Title:   Women Hold Up Half the Sky  妇女能顶半边天

Speaker:   H.R. Spendelow

Topic/Issues:  

1. legacy of pre-revolutionary society
2. 20th century transformations of women's roles
3. problems in obtaining education
4. the role of "women" in the growth of the Chinese Communist Party
5. women in 21st century China

Resources:

1. Video: "Sparrow Village" (girls' education in Guizhou, 2003)

2. Video: "Small Happiness:  Women of a Chinese Village " (Long Bow Trilogy, 1984)

3. The Complicated Chinese Family Tree

    

Readings:

1. "Extra Women"
2. "Powerful Women" (BBC)
3. The Balinghou  八零后 Generation ("after the 1980s"), in pdf format;  Palmer, James.  aeonmagazine.com, 07 Mar 2013
4. Liu, Karl, and Ko, eds.  The Birth of Chinese Feminism (Columbia UP, 2013)
5. in Zang, Xiaowei, ed., Understanding Chinese Society (Routledge, 2011): ch. 3, Rituals and the Life Cycle (Lucy Xia Zhao); ch. 4, Family and Marriage (Xiaowei Zang); ch. 5, Gender and Sexuality (Jieyu Liu)
6. Fincher, Leta Hong.  Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China. (2014)

Goals:

1. To gain an understanding of the persistence of gender-based roles and expectations in 21st century China