Agree to almost everything you have written except the phrase from Kerala “a home where a baby girl has just been born.” I am a female born and brought up in Kerala and never have I heard this phrase used ever before. Also for that matter, there are studies that show that Kerala is more progressed than other Indian states just because of the more literate/status of women. Find the study here https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9345.2006.00442.x
India has no equivalent of Wu Zetian a woman considered by many China’s greatest emperor, probably because Islam never impacted China. Fortunately for Spanish women, Christianity prevailed in Spain….Fascinated by your insights into Mao’ s “feminism” ….Great article!
Interesting question, dear Pallavi, and not easily answered with a paltry proposition like mine.
May I point to Jean-François BILLETER?
According to him, Chinese is a gestual and spoken language, open to anyone - including women. Grammar was intrinsic - when going about teaching in Geneva with his Chinese wife, Billeter they had to explicit grammar for foreign students. Women in China could not be denied personal presence.
Sanskrit, on the other hand, is written, fiendishly complex, and to be learned only through long and leisurely manly study - an elite task and signifier of superiority. Indian argumentativeness (Amartya Sen) might be found there.
You mention foot-binding in China: "The fashion for bound feet began in the *upper classes* of Han Chinese society, but it spread to all but the poorest families. Having a daughter with bound feet signified that the family was wealthy enough to forgo having her work in the fields."
Hi Pallavi,
Agree to almost everything you have written except the phrase from Kerala “a home where a baby girl has just been born.” I am a female born and brought up in Kerala and never have I heard this phrase used ever before. Also for that matter, there are studies that show that Kerala is more progressed than other Indian states just because of the more literate/status of women. Find the study here https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9345.2006.00442.x
India has no equivalent of Wu Zetian a woman considered by many China’s greatest emperor, probably because Islam never impacted China. Fortunately for Spanish women, Christianity prevailed in Spain….Fascinated by your insights into Mao’ s “feminism” ….Great article!
Interesting question, dear Pallavi, and not easily answered with a paltry proposition like mine.
May I point to Jean-François BILLETER?
According to him, Chinese is a gestual and spoken language, open to anyone - including women. Grammar was intrinsic - when going about teaching in Geneva with his Chinese wife, Billeter they had to explicit grammar for foreign students. Women in China could not be denied personal presence.
Sanskrit, on the other hand, is written, fiendishly complex, and to be learned only through long and leisurely manly study - an elite task and signifier of superiority. Indian argumentativeness (Amartya Sen) might be found there.
You mention foot-binding in China: "The fashion for bound feet began in the *upper classes* of Han Chinese society, but it spread to all but the poorest families. Having a daughter with bound feet signified that the family was wealthy enough to forgo having her work in the fields."