Gender issues in asian traditions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Gender issues in asian traditions - examine ExampleThe Confucians viewed the cosmic order as life-giving, relational, and harmonious in the interaction of its parts and this gratitude for life was ocular in their worship of the ancestors (Kelleher 137). Even though Confucianism considered family life and marriage as sacred, relationships, for the Confucians, were hierarchical in nature. As Kelleher points out parents, rulers, husbands and older siblings enjoyed higher social positions whereas the positions of children, subjects, wives and younger siblings were inferior(Kelleher 138). Wives needed to remain submissive to their husbands. The utilization of women was identify with the earth Confucianism held that the position of women in the human order should be lowly and inferior like the earth, and that the right behaviour for a woman was to be yielding and weak, passive and still like the earth (Kelleher 140). In the same way, one can also find similar passive and submissive rol es attributed to women in Hinduism. As Young suggests, the role of women and their rituals during this period was limited to maintaining social and cosmic order. Even though the Vedic womens role was esteemed as wife and mother, she had to remain as a silent checkmate in the Vedic rituals. The husbands role was much prominent as he was the venerable head of the family.In Confucianism and Hinduism women were subject to certain codes of conduct. The role of women in Confucianism was very often limited to the family whereas the role played by men was viewed in the wider social-political order. Women were subject to three types of obedience in the family structure as a daughter she was subject to her father as a wife, to her husband and when older, to her son (Kelleher 140). Another disqualifying factor that restricted womans active role was her lack of preparation. While boys had formal education in history and the classics, girls had to remain at