(CH: 7-9) What I found most sad...

  What I found most sad was what women had to go through and still even face today.  I was raised and taught to respect women especially growing up with my family consisting of powerful, intelligent, and hard working dedicated women.  I now have two daughters who I continue to help support, raise their awareness of feminism, and understand how important it is to be a woman but also a woman of culture.

 During the Tang dynasty, the Chinese elite women enjoyed freedom but Japanese and Korean women experienced pressures of Confucian orthodoxy.  Japan’s women, unlike those in Korea, were more free from the oppressive features of Chinese Confucian culture, like the prohibition of remarriage for widows, seclusion within the home, and foot binding.  Japanese women continued to inherit property, Japanese married couples often didn't have to live with each other or stayed with their family still and marriages happened but didn't last long which these were not the Confucian values.

 In the Song Dynasty, Confucianism valued the men more than the women and it was the woman that had to "obey" the man.  During the Song Dynasty, women were often looked down upon as inferior and if they were seen doing "masculine" things then they were seen as rebellious or the man was being disrespected. The Song dynasty historian and scholar Sima Guang (1019–1086) summed up the prevailing view: “The boy leads the girl, the girl follows the boy; the duty of husbands to be resolute and wives to be docile begins with this.”

  Even in those times, there was some positives but they were outweighed by the negatives.  The Song dynasty had women's property rights expanded (but by how much really if they are comparing it to a man's land...), allowing women to inherit property from their families, and education for women with an excuse of only to help raise their sons and possibly help with their fortunes.  I still feel that women deserve more and shouldn't matter of what their status is, but should be treated equally and need the same respect you should treat any human being.  To me, women have the power to give life and thats more than just a gift, but it's not only what differentiates men from women, it shows true strength.

  I dedicate this blog and show my appreciation to my mom, my lady, my daughters, my grandmothers, aunties, friends/family, and all the powerful women of the world.  I'm really blessed and grateful for having ya'll in my life.  I am not who I am today without any of you.  Thank you!