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1、Thesis for Associate Degree; Shijiazhuang Vocational College Of City Economy1 IntroductionToday, people are more and more caring about womens status. Women are not a separated individual, but deeply tie to the society, and they play very important roles in every aspects of the modern society. So wom

2、ens status not only connects to women themselves, but also the societys development. Therefore, both women and the government should try their efforts to enhance womens status and advance the equal right of men and women.As everyone knows, Pride and Prejudice，a well-known novel written by Jane Auste

3、n, marriage is central topic of the novel. According to the appearance of the novel, as for Austens characters, marriage does not mean the act of ungoverned passion but a complex engagement between the marrying couple and society. In the novel, Austen portrays the womens low status and the reasons o

4、f womens low status. But women in the novel didnt try to strive for their right, they thought little of their low status, and had little self-awareness, just negotiated to the society.As for our Chinese women, they have been experiencing over 3000 years traditional ideology. And even in the modern s

5、ociety, they also suffer kinds of discriminations from the society and men. They are usually thought of humbler than men, and always be excluded out of the society.2 A General Summary of the Womens Status in Pride and Prejudice2.1 A Brief Introduction to the Story Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austens

6、 great masterpiece, a sharp and witty comedy of manners played out in early 19th century English society, a world in which men held virtually all the power and women were required to negotiate mine-fields of social status, respectability, property, and marriage.Marriage is one of the themes in the n

7、ovel. Austen concentrates on womens fate most. Through her characters process of courtship and marriage, Austen shows social backgrounds behind their marriage and what low status women have suffered. In Pride and Prejudice, for a woman, generally the only way to her is to get married besides being s

8、pinsterhood or governess. To marry a rich and high status man, is a path for the young women to gaining financial security and social status. The novel portrays life in the middle class rural society of the day, and tells the initial misunderstanding and later mutual enlightenment between Elizabeth

9、Bennet and Darcy. They gradually dispel their prejudice and constitute a happy marriage. Here Austen shows the power of love and happiness to overcome class boundaries and prejudice, thereby implying that women should strive for their own love and happiness, but not to according the social will.Howe

10、ver, behind the happy marriage of Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy, Austen mainly wants to show that property, social status still play the most important roles in a marriage, from which women suffered a lot. No right of inheritance, such is particularly the case of the Bennets, a family of five daughters

11、 whose fathers estate is entailed to a distant relative, for upon Mr. Bennets death they will loose home, land, and income, everything else. After knowing Elizabeths refusal to Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet threats her daughter that “if you go on refusing every marriage, you will never get a husband, and

12、 I am sure I do not know who is to maintain you when your father died.” So it is illustrated that property and social status are more important than marriage. Thus, under the effect of the unreasonable social value, doesnt Charlotte Lucas, who is up to playing in a high-staked matrimonial game forfe

13、it her own personal integrity?2. 2 Womens Status Shown in the NovelEither in the past or today, society puts a significant value on marriage. In modern society, marriage means the birth of a new family, which is filled with love, understanding, happiness and harmonious atmosphere. Moreover, marriage

14、 is not a trade and the two persons in a marriage should not get married for the personal benefit or just for convenience. But in which, marriage is an odd phenomenon and it is just an approach, which people could reach their aims and provides them convenience. Austen describes Charlottes marriage a

15、s a symbol, through which Austen shows the readers what low status women hold. In the novel, marriage is an everlasting and hot topic for all the people, especially for women and their families. Although marriage is an odd phenomenon in the end 18th and early 19th century middle classs country life

16、in Britain, it is very common. Women never considered the marriage itself, but to what extent that they would be benefited from a marriage. Mrs. Bennet, for example never concerns about the moral and teaches her daughters the view of moral. “The business of her life was to get her daughters married”

17、 and she thinks that could fetch her daughters wealthy and high status husbands; she has achieved something great in her life and her family will be benefited much. Thus, when Mr.Bingley , a wealthy bachelor with large fortune, four or five thousand a year, becomes their neighborhood, Mrs. Bennet be

18、gins to contemplate his getting married to one of her daughters. And in the later days, she is incapable fatigue and enumerates kinds of advantages that her family will get if Jane and Mr. Bingley get married, such as wealth, status ranking, and could also throw her other daughters in the way to oth

19、er rich men. All her thoughts for fetching her daughter wealthy and high status husband come just out of the considering of practicality, but not out of her daughters feelings. Under the monetary view of marriage, Mrs. Bennet totally treats her daughters marriage as product trades and her daughters

20、are the commodities. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen shows that because of womens low status, they are desirable to change their status. So marriage becomes a straight and quick way to change their situation. Though they know that such kind of marriage is equal to a trade and for themselves, they are

21、 only products in the marriage market or an attachment to a man or even a marriages slave, they do not care much.3 Reasons for the Womens Low Status at That Time3.1 Traditional Feudal NotionsObserving the novel Pride and Prejudice from another aspect, we know that the theme of the novel does not onl

22、y deal with love and marriage, but also includes the relationship of women, society, and womens status. Jane Austen has shown the social fabric of society during her time and makes a comment on the status of women during that time. In Austens time, society treated women unfairly and women really enj

23、oyed low status.To know clearly what Jane Austen writes Pride and Prejudice for, we should firstly have a clear mind of the social background and know, under the traditional feudal notion how the society treated the women in the 18th and 19th century country society in Britain. In the novel, Austen

24、presents the gender injustices in the 19th century English society, and how the important role that money played in determining a womans daily life, marriage and destiny. Economically dependent, women were robbed of property and inheritance rights and possessed no independent source of income. The e

25、ntailment of the Longbourn estate is an extreme hardship on the Bennet family, and is quite obviously unjust. No right to entail their fathers estate leaves the Bennet daughters in a poor financial situation which both requires them to be married and makes it more difficult to marry well. Having no

26、social status, and in order to improve their social status, women have to give up their personal dignity and ego at the expense of their love and marriage, and they are willing to get married just for financial security and enhancement of social status. Under these values of money and social status,

27、 women they cant enjoy a happy marriage and their freedom. And they are deprived of the right to receive education and take part in social activities. Because there are no needs for higher education for them, and even if there is necessity to receive a higher education, it is just for self-enhanceme

28、nt or for pleasing their husbands. At that time, society offered few opportunities to women to choose for their lives and to decide the destiny. Just as the opening sentence of the novel says “it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of

29、 a wife.” which tells the reader that men were always in the dominant status in a marriage and the heritance of property. Thus men enjoy the right to choose their wives according to their will.Through Pride and Prejudice, Austen portrays the commonly held views on the characters marriage. Society, a

30、t that time, put a significant value on property and social status, and women in such a society, with their privileges tightly limited, had no chance to develop their personalities and their characters were fettered by the society. There were no centrally organized systems of statesupported schools,

31、 and some local grammar schools did exist but did not admit girls. So womens education became impossible, and they didnt have careers, but society required little for their use of knowledge and gave little chance for them to use knowledge. They were denied the possibility of improving their status o

32、r gaining their financial security through hard work or personal achievements. They were mostly estimated by others through their property and social status.3.2 Womens Surrender to Social PrejudiceIn the novel, Austen criticizes the unreasonable social structure, also the innocence of women. In term

33、s of marriage, they thought they had no high social status and had no large property, so they thought that marriage was an acceptable path to his high status or their economic safety according to the view of the society. They never thought that they could earn their life and their marriage, which be

34、longed to themselves but not to the social value. They just considered if they could completely integrate into the society and accepted the twisted monetary view and marriage view, and played the roles that the society needed, they could gain their happiness and easy life. Thus, they dressed themsel

35、ves and were willing to transform themselves into commodities, appearing in kinds of balls, in order to attract men. Although women were forced under the social prejudice, they tried no struggle. They were willing to believe that marriage was a form of trade and in the marriage market they could be

36、given happiness. Facing social prejudice, they also had the consciousness of being humble, thinking that the male was the superiority, and women had to surrender to the society, was seemed to more easily to them. In the novel, Austen demonstrates that women should strive for their own life and marri

37、age, without considering the influence of the wrapping view of society, be selfconfident and get rid of the illiberal mind, not ruin any chance to realize the value, dignity, personality of theirs. Elizabeth is the best example, although she sometimes shows her pride, she is an admirable, wit, brill

38、iant, and selfconfident woman, who conquers many difficulties and at last she gains the true love with Darcy. As for Charlotte, she also could have tried to find somebody she really loves and gets married, like her friend Elizabeth, but she makes no attempt to find a husband whom she really loves an

39、d esteems, only giving in to the necessity of acquiring financial security and status ranking through marriage.4 Enlightenment from Womens Status in Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice portrays life of the middle class in rural society in the end of 18th century and early 19th century Britain. An

40、d the novel strongly reflects the point that the property plays an important role in determining what a womans destiny will be. In the novel, Jane Austen shows that women in that society really enjoyed a low status and merely they had no way to decide their destinies, if they were poor or had little

41、 money. In Austens times, the whole societys vale was property or money, women who have very little money, only enjoyed low status and can not choose their marriages according to their will. In contract, things were usually different to men. Darcy and Bingley are rich men and they have large propert

42、y, therefore, they have the privilege to choose their wives according to their will. However, for Charlotte, she is not good-looking and hasnt large property, so she is willing to marry Mr. Collins though he is a stupid man, and obtains a marriage just for convenience and property in the marriage ma

43、rket. Additionally, Austen also presents womens low status in other aspects, such as, in education, career, politics, economy, social status, culture, inheritance right, and so on. Then, social advancement was crucial to women, who were denied the involvement in politics, the possibility of improvin

44、g their status through hard work and there was little generally perceived need for them to receive a higher education.4.1 Social Reform as the Precondition of Womens Emancipation In China, the feudal society lasted several millennia and in the subsequent century of semi-colonial and semi-feudal soci

45、ety, Chinese women experienced a bitter history of prolonged oppression, degradation and abasement. From the first half of this century, masses of women plunged into an undaunted and heroic struggle lasting several decades. They struggled for the protection of their own rights and the enhancement of

46、 their status. This was a quest for their emancipation.     Social reform is thought as the precondition of womens emancipation.  It was not until the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 that brought a historic change for Chinese women. And a new era in the ema

47、ncipation of Chinese women was ushered in. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a surge of mass movements throughout the country to quickly change the backward economic and cultural outlook left over by old China and eradicate the antiquated system and outmoded customs

48、 that fettered, discriminated against and humiliated women. This effected an earth-shaking historic change in the social status and condition of women. Then again, after experienced series government reforms, such as, campaigns for gradually wiping out illiteracy in 1952, 1956, and in 1958; publicit

49、y and implementation of the Marriage Law, reforms on womens political and working life, and so on. Womens status was enhanced, to a large extent.By means of these large-scale mass movements, New China took only a few years to clean up the filth and mire left over from a feudal society that had laste

50、d for thousands of years. It effected fundamental emancipation for women in all aspects of political, economic, cultural, social and family life. This represented a significant transformation in the history of contemporary social development that China can be proud of. It was also an important contr

51、ibution made by the Chinese revolution to the worldwide movement for women's liberation. China attaches great importance to providing legal protection for females. In 1992, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women promulgated, which pro

52、vided an effective legal weapon for further enhancing the social status of women and guaranteeing their basic rights and interests. Under Chinese law, women can enjoy the legitimate rights:  Firstly, women enjoy equal political rights with men. Women have the right, through various channels and

53、 in various ways, to administer state and social affairs, and enjoy equal rights to vote and stand for election;  Secondly, women enjoy equal rights with men with respect to culture and education. These cover school admittance, advancement to higher levels of schooling, job assignment after gra

54、duation, conferment of academic degrees and being dispatched for study abroad, plus women's rights to engage in scientific and technological research and literary and artistic creation. The government, society, school and family have the responsibility to ensure that the right of female children

55、 and adolescents to receive compulsory education is observed. Thirdly, women enjoy equal working rights with men. These mainly include: the right to work and be employed, equal pay for equal work, time-off, on-the-job safety and medical care as well as special labor protection, and social insurance.

56、 The law stipulates that any unit, while recruiting employees, is not allowed to refuse to employ women or raise the recruitment standards for women under any pretext. It cannot fire women or unilaterally annul their labor contracts on the pretext of marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave or baby nurs

57、ing. It is not allowed to discriminate against women in terms of promotion, award of academic and technical titles, allotment of housing and enjoyment of welfare benefits, or to assign women to tasks that are not suitable for them. Women enjoy special protection during menstruation, pregnancy, child

58、 birth and baby nursing period. Fourthly, women enjoy equal property rights with men. The law stipulates that rural women enjoy the same rights as rural men in the allotment of "responsibility farmland" and "grain-ration farmland" and in the approval of housing sites. With regard

59、 to marriage and family property, women enjoy equal ownership and inheritance rights with men. Widows have the right to dispose of property they inherit, without interference from anyone. Fifthly, women enjoy equal rights with men relating to their persons. Women enjoy the right to life and health, freedom of the person, the right of portrait, reputation and other rights relating to the person; and they enjoy the right of kinship, guardianship, fame and status as a producer. The law prohibits abandonment and dr