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Even though in rural areas in China, sex discrimination still exists-especially with the one child policy, the status of women in society has been promoted dramatically. Some people even think that women actually have higher status than men by taking advantage of the so-called “vulnerable group”. For example, in contrast to other countries, a married woman in China still keeps her own surname instead of using her husband’s one.
Traditionally the family has been the most important unit of Chinese society, and a woman was considered subordinate to her husband, because normally men took more responsibility for the budget in the family. But in modern society, both the husband and the wife will work. So with the financial independence, women have more discourse right in their families.
Traditionally due to the lack of pension system, when parents got old, it was the son who would raise them. However, nowadays it is interesting that husbands often spend more time with their parents-in-law than his own parents in many urban families. So the preference to have a boy has been changing quietly.
Traditionally a woman had to be loyal to her husband throughout her whole life even though she was abandoned by her husband. Remarriages were often scoffed at by the community. With rapid economic growth and western influence, this concept has been subverting. The divorce rate has surged remarkably in recent years. At the same time, women in China have been deeply influenced by the internet. With the help of chatting online tools, they can easily pursue their own romantics in the virtual world.
Traditionally women had the thrifty virtue. But there has been an undesirable trend in recent years towards the worship of money. Wealth has become their only standard scale to measure all things. They are unwilling to live in poverty and are chasing the life of luxury. It is estimated that China will account for about 20 precent, or $27 billion, of the global luxury market.
Almost everything has been changing in China. So have Chinese women. They have the right to enjoy the freedom and opportunity to master their own fate as long as they won’t lose themselves on their journeys.