Role of Asian Women

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

It's interesting to see how much economic control Asian women weld in their households. Like the Japanese, the Korean women hold the family purse-strings and determine where wise investments are to be. Historically, there were Asian matriarch society--Heian period, for example, from the 700-1100's A.D. Moreover, I recently found out that in Korean history, females used to have the same property rights as male offsprings until the Confucianism infiltrated the society at large, where those rights were taken away.

Are there any other cultures that have had strong matriarchal-society that either dissolved or still exist today?

[Anonymous]

I know that "ancient" Vietnam, despite being under Han and Tang control did grant their women more rights than other traditional Asian countries. Two women led a revolt in Vietnam, the Trung Sisters, over their husbands deaths in the 1st century BC.

Also, many Native American cultures also have a matriarchal society. Women have the power to divorce (even though it was uncommon) and they were responsible for not only the home, but growing food as well. Men were responsible for hunting. This leads to Americans perceiving Native American men as lazy.

I also have brief and fluttering memories from college about the Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea and other tribes in Africa that also have matriarchal practices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matriarchy

[Anonymous]

Definitely something to read about and I'm constantly astounded by the amount of similarities across cultures, when it comes to ideologies/customs/ and the like. The idea of Pangaea seems even more plausible. I would be interested in studying how cultures have maintained and passed down information throughout the world, enough to hold the similarities and differentiating at the same time. It makes me think about the different variation of the creation myths across cultures.

[Anonymous]

The situation remains difficult for Asian Women. Statistics show that China is the only country where women commit suicide more than men. Every uear 1.5 million women attempt to take their own lives and 150.000 acctually succeed. Many feel that there is no way out of abusive marriages and often no one to turn to, often no money and no education to find a job in order to become self sufficient.

[Anonymous]

Ditto, the control of the purse strings was a surprise to me, and I would like to know more about that. Here, we have moved towards equity, with historically the male being in control. Are the Asian men becoming more forceful in taking on more of the financial responsiblity now? I too would like to know more about this.

[Anonymous]

Traditionally, women hold the purse-strings in the Philippines as well. Many women now work in the cities and education is considered to be very important. Often, Filipina women are more responsible with money than Filipino men, and don't seem to indulge in the drinking/gambling/carousing routine at the same rate as the men do.

Although Filipina women are strong in a sense, they also have to suffer in silence sometimes. Being a predominantly Catholic country, divorce is not allowed in the Philippines. We knew many women who had to put up with their husbands having "mistresses". The richer the men were, the more mistresses they had. Some children of the mistresses even went to the same private schools as the legitimate children--talk about awkward! There aren't enforced rules about child support either, so many poor women have no recourse if their husbands leave them, or if a man gets them pregnant and takes off.

I love Asia, but as a woman I'm glad to make my home now in the U.S.

[Anonymous]

Your description of the Filipina women sounds alot like Irish women. The men may have made the money, but the women tended to be the responsible ones, taking care of the household, while the men went to the pub (with their allowance).

[Anonymous]

I would have to agree and on the position of women even in Mexico. It sounds similar to your description of women in the Philipines. I have many family members (aunts and cousins) who had to suffer the same fate as what you described. In doing some of the reading for the Seminar, though, I was struck by Qiu Jin (1875-1907), a devoted Chinese feminist, activist who was against the binding of girl's feet and wanted the liberation of women. She even left her husband for her neverending quest to get freedom. And although she was excuted during her many attempts to overthrow the Manchus, she serves as an example to Chinese women (all women actually) that we do have rights and that we need to exert them when we need to! Its sad, as was pointed out, that many modern Chinese women take their own lives because they see no alternatives![Edit by="dtorres on Feb 24, 1:52:37 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I have thought about doing a lesson where the students research the different roles of women in different cultures. Does anyone have good websites that I could look at to get information about this?

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