Ban Zhao

Agora

Ban Zhao

c. 45–117

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

Her guide for women teaches humility and devotion within the family – but insists that girls deserve the same education as boys.

Placement

East Asian Philosophy · East Asia · Ethics, Society & History, Gender & Feminism

Han-dynasty historian who completed her brother’s “Book of Han” and taught at court: her “Lessons for Women” prescribe humility and devotion – yet also demand that girls be educated like boys.

Key ideas

Lessons for Women (Nüjie)
Education for girls
Confucian ethics of the household

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Influence

Influenced by 1

Confucius

influenced by
Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women (Nüjie) applied Confucian ritual ethics of humility and deference to women, while arguing that girls too must be educated. Ban Zhao, Nüjie; N. L. Swann, Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of China (1932)
Evidence: AI draft
Confucius › traditionally 551–479 BCE

Works

c. 106Lessons for Women (Nüjie)
Seven short chapters on humility, diligence and the duties of a wife – and a plea that girls be taught to read as well as boys.

Position

Her short “Lessons for Women” (Nüjie), written for her daughters, is the earliest surviving Chinese text on the conduct of women. It teaches humility, deference, diligence and devotion to the husband’s family, and for centuries it was read as a manual of submission. But it also argues that, if the ritual texts require husbands to control wives, wives must be able to serve them well – which is impossible without education. Girls, she says, should therefore be taught from the age of eight, as the classics prescribe for boys. Scholars dispute whether to read the work as securing her daughters’ position within the system or as a text later used beyond its intent.

Life & context

Ban Zhao (c. 45–117) was the daughter of the historian Ban Biao and sister of Ban Gu, author of the “Book of Han”. Widowed young, she was called to court by Emperor He to complete her brother’s history after his death in prison, and she taught the empress and court ladies, who addressed her as “the Venerable Madam”. She accompanied her son to his provincial post; her dates are approximately known.