What was the social status of women in Song Dynasty?

Under the influence and long-term infiltration of Neo-Confucianism, the public opinion evaluation and social atmosphere of women's remarriage have changed greatly during the hundreds of years from the early Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty.

In the early Song Dynasty, it was popular for women to remarry, still taking advantage of the legacy of the Tang Dynasty. The five dynasties were in chaos for years, and even the rule that the princess was not allowed to remarry at the end of the Tang Dynasty was not observed. Mao's sister married Miford for the first time, and remarried to Gao Huaide after being widowed. Among social celebrities, Fan Zhongyan, a great writer, lost his father when he was young, remarried with his mother, and returned to the Sect when he grew up.

Song Renzong promulgated laws and regulations similar to those of Xuanzong in Tang Dynasty, which prohibited people with sons from remarrying, but the trend of remarriage among the people in the Northern Song Dynasty did not decline.

After the Southern Song Dynasty, ethics became more and more strict. On the one hand, Zhu and others spared no effort to publicize it and control the minds of intellectuals. On the other hand, it has begun to show great influence in social life. After that, there was no record of the royal princess and the princess getting married many times, and the remarriage of the daughters of ordinary bureaucrats gradually decreased.

Extended data:

China's Women's Policy

Women are the participants and beneficiaries of the great practice of building a well-off society in an all-round way, and the equal and coordinated development of men and women is an important feature of building a well-off society in an all-round way. After the founding of New China, the party and the state have written equality between men and women into the Constitution.

We have adopted various economic, legal and administrative means and effective measures to give and guarantee equal development opportunities and rights to women in the political, economic, cultural, social, marriage and family fields, and fully mobilize and give play to women's irreplaceable role in the country's economic and social development.

However, due to various historical and practical reasons, there is still a long way to go between the de jure equality between men and women and the de facto equality between men and women, and some phenomena that ignore the status and role of women and infringe on their legitimate rights and interests still exist. Therefore, in order to achieve the goal of a well-off society, we must earnestly safeguard and promote gender equality, encourage and support women and men to participate in competition on an equal footing, realize development and enjoy the fruits.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-China Women