Study On The Change Of Thought Trends In Women's Rights From Different Perspectives Of Men And Women In Modern China

The two decades, from the time of Reform Movement of 1898 to that of May 4th Movement of 1919, was a vital period that modern china was in a quick transition. During the process of seeking for ways to save the nation, the progressive intellectuals put forward the idea of women's emancipation. So the equality of men & women, the equal social rights between men & women, and women's emancipation became discourse of that times. The paper, based on three different periods of Reform Movement of 1898, Revolution of 1911, and May 4th Movement of 1919, respectively studied the different opinions of men and women towards women's liberation and analyzed distinctions of standpoint between the two sexes. It's considered that some outstanding male figures did help a lot to promote the emergence and development of ideological trend in women's rights. They probed into women's problems and provided solid ideological basis for women's rights movement. The issue of women's liberation was proposed by them on the fact that they intended to save the nation from crisis, while their male identity made them not truly concerned about women's benefit. They just brought about a discourse situation in modern society, which played a vital role in the ideological trend of women's rights. Of course, the educated women were no longer willing to"remain silent"and tried to make their opinions heard. For their own liberation, the educated women thought it essential to enhance their own quality by the means of fighting together with men against national crisis. Their identity as female helped them to have better recognition and understanding of women's problems, which could reflect women's own experiences in a deeper sense. It's thought that the deep development of modern ideological trend in women's rights could be attributed to the joint efforts of men and women. But owing to the distinctive ideas of men and women towards women's rights, there also existed dispute while they were working together. The two kinds of discourse of men and women were undoubtedly the echoes of that times, and the disturbance those educated women faced with especially reflected the development of mind among those modern intellectuals.