In 2021, China ranked 48th out of 191 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's Gender Inequality Index (GII). Among the GII components, China's maternal mortality ratio was 32 out of 100,000 live births. In education 58.7 percent of women age 25 and older had completed secondary education, while the counterpart statistic for men was 71.9 percent. Women's labour power participation rate was 63.9 percent (compared to 78.3 percent for men), and women held 23.6 percent of seats in the National People's Congress. In 2019, China ranked 39 out of the 162 countries surveyed during the year.
Before the 1949 revolution
Before the 1949 Maoist revolution, women were generally restricted to the traditional gender roles of wives, concubines, or prostitutes. Female oppression stemmed partly from Confucian beliefs about gender roles in society (such as filial piety), ideas which remain influential. Wives were expected to be subservient to their husbands, kowtowing to their husbands. Concubines had less choice than married women, and were kept as mistresses by men for sexual services or to produce children. Prostitution frequently resulted from women being sold into brothels by their parents. Legal during the Qing Dynasty, there were few laws regulating prostitution; as a result, prostitutes were similar to slaves and lacked legal rights.
Marriage was defined loosely and encompassed wives, concubines, and slaves. Men were free to pursue sex from women in any of these three categories of "extended family". Women were prohibited from having sex with family slaves, a crime punishable by decapitation. Men were frequently polygamous (allowed one wife and an unlimited number of concubines), but women were permitted only one husband. This relationship between men and women in the household illustrated the power held by men in the family and their greater freedom compared with women. Women, for example, would generally lose social standing due to an extramarital affair. However, Qing laws punished both parties equally for premarital sex.
Foot binding
A noted repressive practice was foot binding. Foot binding originated during the Song Dynasty, and was practiced by the wealthiest members of society in the 11th century. Over time, the practice increased and spread to the peasantry. Foot binding was intended to differentiate between upper and lower classes; it was considered attractive, with bound feet known as "golden lotuses".
It aimed to limit the growth of girls' feet, and began at age three. Foot binding eventually resulted in the arch of the foot becoming so angled that a woman was in constant pain and had limited ability to walk. Foot binding subordinated women to men in a number of respects. It was an essential component of marriage eligibility, since women often bound their feet to increase their chance of finding a better marriage partner. Men used foot binding to force women to be dependent; due to pain associated with walking, women were limited to household activities. Women with bound feet had considerable difficulty carrying out simple tasks (such as standing up from a chair without assistance) and a lower functional reach than women with normal feet. Foot binding encouraged the sexual objectification of women, since it fulfilled men's sexual desires and fantasies. It reinforced the ideology that women were useful only in sexualized, sedentary roles to satisfy men's desires.
Foot binding was such an established part of Chinese culture that the Emperor K'ang Hsi was unable to suppress the practice in 1650. Widespread anti-foot binding sentiment began during the late 19th century, and gained in popularity until the practice was outlawed in 1912. In 1997, the feet of 38 percent of Beijing women over 80 years of age and 18 percent of women aged 70–79 were deformed by foot binding.