Historical Influence

I appreciate the fact that we are taking time to consider the historical religious influences that may have played a large role in shaping the roles of women. I especially appreciate the fact that we are discussing about different possibilities that may result to the subordination of women from different parts of the world. There's a theory that Vietnam had once been a matriarchy. It can be evident in the ways in which the mother tends to be the most respected figure of the household, and how the wife tends to be the most feared. However, when Chinese imperialism took place, Confucianism, a form of Chinese philosophy, became the main philosophy for living in Vietnam. I was shocked to read that there was a section that outlined that a woman's "3 submissions"... that a woman is to serve, first her father, then her husband, and then her eldest son. It can be confusing to see how this idea mixes with the previous examples I provided. However, I have witnessed both ideas take place simultaneously. In one instance, a woman can be seen scolding her husband without an issue, however, she is still expected to serve her husband a hot meal at the end of the day. Because of the strong presence of Confucianism, these regulated ideas of submissions have been taken for granted and integral to how many Vietnamese households perceive and understand the world.

In my opinion, I feel like despite the deities' gender in mythological stories, many important religious leaders are still male. This may contribute to the conception of women as "other". In one of the Chinese creation myth, the deity that created the world was a female, and she was considered the mother goddess. However looking at the historical settings of China, it was a very male dominant society in many aspects such as religion, economy and more. Therefore I think although religion does play an important role in how people view their surroundings, it does not influence the image of women that greatly.

I do not know to what extent religion has affected the "other-ing" of women in Japan as a whole but, I've heard that in Japanese religion like Shinto and Buddhism, women were seen as polluted things. They were considered unclean and thus were banned to enter sacred places like the shrine, mountains and ritual places. This still exists till today and it is why the monks that work at shrines are still male dominated. However, as a whole society, I believe that we do not see much gender equality formed through these religions as much as it does in Christianity/ Catholicism.