Work · East Asian Philosophy
Lessons 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.
Introduction
Ban Zhao, a historian and scholar at the Han court who completed her brother Ban Gu’s Book of Han, wrote Lessons for Women in her old age, around 106 CE, ostensibly for her daughters. Its seven chapters treat humility, husband and wife, respect and caution, womanly conduct, devotion to the husband, obedience to the parents-in-law and harmony with the husband’s siblings. Ban Zhao accepts the subordination of women but argues that girls should be educated as boys are, since a wife who cannot read cannot serve properly. In the Ming and Qing dynasties the text became part of the “Four Books for Women”; in the twentieth century it was attacked as a pillar of patriarchy, while some scholars stress its case for women’s education.
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