PICTURE CHINA

Up until the Communist Revolution, Chinese women occupied the bottom rung of the social ladder. Undesirable from birth, women were treated much like property, first by their fathers and then by their husbands. Women were forced into arranged marriages and were not entitled to divorce or to own property.

In the early 1950’s, with the declaration that “women hold up half the sky”, Mao Zedong and the new communist government dramatically changed the status of women in China. At least in theory, women were given equal rights in economic, cultural and family life and equal pay for equal work. A new marriage law granted the right for women to choose their partners, get divorced and inherit property. However, the legacy of thousands of years of servitude did not wear off overnight and only now are some women starting to achieve true equality.

Today in China’s modern cities, the status of women is higher than it has ever been. Certainly compared to many other developing nations, modern Chinese women enjoy a high degree of respect and rights. While Chinese society is still, at times, chauvinistic, women have started to enter the upper echelons of the business world and government. The next generation of young women will, no doubt, enjoy even more equality and play an invaluable role in shaping the China of the 21st century.