Culture and Gender

               China, like all other countries, does have its fair share of problems when it comes to gender roles and gender biases. In the past my country has even had to pass law to try and stop the role that gender bias play(Chang, Mina, 2008). Today, being so young and an only child from a well off family, I feel personally have never been affected by the stigma that my country has against woman. Hopefully in the future when I am looking for work I won't have any problems either.

                Lots of people around the world have heard about my countries one child per family policy. This policy was implemented in 1979 to slow down our rapid population growth (Berna, Ioana-Bianca, 2013). Although the policy has its downfalls. It has some positive aspects when it comes to gender equality (Berna, Ioana-Bianca,2013).  For example the law helps eliminate gender favoritism with in the family unit because there is only one child in the household (Berna, Ioana-Bianca, 2013). In the past, and sometimes still today, families put more importance on the male child (Chang, Mina, 2008).  This is because in Chinese culture it is said to be the responsibility of the son to take care of the family when the parents are old (Chang, Mina, 2008).  The son also retains the family name which in China carries importance (Chang, Mina, 2008). With only one child allowed the home parents are not able to give more attention or resources to the male child (Berna, Ioana-Bianca, 2013). 

                The one child policy also has it downfall. I've heard of families on the news  abandoning baby girls or aborting girls just because they want a boy (Chang, Mina, 2008). Thank goodness my family is sane and realize that woman are just as capable as men.  All this gender bias caused by the law has created a rather severe gender gap here in China (Chang, Mina, 2008).  This means that there are more males than females, about 18:1 on average in fact (Chang, Mina, 2008).  This imbalance leads to social problems such as a greater incentive to traffic and sell woman(Chang, Mina, 2008). The risk of forced marriages and prostitution are also higher due to this gap (Chang, Mina, 2008). On the other side of the issue there is an underground industry here that kidnaps and sell baby boys because of their high demand (Chang, Mina, 2008). Later in life many men will be unable to find a spouse (Chang, Mina, 2008). Already I know boys who are worried about finding a lifelong partner. Even another reason why it becoming harder for men to find  a wife is because more and more woman are becoming educated and entering the work force. With woman busy with an education and career having children and settling down becomes lower on our priority list. In the future many believe that the problems caused the one child policy will be self corrected (Chang, Mina, 2008).  

                Here in my city of Beijing I don't feel there is a huge problem with gender inequality when it come to finding a job (Berna, Ioana-Bianca, 2013).  In fact in international terms China ranks relatively high in gender equality (Berna, Ioana-Bianca, 2013). Being a female my parents view education as even more important for me than if I were a male (Berna, Ioana-Bianca, 2013). The more education I receive the lower the chances I will be a victim of gender bias when it come to finding a job (Berna, Ioana-Bianca, 2013).  My parents tell me that some Chinese companies view men as slightly superior to woman. They say if I want to be successful, a strong diverse education is key (Berna, Ioana-Bianca, 2013).  That way I can beat the men with my smarts. I'm not too concerned with finding a job though, many foreign owned firms have a slight prejudice towards hiring woman (Berna, Ioana-Bianca,2013). In the grand scheme it all seems to even out.         

             Although China isn't perfect, when we come to gender biases and roles, I don't know of a country who is.  Many gender biases stem from evolutionary and basic needs of a civilization.  As a society changes and grows so will its attitudes and norms in reference to gender roles. In my opinion the key to equality is through education and tolerance. With more and more people going to school I feel the issues my country faces with gender inequality will only improve.  

  

Resources:

Berna, Ioana-Bianca. (2013) "Democracy and gender inequality in China." Journal of Research in        Gender Studies: 119+. Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.

Chang, Mina. (2008) "Tipping the scale: gender imbalance in China." Harvard International                 Review: 10+. Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.

My name is Song Liu. I am 19 years old and I am from Bejing, China. I have lived here my entire life since the day I was born. Bejing is the second largest city in China with about 21,150,000. Beijing is also our great country's capital. (Global Times). I love it here. There is so much to do and so many people to meet. Of course there is the former forbidden city that is now a museum, and the famous great wall of China but, in my free time I would prefer to go out with some of my close friends and Karaoke. Here another name for Karaoke is KTV (Seale). KTV is a really popular thing to do in Beijing on the weekends, there is a spot to test out your singing skills on seemingly every corner (Seale).  I also like to listen to music, I do enjoy some American artists but my favorite group has to be Fahrenheit (FeiLunzHei), I also like the Group NewVillager.  

                Here we speak many different languages but most people prefer standard Chinese, or Mandarin (World Factbook). My first language is Mandarin, and I also know English. Many educated people learn English here, because the United States is a huge trading partner with our country (World Factbook). Education is very important in China In fact my country has a literacy rate of 95.1% (World Factbook).

                My family and I do not practice any religion. Here in China we are officially atheists' as of 2002 (World Factbook). Originally some of the great eastern religions were practiced here like Daoism, and Buddhism (World Factbook). A small number of people I know practice Christianity or Muslim (World Factbook).      

                Here we have four season. Winter is very is very cold, windy and dry (Travel Guide). Spring is dry mild and rather warm (Travel Guide). Autumn  is crisp and short (Travel Guide). Sometimes in the fall we have slight showers, I love this. I find rain very relaxing . Lastly summer, our summers here are very hot and very humid (World Factbook). On some days the highs will reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit(World Factbook).  During the summer my family and I would spend our days at the park close to our house. During the winter most of time time is taken up with school. Sometimes on a weekend we would take the Beijing Subway, the second longest subway in the world, to my aunts house (Shixi) . I always really enjoyed these long weekend trips. 

                I am an only child. My two parents and I live in a small two bedroom apartment on the 12th floor. Many of my friends live in apartments as well. In the city there is very little space and a lot of people (World Factbook). Tall, high, apartments are a great way to maximize space. In the past extended family's would live together (Tsui). Today, in the city, this is changing (Tsui) . My parents and I live separately from my grandmother and aunts and uncles. 

                 Sometimes I wish I had an older brother or sister but that is very uncommon here if you are living in the city. I think it would be nice if I had an older sister that could teach me how to do my makeup and hair. But here in China there is a law that only allows family living in the city to have one child (Tsui) . Although I do suppose if I has a sibling my parents wouldn't have as much money to send me to school and provide for me.

                Growing up my parents put a huge importance on my schooling and my grades. I have always done well in school because I understand that in order to achieve in life you need to do well in school. I spend the majority of my day in school. When I am not in school a lot of the time I am studying.  I have friends in the United States who tell me how they spend a lot of time with their friend. I do spend some time with my friends but not as much as teens in the United States (Matsumoto and Linda ). My parents are normally fair, firm, and reasonable with me(Matsumoto and Linda ) .  When it comes to me wanting to go out instead of study. We are normally able to come to some type of comprise.

                 My life here in Beijing is great. I l have a great supportive family, and education, and a roof over my head. I really couldn't ask for anything else. 

References:

Global Times, . "Beijing Population Reaches 21 Million."Global Times. Global Times, 23 Janunary 2014. Web. 20 Feb 2014.

                Matsumoto, David, and Juang Linda. Culture & Psychology. 5. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth,Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.

                Seale, Shelley. "6 Unusualthings to do in Beijing, China."MatadorNetwork. MandorNetwork, 02 Feb 2010. Web. 20 Feb 2014.

                Shixi, . "30 subway lines to cover Beijing by 2020." China Daily. Chinadaily.com, 28 May 2010. Web. 21 Feb 2014.

                Travel Guide, . "Beijing Weather." TravelChinaGuide.com. TravelChinaGuide, n.d. Web. 21 Feb 2014.

                Tsui, Ming. "Changes in Chinese Urban Family Structure."JSTOR. National Council on Family Relations. Web. 21 Feb 2014.

                World Factbook, . "East and Southeast Asia: China." The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency, 11 Feb 2014. Web. 20 Feb 2014.