Women In Ancient China
Within Taoism, women as yin were considered more or less equal to men who were yang. Women were able to seek spiritual fulfillment outside their family duties. Some women joined convents, others gathered with men to discuss philosophy and religion, and a few become Taoist priests. Buddhism also granted women areas of empowerment. Women went on pilgrimages to Buddhist temples, retreated to nunneries, sometimes gave public lectures, and led temples groups.
According to the Confucian structure of society, women at every level were to occupy a position lower than men. Most Confucians accepted the inferiority of women to men as natural and proper.
Confucian teaching called the NeoConfucianism made the position of women even worse. NeoConfucian beliefs led to foot binding, insistence that women not remarry, and the selling of unwanted daughters.
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