Women in China during 19th century
Within the Chinese family, women's position was very low. Their position in the hierarchy determined rank and responsibility. Daughters was expected to obey their parents' authority, assist their mothers in domestic tasks, and, in elite families, learn to read and write. When the young women reached the marriage age, would marry into a family of their parents' choosing, left the home of their birth permanently. After they married, young women should participated a position relative to their husband's place in the family. The wife was always subject to her mother-in-law's authority in addition to her husband's. She needed to responsible for the household when those duties were ceded by her mother-in-law, to make sure that its finances remained in order.
If the family had the birth of a son would be a happy occasion for the whole family. They will have the continuity of the family line, and also insurance for both parents that they would be provided for in their old age and worshipped after their death. The mother would have the added comfort of know ing that her own subservient position in the household would be reversed when her son married.
Therefore women's life was shaped by economic class and social status; these two determined the women's fate permanently.
If the family had the birth of a son would be a happy occasion for the whole family. They will have the continuity of the family line, and also insurance for both parents that they would be provided for in their old age and worshipped after their death. The mother would have the added comfort of know ing that her own subservient position in the household would be reversed when her son married.
Therefore women's life was shaped by economic class and social status; these two determined the women's fate permanently.