The Unfair Treatment of Women

The Unfair Treatment of Women

My mother has always promoted sisterhood and support for women. Growing up, I was taught that women, although we can do anything we want to do, need a support system, because we are traditionally the underdogs, and we should not accept being treated unfairly. My mother likes to tell a story about how, when she was a girl, she told her dad that she had decided to become a lawyer when she grew up. In response to her proclamation, my grandfather, an attorney himself, asked, "Isn’t that an awfully expensive education for a girl?"

My mother was involved in her education throughout high school. The number of opportunities presented to her while growing up and in her education, however, did not even come close to the number of opportunities presented to her male counterparts. In her yearbook, she is pictured among the Future Teachers of America, the only organization offered in her high school that relates to furthering the education of its young female students. The male students were also able to join that club, as well as Future Farmers of America, Future Lawyers of America, and Future Businessmen of America. She was also the Associated Student Body Treasurer—quite a feat, considering that it was unthinkable for a girl to run for President. Girls didn’t play sports, they cheered for the guys who did. My mother attended MIT Sloan School for Business, and in her class of 32, there was only one other woman. A certified management accountant with an M.B.A. from MIT, my mom has been rejected from jobs on the basis of her gender. In interviews, she’s been told by companies that they don’t want a woman in the position, and that the average matriculation time for women in management was 23 months. My mo...

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...tional ways, which her brothers, now among the barbarians, could fumble without detection." So if women had the power to carry on traditional values, then why did they not try to change anything? What privileges did Chinese women have that they wanted to hold on to, even in the United States, where they did not have to tolerate being treated so unequally?

I do not know about Chinese culture, and I am sure that there are reasons that such an unfair tradition of gender inequality could have survived for so long, even after the Chinese immigrated to America. However, with the upbringing that I have had, I found it sad and frustrating to read about the acceptance of unjust treatment of women in Chinese culture. Women seemed to hold their own social status down with their silence and by attacking other women, such as Kingston’s aunt, whom they know are not to blame.