in the past might have primarily gone to only the family sons. So I think this has benefited Chinese and given them more power in their society as they too can bring financial benefits to their families.
True about the one child policy. And yeah, maybe this generation is very different from the last.
Maybe things are more equal in Korea than SE Asia. I wonder.
The Philippines has already had 2 female presidents. It was traditionally more of a matriarchal society until the Spanish & Americans came. Now it's kinda both
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smtchll
The Philippines has already had 2 female presidents. It was traditionally more of a matriarchal society until the Spanish & Americans came. Now it's kinda both
It seems most of the bigger civilisations, if not all, are patriarchal to some degree. A lot of tribal societies are matriarchal. There's one in Burma or Thailand where women have several husbands and they choose which men they want to marry.
One child had some effects, but communism in China has been pushing the importance of both male and female comrades since the beginning of the government. Similar to how the US distributed "Rosie the Riveter" propaganda during WWII- the message that working, capable women strengthen the country.
10 years in Japan and 44 married to a Japanese woman...Japan is "the hidden matriarch". The wife is the power behind the throne. A kind of female dominated "bakufu". Step too far out of line and you will find that cute little kitten you married is really a tiger with really big claws.
That said, the old Japanese still holds true. A man's ideal situation is "to be married to a Japanese wife, live in an American house and eat Chinese food."
It seems things are more equal in China in some ways. Women play a greater role in the workforce, they seem more forceful, emancipated, and in the home Chinese women seem more dominant and assertive, not just letting their man boss them around. Some Chinese men also seem sort of passive. Despite it being so modernised, I've heard Korea and Japan are still a bit sexist and there's this image of women acting a certain way and being demure. The stereotypical husband/father in Korea is almost an authoritarian ogre.
Would SE Asia be more like China or Japan/Korea? Vietnam seems more like China, with women playing larger roles, and in Thailand females seem to play a major role. Despite Islam Malaysia and Indonesia aren't too bad, I mean Indonesia has had a female president. Same with the Philippines.
Or is this just an outsider's perception?
People used to talk about how patriarchal Chinese society was/is, but growing up it often seemed the opposite, compared to say the societies like the Middle East or something.
When I was in South Korea, the Korean women use to often remark how Chinese husbands helped with housework and such.
In Korea, you would never see a Korean guy ever do anything considered 'womens work'. I ever heard plenty of stories of a Korean woman at work, and just some random co-worker would ask her to go get him coffee. Things like that. I even heard that between brothers and sisters. If Mom wasn't home, his sister had to 'serve' him. 'Serve' mostly in regards to if he wanted something to eat, drink, or snack on.
So, is there gender equality in China? I have no idea, but whatever they have, Korean women certainly seemed to think it was better over there.
In China, there was Communist propaganda that said "women hold up half of the sky". I am not sure if it's really encouraging gender equality or it's just asking women to work and bring home some money.
In Japan, I heard that most husbands actually hand their earnings to the wife, and it is the wife who does the budget and the finances. Some people say they're actually the power behind the throne.
From some anecdotes I heard, Korean wives are actually proud that their husbands go out drinking and doing "business deals" late at night!
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