Historical Events' Effect on Women

Historical Events' Effect on Women

While women were traditionally kept in their household away from public eyes, they were not necessarily secluded from the outside world. By conversing with other family members, even a woman who spends little time outside their household can learn of ideas and gossips that are spreading in China. Because most women had been restricted to spending much of their lives in their household, their interaction with male family members, such as their father, brothers, grandfather,etc., played a huge role in shaping how they would react to important historical events that occur during their time. In other words, the environment a woman is raised in will determine how her life may be effected by the large changes that goes on during her time. Since a woman's gender as a female may lay restrictions on certain interactions that only male could experience, the woman's class becomes the defining point on how her life is effected by historical events that occurred during her lifetime.

For a woman raised in lower-middle class, she has more opportunities to interact with the outside world compared to that of an upper class woman; therefore, these women often attain first hand experience with the large events of their times rather than just hearing it second-hand from servants or family members. In this way, these women are able to develop their own views and ideas from what they have experienced. Ning Lao T'ai-t'ai from The Daughter of Han is such a woman. Having grew up in a middle class family that fell in lower class status through lost of land and money1 , Ning had been brought up by a father and mother who favored her since she had been the youngest2 . However, even though she had been favored, Ning's father had still been a strict man that followed Chinese tradition as shown by how he forbade Ning and her sister to go out into the streets once they became thirteen3 . This strict upbringing had been so strongly instilled in Ning that she never converted to Christianity even though she had interacted with women who had tried to persuade her into believing4 . While Ning did not believe in the God of Christianity, she did not hate missionaries or Chinese converts because it had been foreigners who provided her with food during a time when her family had little money5 . If not for her first hand experience of the foreigner's charitable actions, Ning may have also believed the terrible tales of the foreigners told by other Chinese. It was her poverty that lead Ning to learn that such tales and rumors were false.

In contrast, a woman of upper class standing is less likely to have direct contact with people outside her household and therefore her way of thinking will solely be influenced by the family members she respect the most. Zeng Jifen, daughter of Zeng Guofan, is an example of a woman whose beliefs were greatly based on her