Confucianism is sexist and patriarchal

Confucius grew up in a patriarchal society: men were the viewed as the head of the family, men completed rituals, and sacrifices were always made to patrilineal ancestors. Analects has a similar patriarchal view about the structure of society. Confucius defined social structure in terms of relationships and filial piety was his solution to restore stability in China after the Period of Warring States. In patriarchal societies men yield more authority than women in political and social relationships; thus, Confucius contributed to the subordination of women, because he emphasized the importance of understanding one’s place in relationships and not questioning nor attempting to alter it. Furthermore, Analects values men by advising children to serve their fathers and granting men authority to lead ancestral worship, however “the importance of the female is reduced to her success in perpetuating the family by producing a male heir”.7 Confucius’ sayings about women were demeaning and suggested that women were inferior. Book seventeen includes a quote from the master saying “It's women and small minded men that are impossible to nurture. If you're close and familiar with them they lose all humility. If you keep your distance, they're full of resentment”.8 Equating women to “small minded men” suggests that women are petty and difficult to interact with. The passage also suggests that men should be apprehensive of becoming close to women. Male dominance was also applied cultural practices. For example, sayings in Analects insisted that music must be proper and musicians must be virtuous; thus, men concluded they were more capable and assumed superiority in the realm of music.9 The patriarchy promoted and the roles assigned to women in Analects influenced the lives of women for over 2,000 years. Confucian traditions published in Analects established a distinct separation of genders and assigned different roles to men and women. When King Wu spoke of his satisfaction and pride in the work his ten ministers, Confucius replied “since one was his mother, Wu you really only had nine ministers”.10 This story from Analects proves that Confucius isolated women from the realm of government and civil service and indicates that women were not worthy of societal affairs nor capable of serving in important positions.11 This created a gender distinction where females were restricted to the inner sphere and males to the outer sphere: Women are assigned to handle the domestic affairs such as nurturing the children, cooking, weaving and other household work. Men, on the other hand, handle public and social affairs such as farming, commerce and, for some men, holding government office.12 The Confucian gender distinction has influenced the modern day expectation for women to have children and stop working once they get married. Women's domestic role fosters greater dependency on males, because women are confined to their homes and are reliant on the income of their husbands and fathers.13 This exclusion of women from the workforce remains a problem in modern day East Asia because most “working women are in secretarial or other minor posts that hold almost no chance of promotion into the higher ranks of the corporate world...only 9% of management positions in Japan and South Korea are held by women”.14 The discrimination of women in the teachings in Analects instituted a legacy of isolation of women from culture, politics, education, the workforce and more. Confucianism created a patriarchal society where women were powerless against their husbands and fathers, were not allowed to participate in public life, and could not inherit property nor carry on the family name.15 Therefore, society viewed women as a financial burden and the birth of baby girls was a source of grief and shame for families.