Chinese Women in the Early 1900s

Education

• In 1900 formal education was denied to most women. After the revolution of 1912, women in urban areas began to gain access to educational opportunities. Chinese women now have a literacy rate of 88 percent. Although most of these changes culminated in the decades after the Communist revolution of 1949, the trends began earlier, with the overthrow of the emperor and the founding of the Republic of China.
  
  

Economic Opportunity

• Economic opportunities for Chinese women began opening up somewhat as well in the 1900s. Prior to the 20th century, the usual roles assigned to women were wives, concubines, and prostitutes. If the experience of Chinese immigrants to America is representative, there was shift between 1900 and 1920 in the occupations of Chinese women working outside the home. Fewer women were working as prostitutes and garment workers, and more were finding jobs as clerical workers, saleswomen, teachers, and nurses.
  
  

Foot Binding

• Foot binding was a practice that probably began in the 10th century. Though there is much speculation about the reasons for its popularity in Chinese society, the ultimate result for women was a painful practice limiting mobility and increasing their subjugation to their husbands. The practice was finally banned in 1912 by the new Republican government, though it was still done in secret by many families until mid-century. The inability of the Republican government to gain firm control of the country meant enforcement was not totally effective.
  
  

Economic Hardships and Social Unrest

• The early 1900s was a period of hardship for all Chinese, and the women suffered just as much as the men. The population suffered from poor health care typical of many pre-industrial societies. Land distribution inequities and environmental problems meant many people went hungry. To make matters worse, warfare was an almost constant factor in the first half of the 1900s, as revolutionaries fought to overthrow the emperor, then Republicans fought to rid the country of warlords, then communists and nationalists fought over control, and finally as both communists and nationalists fought the Japanese.