Compare and contrast the role of women in Australia and China
Today, Australia and China are two of the main countries in all over the world and women account great proportion to the population in these two countries. In ancient time, both Australia and China existed discrimination which against women and limited their life-chances. With the social progress and equalization, this discrimination disappears gradually and women’s role in Australia and China seem more important than before. However, there are still some differences between the women’s role in Australia and China. This essay will compare and contrast the role of these women in the areas of, history of absence of gender discrimination, different views of a family and child raising, females’ employment environment and women’s role in politics.
Australia has earlier absence of gender discrimination and higher degree of respect for women than China due to the different country establishment history. Unlike Australia, a British colonial country, China has nearly 5000 years of history of feudal autocracy and it is extremely difficult to eliminate the feudal thought of ‘male superiority to female’. One of the most important developments in Australia during the twentieth century was the gradual movement of women toward full citizenship through social, economic and political changes.(National Museum of Australia,2012) In contract, it is not until 1949 that China began with the reform and opening-up policy and women were liberated since that time. Although China had experienced 64-year democracy and freedom, some feudal thoughts still remain in some remote areas such as Guangxi, Shandong and Hainan.(China People’s Daily,2011)
Other areas of difference between Australian women and Chinese women are their views about forming a family and raising kids. Although the role of Chinese women in China has improved, most of the Chinese women hold the ideas that they have to give up their jobs and become...
