The Position of Women in Chinese Intelectual History: Retrospective Views about the Value of Confucian Ethics for a Chinese Feminist Discourse

Abstract

This paper has the purpose of analyzing, through Confucian texts and its interpreters, the position of women in Classical Chinese Philosophy. First, it will be examine how the role of women in society was understood in the “Analects”, the ritual texts, the “Classic of Poetry” and the works of Mencius. Likewise, research will focus on how these passages, usually very short to offer a clear and unambiguous answer, have been treated by the Confucian interpreters, from Antiquity to the end of the Imperial Period. A thoughtful review will show that, although Confucianism did never develop a Philosophy of Gender and did not bother too much with this question, Confucian philosophers and interpreters were able to successfully challenge the “concience collective” and stress women’s position in history and society. Finally, through a brief comparative acknowledgment of what Classical Greek Philosophers had to say about women, we will conclude with some observations regarding the role of Confucianism in modern Asian societies and its relevance for the development of an indigenous feminist discourse.