【正文】 ancement 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(囚車 ), Venus fly trap(捕蠅 器 ), Hurricane Betsy(颶風(fēng) ). Women’s subordinate position helped create many negative words which are used as affirmative ones when used to describe a man. The following examples are very supportive. bachelor:(happy)unmarried man— spinster:(queer, cold) unmarried woman。 governor: ruler— governess: tutor (hired by others)。 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。 doing the house work。 the different customs of women as a wife. Although, in nowadays, with the development of economy and culture, women’s status has raised steadily, women don’t have the same rights and equal status. A. The Similarities of Women’s Status in China and West Countries 1. Women Subordinating to Her Husband and Father Because of the physical characters of women and some similar culture, women in family have many Similarities of their status. In ancient, women’s status was very low. A woman’s main function was the reproduction of children, especially of sons. Although in different countries there are many similarities of women’s status in China and Western Countries. Women have lower status than men at home both in China and the Western Countries. Even in ancient Egypt, women having higher status, women enjoy much more rights than their sisters in any other societies. Women lived in a mendominated society. The most mon title for nonroyal women was “mistress of the house”. In ancient China women we can see this phenomenon in Chinese language. Regard woman as something belonging to man. In old China, “men have both first names and surnames, but women have either no first names, called by 氏 ,like張氏、李氏、吳王氏、朱張氏 , or no surnames, called according to their status in family, as in A Dream of Red Mansions, there are賈母、王夫人、趙姨娘 .In many cases, women are also called according to their places in family:大丫頭、二丫頭 .”4 Women have to subordinate to her father before her get married and to her husband when she get married. Even they have to subordinate to her sun after her husband died. In western countries, women also have a lower status than men. From the Gee Orwell’s article of Marrakech “when a family is traveling it is quite usual to see a father and a grownup son riding ahead on donkeys, and an old woman following on foot, carrying the baggage,” we can see the wife or mother even have no chance to ride on the donkeys. The film Kramer vs Kramer, Mr. Kramer works for the family while Mrs. Kramer takes care of their son and husband and do the house work. No matter in China or in the Western Countries women’s status in family is lower than men’s. They can’t impendent in financial because they can not go to work. 2. Women Having Duty of Housewife Housewife is a married lady who does not do any job, but stays at home and takes care of the house and the kids: doing the cooking, washing, cleaning etc. it’s more like she is married to the house. The majority disagrees with the saying that “Women should try to avoid surpassing her husband in social status.” Only % women are in favor, which is % lower than men and % lower than 1990. Less urban women are in favor, accounting for only %. For the notion that challenges men’s traditional role in the family saying that “Men should carry half of the housework,” % people are “in favor” or “ext remely in favor.” % women are in favor, which is % higher than men. The traditional role of women was as a homemaker, a nest builder for her husband and her family. This lady often had extended family near, such as her parents or her husband’s pare nts also aunts and uncles and cousins. This extended family 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 t