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Chinese Family Values

2149 Words9 Pages

GEJC 1120 Term essay
Wong Yuet Hei
1155017881

The functions, values and beliefs of traditional Chinese Family and their relation with the gender inequality behind
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Reflection upon lecture 6- Family and Kinship

Introduction

Everything that exists has a function; this is a rooted belief of functionalists. From a structural functionalist perspective, family is a social institution; it functions for the survival and well-being of society. Families in different societies function in a similar way, as manifested by an ordinary nuclear family within a patriarchal society, the breadwinner usually the father work and provide the living for his members of the family while the mother take care of the …show more content…

Despite the varying views from scholars from different fields, in general the families are economic units that function to provide the needs and to ensure the growth of its members. However amongst the different fields, Salaff’s saying could be effectively used as an explanation regarding the hidden issue of gender inequality of the chinese traditional …show more content…

Much of the attention are placed to the males within a family, and according o salaff’s argument of the centripetal tendency among the Chinese family, when a household consists a number of children and with low income, the budget is not enough to sustain education for the children, daughters in the family whom reached puberty would be immediately sent to factories as workers. All of their wages would be for the family’s usage , mainly to support education for the sons. Due to the idea of centripetal tendency, family members are obliged to contribute resources to the family. Working daughters were still a common phenomenon in Hong Kong in its early 70s. The heavy influence of patriarchal belief along with the centripetal tendency, caused a vicious cycle of gender discrimination. It is sent and reverted through the family to the larger society and back again to the family, which is the key to reproduction of gender

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