Ban Zhao: A Study in Chinese Gender Roles

Presentation Type

Oral and/or Visual Presentation

Presenter Major(s)

Communications - Communication Studies, Chinese Studies

Mentor Information

Yan Liang

Department

Modern Languages and Literatures

Location

Kirkhof Center 1104

Start Date

11-4-2012 1:00 PM

Keywords

Culture, Gender

Abstract

Ban Zhao (45-116 CE) is one of the most influential women writers in Chinese history. She represents a strong-willed, well-educated, and talented woman in her writings, and her achievements show everyone that women are talented, and they can be ambitious and successful. However, her work Precepts for My Daughters teaches women to be submissive and accept that their husbands can have concubines, while as wives they must remain faithful. In Ban Zhao's opinion, women have to keep in mind that their husbands are on the top of the pyramid of authority in the family, and women have to show respect to their father, brothers, and all the other male relatives. In my opinion, Ban Zhao's Precepts for My Daughters goes against how she represented herself in her writings. Unfortunately, this work "marks the beginning of a tradition of moral tracts written for women by women, in which the subordination of women to men is presented as an accepted fact of life" (Grant & Idema, 33).

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Apr 11th, 1:00 PM

Ban Zhao: A Study in Chinese Gender Roles

Kirkhof Center 1104

Ban Zhao (45-116 CE) is one of the most influential women writers in Chinese history. She represents a strong-willed, well-educated, and talented woman in her writings, and her achievements show everyone that women are talented, and they can be ambitious and successful. However, her work Precepts for My Daughters teaches women to be submissive and accept that their husbands can have concubines, while as wives they must remain faithful. In Ban Zhao's opinion, women have to keep in mind that their husbands are on the top of the pyramid of authority in the family, and women have to show respect to their father, brothers, and all the other male relatives. In my opinion, Ban Zhao's Precepts for My Daughters goes against how she represented herself in her writings. Unfortunately, this work "marks the beginning of a tradition of moral tracts written for women by women, in which the subordination of women to men is presented as an accepted fact of life" (Grant & Idema, 33).