A Critical Analysis on Confucian Sexism Through the Lens of Care Ethics: A Case of Domestic Labor Division

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.200428.078How to use a DOI?

Keywords

care ethics, moral boundaries, Confucianism, gendered division of domestic labor

Abstract

According to three nationwide surveys on the status of Chinese women carried out in 1990,2000, and 2010 respectively, the unfair gendered division of domestic care labor is a chronic problem in China. Scholars regard the sexist thoughts in Confucianism as an endogenous element leading to this inequality. Some comparisons between Confucianism and feminist ethics of care have begun emerging in recent years because of their common concerns of “care.” However, one of the striking features of feminist care ethics is their reflections on patriarchy, which distances themselves from Confucianism. This paper investigates whether and how the ethics of care’s criticism on the masculine dominance could shed light on the ongoing problem of gender-based division of domestic caring responsibility in China. This paper starts from an overview of the ethics of care, mainly referred to Joan Tronto’s care theories, to explore how their arguments rescue care from the dangers of patriarchy and hierarchy. Then, this paper tries to reflect on Confucianism via the lens of the ethics of care in the case of domestic labor division, based on carefully scrutinizing the sexist notions in Confucianism. In the conclusion, this paper discusses the potential enlightenments stemming from care ethics to bail Confucianism out of the malady of gendered care.

Copyright

© 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Bo Zhang
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/05/01
TI  - A Critical Analysis on Confucian Sexism Through the Lens of Care Ethics: A Case of Domestic Labor Division
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2020)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 358
EP  - 363
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200428.078
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.200428.078
ID  - Zhang2020
ER  -