Investigating The Development Of Contemporary Chinese Women

People are concrete and realistic, and always exist in the form of a certain gender. Unequal social gender relations, formed in history and cultures, are an important fetter to female and even male development. Gender differences determine people's gender development. But for a long time, women are neglected in studies of human development. The goal of women's development is neither homogeneity nor conflicts with men. Women must be encouraged to develop as human beings; their demands of such development must be acknowledged, and they must be given equal developing rights with men. On the other hand, women need to be given due attention from the gender perspective and their unique value and rights, foregrounded. That is the rational paradigm of women's development. The goal of women's development is, together with men, to dispel the constraints of the gender system, and in the end, bring freedom and overall development to all people. By then, gender identity will become part of people's free personality rather than constraints from the society.Enormous achievement has been made in women development in China since the modern times. The traditional gender system has fundamentally been destroyed. Not only do women enjoy equal status as "human beings" with men in law, but they also obtain extensive social, political and employment rights. Besides, women's consciousness of being social agents is on the rise. On the other hand, for historical reasons, the gender system has not ended, and is still a great obstacle to women development. Since the reform and opening to the outside world in the late 1970s, Chinese women have demanded the rights to develop both as humans and as women, which clashes with the gender system in four respects: women's ability acquisition, image presentation, and their social and personality development. To escape this predicament, several things need to be done. Firstly, the social environment of women's life has to be structurally changed to remove the barrier of unequal gender relations and meet women's strategic demands for development. Secondly, solutions must be found to improve women's living conditions and satisfy their practical needs. Lastly, women should be granted rights and helped to achieve the competence of self-development. Meeting the requirement of women development is a historical process.