How Asian Countries' History and Culture Affect the Gender Roles?

        History and culture are two prominent parts in every country as they both organize and affect the society up to the present. They influence different areas in the society including education, employment, tradition and family etc. Although they have certain amount of influence in these areas, gender roles are influenced significantly. Gender role occurs in everyone’s life and they construct the cognition of people. Different gender roles include “set of behaviors, attitudes and personality characteristics expected and encouraged of a person based on his or her sex” (Sparknotes 1). The reason that history and culture affect the gender role is because gender is socialized. The terms ‘Gender Socialization’ means that the gender roles are separated with the help of social agencies and “a tendency for boys and girls to be socialized differently” (Sparknotes 1). Since the gender roles are mainly socialized, the main effects of society – history and culture are influential enough to build the model of gender roles. In the history, there were some cases which may affect the society status of men and women. Also, the traditions of different cultures may form or ruin the behaviors of the gender roles.

        In global, the issues of gender roles may be very different. They may be affected by different ways or even different countries may be in contrast with each other. Gender inequality is one of the most common results of constructing gender roles and it can be easily found in Eastern countries. In this research article, I would like to focus on how the history and culture in Asian countries affect the gender roles, especially Japan and China. They are two dominant countries in Asia and both of them have abundant histories for me to analyze the ways that affect gender roles. After reading relevant information, I found that the situations of how the histories affect the gender roles in Japan and China are very similar because women in these two countries were trying to improve their society status and right in different historical events. However, the cultures in their own countries still limit their freedom even though there is improvement of status throughout the years. Men are paid much attention to and the traditions strengthen their status and ability.

Foot binding in China

        The issue of gender roles has been appeared in Chinese history for more than thousands years. There were many historical events which had discussed or concerned about the gender roles. From the very beginning of history in China, women were treated negatively and unfairly. They were supposed to stay at home to do housework and not to study and participate in society. Confucianism, a Chinese ethnical and philosophical system developed by Kung Fu Zi, was mainly the first event in China that placed women in China at certain status. Kung stated that “an ignorant woman is virtuous” which discouraged women to study and improve their society statuses. Hence, the Confucian followed this concept and the activities or movement of women were then restricted by it. Neo-Confucian in Song dynasty (960—1279 C.E) stratified the status of women much more and they promote their beliefs through actions such as the practices of foot binding, insistence on widow chastity, and the selling of unwanted daughters. This situation continued until the May Fourth Movement in 1919 which also called the New Cultural Movement. Women in China first “experienced their own emancipation and wrote about social restraints within the traditional authoritarian family system” (Reese 3). Although they were not successful enough to improve their status, they showed their determination and it was a milestone of the situation of gender roles in China. Because of following historical events in China, Mao Zedong, the first Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, devised a slogan “Women Hold Up Half the Sky” to encourage women to join the campaign and fight for their rights. These actions attracted the society, however, the problem remained. In 1978, the Chinese government changed their policies for countries and it revoked the restrictions of women till now.

        Though the gender difference isn’t erased, it is exactly an improvement for the status of women in China. They were placed at the lower end of the patriarchal family structure in the past but they now have definite freedom to act in the society. Men in China had powerful authorities in the past as China is a Patriarchal society. The history doesn't affect their roles a lot because they are still important characters in the society. The Chinese history is very meaningful in explaining how the gender roles are affected. It is obvious to see the behaviors and attitudes of female gender changed through this long period.

        The history of Japan is a slightly different from China’s as women were powerful before the 8^th century due to Shintoism, a religion in Japan which power is held by women. It emphasized the female mystical power so women had high society status at that time. In Heian era, women were admitted to inherit, own and manage property. The abilities in marriage and education were equivalent to both men and women. However, things became differently in Tokugawa era as the samurai culture occurred. Men were the only one who was “allowed to become the house hold head and have authority and ownership of family property” (Kumar 1). Also, women needed to follow Three Obediences: “When she is young, she obeys her father; when she is married, she obeys her husband; when she is widowed, she obeys her son.” It was clear that women didn't have high position in society and their responsibilities were just to assist husbands. As Japan needed to modernize its society and rise its position in global, female was invited to participate in society during the Meiji Restoration. As Japan had industrialization in 1868, a larger number of women started working although what they earned was very low comparing to men’.

In recent years, the problem of gender roles has been weakened since the society now pays attention to the equality between male and female. They both have the same access to education, health care and some other public services. Besides, women in Japan nowadays are independent enough to change their jobs and choose when and whom to marry. It is a success of Japan that liberates women in their society and it is hopeful that the situation will be much improved due to the globalization. As Japan first increased women’ society statuses because of the restoration, globalization will help on this issue, too.

        Not only the histories affect the gender roles, the culture of country also influences them a lot. In China, the culture exactly separated the gender roles. Since people in China follow the traditions, the gender roles are constructed differently and they have their own behaviors, attitudes and personality characteristic.

        Men in China are supposed to be strong and responsible as they are the leader of the family. As China is a Patriarchal society, men need to in charge of the work and also the society. Therefore, they need to be wise enough to make decision. People prefer giving birth to male since they think male can earn money through different kinds of work which female cannot. They will be sent to school and study because only men have chances to be hired by the government.

        The situation is totally different for women in China due to the serious gender inequality. Once people find that they give birth to female, they will either abandon or kill the baby girl. There are two reasons for them to do that: lower manpower and violation of the government policies. Thinking that female cannot earn money and work in farm, parents will not choose to raise female. Moreover, the Chinese government carries out birth control and parents will be punished if they give birth to more than two babies. My grandparents used to live in mainland China years ago and they gave birth to six children including three females. Knowing that they would be punished, they left two children in China and went to Hong Kong to escape from it. They told that it was too unfair to kill or throw away baby girls and that’s why they chose to escape. Furthermore, women are not expected to study at school because the attitudes of their gender role. Women are deemed that it is meaningless for them to learn as they are too stupid. Also, China’s society appears the condition of glass ceiling, “a promotion barrier that prevents a woman’s upward mobility within an organization” (Giddens 260). Even if they have same social standing with men, women can never be a superior or boss. Seeing as helpless and incapable, women can only reach or move beyond mid-management ranks.

        In Japan, culture also affects the gender roles, especially the youngsters’. Nowadays, many young men focus on comics and video games which are extremely popular in Japan. Based on news, these men don't have economic foundation and they are lack of experience and education to find jobs. They become silent, autistic or even feminine. Their social status has been lowered and the number of people is still increasing rapidly. Also, these teenagers admire the girls in the comic and they help increased the social position of women indirectly. Since the manga is one of the most popular culture in Japan, it is undoubted that the culture takes part in affecting the gender roles of youngsters.

        Another culture that affects the gender role in Japan is the Geisha culture. From mid eighteenth century, women became important roles in Geisha culture. Geisha is still a symbol of Japan now and it shows the traditional Japanese culture. It is very rare and precious to be a Geisha since it needs high tuition fee and difficult and long practice period. Girls need to be trained when they are young. Everything that they do and act is restricted and all they need to present is respect, elegant and gorgeous. However, it is an honor for a family to have a geisha in Japan because geisha is a very decent job. It is remarkable for girls to become a qualified geisha. This tradition also raises the social class of women indirectly because it holds women in a high place. The amount of geisha is now decreasing and their social statuses will be much higher in the future.

         To conclude, the history and culture of Asian countries such as Japan and China have affected the gender roles relatively. Even if the gender roles can be influenced by different ways, it is very likely to believe that the history and culture play the most important part of it. Without considering the history and culture, the gender roles will not be divided clearly and be so influential. Since the history and culture of countries affected the gender roles significantly, it will definitely change a society’s structure and take part in different influences. For instance, the family structure will be directly regulated as the gender roles shape differently. Education and career choices will be arranged because the traditional expectations are no longer exist. History and culture of countries is not only the model of the past but they also change and impress everyone at the moment. The effect of gender roles is a momentous one.

Citation:

Giddens, Anthony, Mitechell Duneier, Richrd P. Appelbaum, and Deborah Carr. Essential of Sociology. 2nd edition. New York: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2007. 250-252. Print.

SparkNotes Editors. "SparkNote on Socialization." SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2006. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.

Kumar, V., Kimberley Heit, Jennifer Smith, and Steve Lussing. "Japanese View of Gender Roles." Helium April 20,2008:1-4. Web. March 18 2011.

Reese, Lyn. "Gender Difference in History: Women in China and Japan". Women in World History Curriculum, March 2003. Web. March 20 2011. http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/essay-04/html.

McLelland, Mark. "Constructing the 'Modern Couple' in Occupied Japan." Australian National University 23 (2010_:Web. March 20 2011. http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue23/mclelland.htm.



Trying Juveniles As Adults Or Not

True Notebooks:
A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall
by Mark Salzman
Photo taken by me

    Many juveniles in California have been tried as adults even for minor offenses due to Proposition 21 and the state law. However, I think trying them as adults is not a good way to help and educate them. In the book 'True Notebooks: A Write's Year at Juvenile Hall' by Mark Salzman, the writer gives his own experience about teaching the writing class in the Juvenile Hall and demonstrates the situation of different juveniles. He shows us how they acted in the jail and their stories through the passages that they wrote. In my opinions, trying the juveniles as adults is not a good way to rehabilitate them since it is too harsh and ruthless for them. The juveniles may feel stressful and hopeless when they are in the hall. Moreover, the delinquents are too young to get into the adult prison system as they are not well educated and cared before they get arrested. Knowing the reason or situation that they commit crime is also very important because we can determine if the crime is serious.

    Juveniles are just some teenagers who commit crime wrongly and it is too cruel for them to try as adults. When they are trying as adults, "they would alsmot surely be targets for abuse and cruelty". (211) They are controlled by strict rules in the hall and "is given adult sentences", too. (50) Since they are just teenagers, I think this way is absolutely not rehabilitating them but limiting and squeezing. The thing that teenagers need is freedom because they can build their confidence and image through it. However, what I realize after reading the book is that the juveniles feel hopeless and helpless. Sister Janet even doubted that how we can "imaging being seventeen years old and feeling this lonely and confused". (42) Another example is that they are not treated fairly when they have sentence. The count-appointed lawyer for Kevin didn't take good care of his case and didn't even reply any mesages until Kevin is sentenced.

A dictionary is given to Duc, a Vietnamese,
from Mark.

    Moreover, most of the juveniles are not well educated before they get into the hall. Once they get into the hall, they will not have chances to learn and develop themselves. They are blocked from the 'outside' society and they don't even know what's happending in the global. For instance , they cannot celebrate the Christmas Eve and they can just memorize the celebration that they had few years ago. Also, education is extremely important for the teenagers, especially for juveniles; Since they have committed crim,e the chances to get jobs are lowered. Even though they are admitted, lack of experience and skill would be a serious problem. For example, Duc, who was a student in Salzman's writing class, didn't know English much before he went to the hall. If he didn't meet Salzman, he won't have chances to learn English and improve the writing skill. Thus, they may commit crime and send to prison again since they are jobless. It will affect the whole society so it is senseless.


    Last but not least, I think it is very important to understand the situation and the reason that the juveniles commit crime. Some of them are instigated by the gangs and some of them may be neglected by their parents. Different conditions may lead them to do something erroneously and we should consider their situation. Salzman tells that "society judges young people without knowing the whole story" (197) so it is essential to understnad them before trying them as adults.


    To conclude, trying juvenile as adults is not reasonable and thoughtful because it will definitely affect both the teenagers and the society. The book that Salzman writes gives a really good chance for me to understand the situation of juveniles. Since they are part of the society, I think we should show our consideration and concerntration on them. Although they did something illegal, we should give chances and care to them. The outcome of trying all of them as adults will be negative and won't help them with their future.


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Reflection:


    The process of this essay is really helpful for me to keep track on writing essay. Actually, I seldom annotate when I am reading the sources or articles. It will be very annoying if I want to find out some specific examples in the book as it is hard to find out. As I need to point out some specific examples in the book to prove my controlling ideas, I need to annotate and write short quotes when I am reading. After annotating it, I found it very useful and convenient.


    Moreover, I found that I have put too many points in one paragraph which may be very confusing and messy. I need to improve the organization of my essay so that one paragraph will only focus on one main point.

Theories of Crime and "Code of The Street"

Elijah Anderson

In the “Code of the street”, Elijah Anderson analyzed the criminal and the violence in the inner city. He shows the reasons that lead these aggressions, including campaigning respect, fighting for self-image, self-esteem and manhood and the oppositional culture. Those reasons make the children and delinquent get into the violence and the crimination in the city. In this article, Anderson uses some of the sociological theories of crime and he somehow incorporates them in the discussion of the inner-city life. I think both interactionist theories and conflict theory are the most prominent explanations in the article as they act as important roles in it. In my point of view, the interactionist theories are the best choice explaining crime since they are thoughtful and definitely describe the crime.

From “The Code of the Street”, Anderson describes the situation of how the children are treated and lived in the inner city. Children in the inner city are totally influenced by the streets and peers. They tend to hang out with friends after school and have freedom to join the activities or groups that they want. Therefore, they are influenced by their groups and then it “becomes the source of their primary social bonds.” (Anderson, 175)The reason that Anderson shows that is because it refers to the differential association in the interactionist theories. Sutherland who linked crime to differential association tells that “criminal behavior is learned within primary groups, particularly peer groups.” (Giddens, 160) Children from inner city may witness to the violence of adult and, therefore, they will share or mimicked those behaviors to other children.

The labeling theory in the interactionist theory is also an important role for the article. When writing about manhood, Anderson tells that some males from inner city consider themselves as “physicality and certain ruthlessness.” (Anderson, 178) To gain respect, they widely belief that the most effective way is to show “nerve”. It “exposes a lack of fear of dying”. (Anderson, 180) They appear toughly and manly in a conscious way. The secondary deviation from the labeling theory explains it: “when the individual comes to accept the label and see himself as a deviant” (Giddens, 161), they may do deviation or even crime. The example from the article totally adapts the theory. Since those males accept their positions in the society, they can use crime whenever they want as they are supposed to.

Although the conflict theory is somehow opposite to the interactionist theory, Anderson also used it in his own article. The conflict theorists “claimed that as inequalities increase between the ruling class and the working class, law becomes an ever more important instrument for the powerful to maintain order.” (Giddens, 161)However, Anderson argued that “the code of the streets is actually a cultural adaptation to a profound lack of faith in the police and the judicial system.” (Anderson, 172) Since the police seem to represent the white middle class society, the inner city residents feel being alienated and not being cared or protected. After all, Anderson claims that the judicial system is not as important as the conflict theorists said.

Last but not least, Anderson used the subcultural explanation the end of his article. Subcultural explanation argues that “boys in the lower working class who are frustrated with their positions in life often join together in delinquent subcultures, such as gangs.” (Giddens, 160) These gangs may reject middle class value and may engage in criminal behavior. In the article, Anderson talks about why the young people from inner city used to adapt the code of the street. They “have become most alienated and lack in strong and conventional social support”. (Anderson, 182)They think that they have been rejected from the society and so, they need to invest themselves into the subcultural situation to “preserve themselves and their self-respect”. (Anderson, 182)

The reason that I think the interactionist theories is the best choice to explain crime is that they are thoughtful. The theories include different minor explanations and they totally describe the crime. For instance, differential association helps to explain how people start learning criminal and aggression. Labeling theory helps to show how people continue to invest crime.

To conclude, Anderson tried to apply and emphasize the sociological theories of crime in his article. The article totally shows the readers how the theories are related to the reality due to the examples he gives. Therefore, I think the four sociological explanations that I talk about are most prominent in this article.


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Reflection:

After writing this essay, I found that it is quite important and meaningful to combine two sources. When I finished reading “the Code of The Street”, I can easily find some points that relate to the theories in the textbook. I can then compare and contrast the points in both articles. It will be very persuasive if I can quote information from another source to prove what I have read and my thoughts, too.

Moreover, I found that using quotations is very useful because I can clearly tell what I exactly want to analyze through the quotation. It may not be that clear if I use several sentences rather than one or two sentences from textbook. It will be much more information and persuasive, too.

What's Yours? What's Hers?

Farmworker''s Daughter
Photo taken and edited by me

    Everyone has different influences in their own life and some of them may affect their identities and the way that they define themselves. Those major influences can be their peers, family, culture, study, or even media. When analyzing Farmworker’s Daughter, I found that Rose Castillo Gilbault , the main character in the story, was influenced in different ways. No matter it was the culture and tradition or how she was isolated, or even her experiences of making friends, all of these have affected her a lot. By comparing to her, I realized that there was no big difference between her and me. Both of us were influenced by these things and it somehow changed our identities, too.

    Rose was mostly influenced by the culture since she moved from Mexico to the King City, which brings her a lot of culture changes. She got a mixture of Mexican and American culture as she went back and forth to Mexico and America in her childhood. She first found the culture gap when she was at school. She didn’t exactly know what Barbie was and she realized that “cultural gaffes were far more difficult to overcome than language gaps” (P50). However, by celebrating the Christmas in Mexico, she found that Christmas can “fill the emptiness created by [her] psychological isolation in American culture and the physical isolation that came from living on a remote farm” (P115). Also, she understood the style of American from the Sears “wish book” and she thought that it was “the best record of American material culture” (P55). It was clear that her identity was affected by the culture and she tried to overcome the cultural gap, though. 


    For me, I was influenced by the different culture between American and Chinese, too. I was born and raised in Hong Kong and I know most of the traditions of Chinese. However, I had a culture shock after coming to the United States. Everything seems different comparing to what I used to do in Hong Kong. For example, we never have Thanksgiving Day which is a holiday that stores sell stuffs in bargaining prices. It’s quite impossible for us to have a feast with turkey in Christmas since it is not our habit. Costco, which is a whole-sale store in the US, is very attractive and amazing to me as all goods are in super large size. Most importantly, I started considering myself as part of American since I stay and have life here. It is important for me to adapt myself to the new culture. The situations that Rose and I had were similar and we both defined ourselves differently after seeing a new culture. 




English affects both Rose and me.

     Furthermore, I think language influenced Rose a lot, too. Since she didn’t speak English fluently when she first came to the King City, she felt isolated and introverted. She was scoffed by her classmates and she even felt worried to go to school. When she was at school, she found that “the teacher’s instructions would wash over [her] like a wave” and “[she] heard the sounds but didn’t understand their purpose” (P48). The language problem made her school life much more difficult and she didn’t have a proper social intercourse. Nevertheless, she encouraged herself to learn and improve English and she was empowered by those difficult words. Undoubtedly, she was affected by language since it built her confidence and interest of learning English.


    I had a similar situation but, of course, it was not as serious as hers. Since I learned both Chinese and English after entering the kindergarten, I had basic knowledge of English. However, I had difficulties of using English after coming to the states. I could not communicate with some American classmates at first and I felt so isolated and lonely. When I tried to join their conversation, it was just so hard for me to understand what they were talking about. I had the same feeling that the conversation “washed over me like a wave”. The speed of their speaking was rapid and I was embarrassed at all. Fortunately, I met some Chinese students at school and, finally I had someone to talk to. I know that it would be a disadvantage for me to stay away from the native students as I cannot improve my English. However, I don't want to be isolated as Rose and I will still encourage myself to meliorate my English, too.


    Last but not least, the experience of making friends influenced Rose. She didn’t have friends in the King City at first since she didn't learn English and she lived far away from the town. She first met Billie, a married girl who lived in their old house, and they became good friends. She didn't feel so alone and enjoyed making friends. After that, she followed Screamies including Barbara Jo, who was a fashionable girl in her school. However, none of them cared about Rose after having a boyfriend and also Rose understood that “no one flirted with [her] and [she] didn’t find any of the boys interesting anyway” (P131). She then met Karen and Erline but, unluckily, she found that their behaviors were just not suitable for her to approach them. At first, Rose was lonely as she didn’t have friends. But then, she felt awkward after meeting some new friends and just left them. She was mostly influenced by peers and these experiences taught her something, too.

All of my classmate were celebrating Christmas
in our classroom.

    For me, I am totally influenced by my friends since they are big part in my life. I love making friends and it is easy for me to meet friends since I am so talkative and active. Unlike Rose, I don't easily leave my friends at all because everyone has different personality. It is very important for us to learn how to get along well with friends. Furthermore, the experiences that I had with my friends were also memorable. We didn’t follow any singer, nor did we live near. We hung around in the campus everyday when we were in the high school. There were so many things which are unforgettable happened around us. Once we slept together during class, we were punished by the teacher. The reason that we were punished is not because of how angry the teacher was. That is because the teacher was so afraid to be punished by the principal for letting students sleeping in class.

    To conclude, everyone must be affected by different kind of influences they have in their life. Once they adapt a new environment or culture, they may need to change their identities or the way they define themselves. Looking at Gilbault’s life, I realized that both of us were influenced by same kind of influences. We both changed the definition of ourselves to a certain degree.

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Reflection:
    After writing this essay, I learned how to combine information and my own experience into the passage. We need to do it carefully since it helps the readers understand the essay. We should also put things which are in the same groups together so that it won't be so confusing.


    Also, I found that using the appositives are quite important and meaningful for the essay. We can easily add more desciptions when using the appositives. It can provide information to the readers. Also, using quotation is a good way for us to combine the sentences in the articles and our essay. Although it is quite difficult to use it properly, it is a very important part in the essay.

Identity Construction

    Everyone has their own responsibility in the society and each of them has different identity to help grouping the community. It would be so important and meaningful to see how our identity is formed and how it works, too. I think socialization, sociological imagination and how we consider ‘self’ would be the three most important things to form our “identity”. They are all totally connected to how the identity is formed and the reason the identity is formed.


    First of all, the sociological imagination “enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals.” (Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills) It means that people need to consider the historical scene in their own lives. What identity will be affected is that people will start changing their own mind because of the history and, so on, the identity will be formed differently. Moreover, the sociological imagination works between “the personal troubles of milieu and the public issues of social structural” which means that the identity will be formed as between two of them. The identity will be considered as a group of people rather than individual.

    Next the identity is somehow affected by “socialization” and the “life course” (Socialization, the life course and aging E.S.) that we have in our own life. Rather than considering theory like sociological imagination, thinking and talking about some real things such as the experience in our life will have much more reality and meaningful, too. From different stages of development for children, including sensorimotor, preoperational and operational, I found that it is quite important to know how children develop for us to see how the identity is formed. The agents of socialization “occurs in infancy and childhood” and what they do to children will absolutely affect the identity of children. That is because children are building their own minds and identities when they are growing up. Furthermore, the media will change how the identity is formed, too. 

    Last but not least, we may consider “self” when we try to know how identity is formed. “Self has the characteristic that it is an object to itself.” When we form the identity, we may need consciousness and then consider our own experience and situation. Communication provides “a form of behavior” for self to become an object to them and so they can consider themselves and know their identity. 

    To conclude, identity can be perfectly formed by the work of sociological imagination, the effect of “socialization” and “life course” and how we consider “self”. Constructing identity may be difficult, but, it let us see and understand ourselves clearly and sharply.

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Reflection:


    Since it is the first time for me to write in-class essay in this English class, it was quite frightening though. However, I did learn something from the essay. It is very important to know the information that we are analyzing clearly as we need to coorperate it in our essay. If we are not familiar with the information, it is very hard to write an appropriate essay.


    Also, I realized that we have to think broadly and not just focus on ourselves. The key term in this essay "Sociological Imagination" is a very significant concept to state that it is meaningful to think of our society from a little case in our life.

Biography of Tiffany Wong

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    Hi everyone! I am Tiffany Wong ,an international student studying in California from Hong Kong, China. I love listening to Rock and Roll music and I love playing jazz drum and electric guitar. My hobbies include driving, taking photos of beautiful view, watching any kinds of television show in Taiwan and, of course, sleeping. I am now nineteen years old and I am Saggitarius, which means that I am active, adventuous, optimistic and talkative.


    I used to stay with my parents and my brother in Hong Kong before I came to the United States. In the winter of 2009, I decided to study aboard in California. It was a turning point in my life since things totally changed. I am now living with my friend and her family in a house in Mountain View. Hopefully, I will transfer out in Fall 2011 to UCs or private universities. I am interested in communicating with people, using media to know much about the society and making advertisement or marketing stuff.