Traditionally, the society was very male-centered. The birth of a boy was welcomed, as that ensured the survival of the family name and comfort the souls of his ancestors in the afterworld. Women were excepted to sub-ordinate to fathers, husbands and sons. When a Chinese man was asked about the size of his family, he would only mention the number of sons. Neither a woman  nor a man had much say in the decision of his/her marriage partner, and when they were married, the woman was the one who had to leave her family and hometown to live with her husband in his community, where the wife was sub-ordinate to her mother-in-law. Marriage in the old days must have been horror for a woman - she was the target of criticism, she was not allowed to speak in her own defence, and until she produced a son, she was worse off than hired servants. 

Not many women were educated. Baby girls were sold as chattel, movable posessions, to wealthy families. Bound feet, which were customary even for poor peasant women, signified the painful obligations and restrictions of being female. Protests to change a woman's place in society began in the early years of the twentieth century. More girls attended school and young adults approved of marriages based on free choice. With time, the position of women in modern society began to change. Women started attending college and served in the People's Liberation Army. In spite of that, women today still remain disadvantaged in many ways, both economic and social. The greatest change was the women's movement into the paid labor force. Still, in the 1980's, women were paid less and their jobs were less desirable than those of men. In the farming business, the work of males was better rewarded than that of women. And in addition to that, women still had a second job to attend, taking care of all the household chores. 

All in all, women were better off in the 1980's than their counterparts a hundred years before that. They had full legal equality with men, although, in reality, their opportunities and rewards were not really equal. 

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Related topics: 

American Women 

Equal Opportunities