【正文】 ly was there to help out in times of need, as well as to have fun with at piics, family reunions and gettogethers. Times were tough in that decade. Women darned holes in socks, hung laundry on the outside lines to dry, wore cotton or rayon stockings, wore dresses and no slacks or jeans. They enjoyed their family, and enjoyed cooking and cleaning, even though it meant a lot of work. For the women who never married, most of them went into teaching school, or nursing. There was very little to do other than those two careers. Even though there was a lot of stress from the depression, folks learned to work together and to pull together thru the hard times, and it made the families very close knit. B. The Differences of Women’s Status in China and West Countries Although there are many similarities of women’s status in China and Western Countries, the different culture leads to some differences in different countries. Such as the system of marriage, the right to choose their lover is a little different. 1. The Different Systems of Marriage In old China mutual young men and women, if there is no machmaker they can only do nothing, otherwise, they were despised by the society. It can be said that the number of piles deformed marriage and unfortunate marriage, which was led by their irresponsible action that machmaker usually didn’t tell the truth, and some many young women who desired to get love and happy marriage ruin their valuable chastity and beauty of youth, which was led by their fraudulent words. In ancient China a husband could have many wives. A woman could see her husband only after she got married. In ancient China women had no right to choose their husbands or lovers. Women had to follow her parents’ order and mach maker’s word. We can see this phenomenon in some Chinese lover story. For example the love story about Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Mr. Liang was born in a poor squire while Miss Zhu’s family was very rich which took great business. Miss Zhu pretended as a gentle man studying and sleeping with Mr. Liang for three years. However Mr. Liang didn’t know Miss Zhu was a beautiful girl. When Liang Shanbo knew Zhu Yingtai was a girl he went to Zhu Yingtai’s family and wanted to ask for a permit that is letting Zhu Yingtai marry him. However her father didn’t agree because of the background of his family and her father betrothed her to a conceited dandy Ma Wencai. At last Liang Shanbo died of disease and Zhu Yingtai got suicide. They became butterflies and lived happily together. Patriarchal system led this tragedy. However in ancient western countries the patriarchal mind also deeply affected women’s status, they still had certain right to choose their husbands or lovers. In the play, Othello, written by Shakespeare, there are two kind of marriage: empathy consensual model of marriage。 king: sometimes mean a very successful man in a certain field. queen: sometimes refer to a prostitute or a gay man(男同性戀者 ). From the two languages we can see, women’s status is inferior to men’s status. As for our Chinese women, they have been experiencing over 3000 years’ traditional ideology. And even in the modern society, 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. In western countries women also have a lower status than men. In western culture woman was considered as a rib of man. Before moving on to our ancient decrees concerning the status of women, a few Biblical decrees may shed more light on the subject, thus providing a better basis for an impartial evaluation. In the Mosaic Law, the wife was betrothed. Explaining this concept, the Encyclopedia Biblical states: “To betro th a wife to oneself meant simply to acquire possession of her by payment of the purchase money。 【標(biāo)題】 中西方婦女地位對比研究 【作者】 閔榮霞 【關(guān)鍵詞】 婦女地位；家庭；社會；中國；西方國家 【指導(dǎo)老師】 宋家陵 伍海英 【專業(yè)】 英語 【正文】 I .Introduction The status of women in society is neither a new issue nor is it a fully settled one. Today, people are more and more caring about women’s 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 women’s status not only connects to women themselves, but also the society’s development. Therefore, both women and the government should try their efforts to enhance women’s status and advance the equal right of men and women. In China under these values of money and social status, women they can’t 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 no necessity to receive a higher education, it is just for selfenhancement or for pleasing their husbands. In ancient China women had inferior status, which could be reflect in the origin of Chinese Character “ 女 ”. The origin of the Chinese Character “ 女 ” can date back to the Yinshang period. At that time, the world “ 女 ” means “a person kneeling on the ground with her arms folded in front of her chest.”1 Then in the Xizhou period, it was almost the same, but a bar was added to mean various decorations on women’s hair. Later, it became “ 女 ”, from which the kneeling figure was not so easily recognized. But anyway, from the origin of “ 女 ” we can tell the subordinate position of women began from slave society. In English language also reflects women’s inferior status. According to the Bible, woman is a rib of man. This idea finds proof in words formation. Besides, some feminine phrases are also mancentered. . female judge, madam chairman, lady doctor. Some unhappy things are linked with women. For example, black Maria(