A Study Of Gender Harmony In Contemporary China

The concept of gender harmony in Contemporary China is an important part of socialist harmonious social culture. Based on the realities of contemporary China, this paper makes a study from seven aspects while centering around the "gender harmony":In the introduction, this paper mainly defines what "gender harmony" in contemporary China and some related concepts are, and puts forward that "gender harmony" in contemporary China is a kind of new relationship that both genders mutually respect, cooperate, complement to each other and seek common development under the socialist system, which is an ideal form of getting along with each other as well as achieving a sustainable development. This gender harmonious form has so far been the most scientific and most advanced one. Then this paper analyzes the results of both overseas and domestic researches on gender harmony in China, finds out our room for research, and puts up that the major clue is based on three levels, namely, theoretical level, historical level and realistic level. In the end, it talks about the reflections about the construction of gender harmony in contemporary China.Chapter I analyzes the ideological and cultural foundation of gender harmony, and studies Marxist classical writers' thoughts of gender ideology, those thoughts in foreign and Chinese traditional cultures and the thoughts of "Common" And "Difference" in western feminism. In the first part of this chapter, the author interprets through three dimensions on Marx's "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844", which are "anthropology", "labor" and "history", then reveals the quality prescription of gender harmony, which, namely is built on the basis of man as man is, the development of a person's feelings is based on labor of which the human history and nature history born, then proposes that to eliminate gender conflict and to achieve substantive gender harmony must be built on the communist historical movements, which alone can create such conditions under which those goals come true. Secondly, this paper expounds on Engels's "The Origin of Family, Private Ownership and the State" from four perspectives such as "production", "class", "love" and "history", making us realize that private ownership appears as the society comes into being and "gender conflict" begins as the appearance of private ownership and is deep-rooted in class antagonism, the profound origin of private ownership is the "gender conflict", and in a class society exists the "superficial harmony", while the realization of real gender harmony requires two "material" conditions:the first is gender equality, and the second is the elimination of private ownership. Meanwhile, it also brings up such theories as the socialist system as the prerequisite for the achievement of gender harmony, the shift from gender equity in the legal sense to real sense, the realization of gender harmony is contributive to socialist democracy by combining the thoughts of gender harmony of Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Engels with Russia's socialist revolution and construction. Having inherited and developed the gender harmony thoughts of Marxism-Leninism in the revolution and construction, Chinese Marxists raises the objection to the unequal and discordant feudal marriage system, explains that the root of women's oppression in China is the "four powers", points out the basic way to achieve gender harmony is class liberation and social development, praises wemen's role of "holding up half the sky" in the Chinese revolution and socialist construction, and advocates raising gender equality to the height of basic national policy. The second part explores the advantages of gender harmony in the Chinese and western traditional cultures, mainly tracing the origin of gender harmony in terms of "Yin and Yang harmony" of the Chinese traditional culture, and also seeking theoretical support for the thoughts of gender harmony through ancient Greece, Renaissance and Enlightenment. The third part, while sorting out the development of feminism, recognizes that in the pursuit of the liberation and independence of the majority of women, and during the inherent fight against social prejudice and discrimination, releases a number of gender harmony concepts origin in contemporary society, for instance, "different but equal civil outlook, and the ecological view of emphasizing the unity but highlighting individual existence", which are the theoretical foundations of this article. Chapter?gives a historical investigation into gender harmony in China, and puts forward that the three phases of China's gender harmony are the phase of interdependence between men and women, the phase of awakening between men and women, and the phase of liberation between men and women. Viewing the course of human social development in a comprehensive way, owing to the influence of various factors such as the development of productive forces, marriage systems and human's cognition, the relationship between men and women varies during different historical periods, ranging from the natural equality of men and women in the hunting society, to the imbalanced position between men and women in the agricultural society, and to the gender equality in the industrial society. With the advent of the information society, men and women, whether in work, study or in family life, will seek common ground and a coordinated development. However, no matter in which period, the men and women can live in harmony, but this kind of harmony is in the superficial sense, not the real harmony. In comparison with other countries in the development of gender relations, China shares with others' something in common, but bears more Chinese characteristics. To understand and grasp the development process helps us better know about the current general situation and development trend of China's gender harmony. China's socialist gender harmony should be a harmony as a whole, not a partial harmony; it is not a matter of a small number of people, but should be the responsibility of all members in the society. Socialist gender harmony is a long and arduous task.Chapter III probes into the opportunities and challenges of gender harmony in the perspective of the reality and inevitability of gender harmony in Contemporary China. The United Nations'persistent efforts to promote gender harmony are mainly reflected in:Firstly they set up a Women Development Organization, Secondly hold a World Female Conference, And thirdly lay down a series of international conventions on women's issues and gender equality. Governments are all committed to the development of their own gender harmony by actively taking various measures and policies, rectifying gender bias, ensuring gender equality and promoting gender harmony. The Chinese Government attaches great importance to the construction of gender harmony. The Communist Party of China has always regarded the pursuit of the realization of gender harmony as the goal, actively support women to extensively participate in the national and social political affairs, and is committed to having the construction of gender harmony absorbed in the mainstream of the whole social development strategy, so that women's economic rights, political rights, the rights to receive education, and the rights of marriage and family are guaranteed further. The new information technologies have offered new opportunities for the promoting of gender harmony. First of all, new information technologies have pushed the process of gender democracy and equality; secondly, the development of new information technologies has brought many new opportunities for the development of women; then they promoted the development for both genders; finally, they advance mutual exchange and cooperation of both genders. When both men and women are given unprecedented opportunities for development, they are also facing a lot of new problems, new challenges rising from the new situations, such as gender discrimination in the economic field, women's difficulties to get into the mainstream in the political field, and gender imbalance in the number of new born babies in social areas. Gender harmony is a necessary requirement of building a harmonious society, and it meets the requirement from democracy and the rule of law, equity and justice, honesty and friendliness, vigor and vitality, stability and order and the harmonious co-existence between man and nature.Chapter IV is about the confusion and cognition of gender harmony in contemporary China. Living in the social transition period at present, people in China are highly alert to various issues, interests, and views on conflicts and aspirations, especially in the issue of gender harmony. This article explains people's confusions on gender equality, gender divisions, gender roles and other aspects, and as for the historical mis-understandings about gender harmony, we must strive to not only get out of it, but also avoid to get in again so that gender relations may develop in a harmonious way. Therefore we must introspect many concepts included in gender harmony, making principles and theories such as gender equity, women emancipation, "Women holding up half the sky" more temporary and scientific so as to practically guide the construction of socialist gender harmony.Chapter V are the reflections on the development of gender harmony in contemporary China theoretically and practically. Gender Harmony in Contemporary China must be based on a scientific knowledge about gender, must highlight the social nature of man, must reflect the stable and orderly state between men and women, must contribute to achieve the fundamental goal of realising the free and conscious living state of humans. At present, due to the influence of various factors, gender discrimination exists in different degrees in economic field, political field, ideological field, cultural field and social life, and gender inequality is still prominent, which seriously affect the coordinated development of both men and women. We must start from the reality of the primary stage of socialism, establishing the scientific outlook of gender, creating a good gender environment, realising a gender mainstream, ensuring the gender equality; furthermore, we should do our best to adhere to fairness, promote gender justice and realize gender harmony.