This article presents and discusses the situation of women in imperial China, available to Polish readers interested in this subject. The few works related to Chinese women published so far in Poland often depict them as victims of Confucian patriarchalism, deprived of any possibility of shaping their own lives. Meanwhile, the situation of women in the Chinese empire was more complex than that, due to a host of factors such as: ethnic and social status, geographic location, and so on. This article focuses on the Confucian model of womanhood as an ideal construct that changed in the course of history and was often in conflict with actual social practice. The Confucian model is discussed in the context of various aspects in the life of upper -class Han Chinese women, in various historical periods.
This study deals with functional differences of the categories of “femininity” and “gender” and their parallel use in literary studies. Given the fact that “gender” is not an identitarian category, its use has the potential to broaden the spectrum of feminist research significantly. Selected texts will be used to demonstrate the gender perspective in the analysis of literary strategies describing femininity.
The concept of gender role stress is based on the assumption that some women and men might have problems adapting to the feminine and masculine gender roles imposed on them by society. 1515 people took part in the study to verify feminine and masculine gender role stress models in the Polish population. The studies show that the five-factor feminine and masculine stress models are justified. Men display higher stress connected with 'physical inadequacy' than women, whereas women score higher on other subscales associated with feminine and masculine gender role stress. Gender role stress is more connected with femininity. Personality correlates of gender role stress were sought.
The study is focused on cognitive representations of a hierarchical and competitive world in male and female expectations. Framed by social cognitive views of psychological interdependence (Deutsch, 1985), four measures served to assess representations of the social world: hierarchy, competition, trust in others and positive reciprocity. Target phenomena were investigated by comparisons of gender groups and in relation to gender self-concept. An analysis showed a) balanced rather than polarized expectations across all four measures of social world in both males and females; b) highly significant gender differences in the expectations of competition and positive reciprocity; c) females' expectations to be more differentiated than males' expectations; d) gender self-concept to be of marginal influence upon male and female interpersonal expectations. The findings are discussed in the context of experimental studies and non-schematic views of hierarchy and competition.
Nowadays the concept of gender is analysed more often and more widely. Studies on gender touch upon various aspects which have previously been neglected or trifled. Gender is decoded in relation to as well as through many relationships and phenomena including education. It can be suggested that school reduces gender to its biological aspect or, to be more precise, does not go beyond biological differentiation trifling the social description of differences. Femininity and masculinity in our culture are perceived and defined by a dichotomic division. During their lives individuals realise that this gender binarism is a major feature diversifying people, neglecting other more important factors (e.g., habitus). This category of division makes individuals go through the process of socialisation in a specific way dependent on their gender. During this process an individual is socialized into a given gender; moreover, gender stereotypes become reinforced. School is an institution strengthening gender stereotypes (mainly in a hidden curriculum). This is due mainly to expectations towards abilities and skills connected with gender - girls are expected to be conscientious, to have humanistic abilities and a high level of verbalization. Boys, in turn, are expected to have predispositions to the sciences. Such expectations result in the marginalization of girls/women in subjects, skills and occupations defined as masculine. This phenomenon is a result of two factors: firstly, the mechanism of the internalization of expectations and the diminishing of abilities performed by the girls themselves, and, secondly, the attitude of teachers, who influence and shape their students' educational choices via their expectations and by using gender stereotypes connected with skills and abilities.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.