Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

Chapter I provides an introduction of the study. In this chapter will be discussed the background of study, reasons for choosing the topic, statement of problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, and also the outline of the study. Further explanation will be discussed below.

1.1 Background of the Study

Gender is a set of differences between men and women, extending from the biological to the social. However, there is a debate to the extent which has been defined as an individuals self-conception as being male or female. Although gender is popularly used interchangeably with sex, gender is actually different from sex. Therefore, it is important to distinguish the difference between sex and gender. Popenoe 1983:170 says sex is the biological traits of males and females, while gender is the social and psychological traits associated with masculinity and femininity. As biological traits, sex is constant for virtually all members of a population. Gender, on the other hand, is in large part socially and culturally determined and so is subject to variation. Meanwhile, http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiGender states that gender is the result of socially constructed ideas about how the behavior, actions, and roles a particular sex performs. In gender studies the term gender is used to refer to 2 proposed social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities. In this context, gender explicitly excludes reference to biological differences, to focus on cultural differences. As we know together, there are many aspects of gender in our life. However, there are only two sexes; men and women. Men and women are different physically, and they think, act, and relate to others in different ways. The gender roles in society have social consequences that profoundly affect the quality of individual lives. Men and women have different roles in society based on their abilities. This social stratification in terms of gender and sex arise in society’s social norms, and cultures. In most societies, these reflect a basic belief in male dominance. It is because men are considered to have more power and prestige than women. The division of social class based on gender also can be seen in a family. Culturally, men are considered to be stronger than women. They are dominant in all aspect of life. Therefore, they are regarded as superior to women. The dominance of men in a family is called patriarchy or patrilineal system. Patrilineal is a system in which one belongs to one’s father lineage; it generally involves inheritance of property, names or tittles through the male line as well http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiPatrilineality. It means that descent from a male ancestor to a descendant in which the individuals in all intervening generations are male. Such a system is also found in traditional China. Traditional Chinese villages consisted of a number of patrilineal households. The patrilineal family system was prevalent in communities. In this 3 system the male members of the family, consisting of the grandfather, the father, and sons have decisive power concerning the family property and affairs. Mente 1994:31 says that a father in a family is an autocrat. Mente also adds in the same pages that his words and desires are law. In ancient Chinese culture, men have been considered as honored people. Men are considered to have higher positions than women. So, if a family has a son, that family is considered as an honored family. It is caused that at that time men were considered to be able to give significance things to their country than women. Therefore, women were regarded as nothing. Based on this case, I am interested in discussing gender inequality in the ancient Chinese society so that I, as English Literature student, would like to explore the social and cultural problems which existed in China through a film entitled Mulan. The phenomenon that appears in this film is profoundly related to my concern because it tells us about the social life that existed in the Chinese past. However, besides telling about invaders that invaded China, it also tells about the problems faced by women. Nevertheless, the issue that I think need to be learnt is why ancient Chinese women’s rights were restricted and how the narration of the film presents the struggle against this restriction.

1.2 Reasons for Choosing Topic