Feminist Housewife:

[nonamerasian]

An oxymoron?

[kimpossible]

How would this relate mainly to Asian American women? :confused:

[nonamerasian]

It relates to women in general, but close it if it's not applicable to this forum.

[kasia]

i think in chinese households, often times housewives actually wear the pants in the family. i heard that this is different in japanese and korean households. yes?

[kimpossible]

Well there is the 'ie' (same character as 'jia') system where the mother is in charge of the household including finances. It was proposed to be a source of strain on the relationship between a mother and daughter-in-law because it was the only position of power available to a woman in a family. This is off the top of my head from old classes so if someone else wants to step up as a better authority, feel free.

[SunWuKong]

i think in chinese households, often times housewives actually wear the pants in the family. i heard that this is different in japanese and korean households. yes?

i don't know about that. a lot of times i do see that wives in Chinese households have equal decision-making powers, but i'm not sure if that really happens most of the time. and it may be different with richer families, especially when the wife does not earn money also.

may be different in Taiwan, as it did not go through a period of communist challenge to traditions like the mainland, and it did not go through rapid Westernisation like HK.

Well there is the 'ie' (same character as 'jia') system where the mother is in charge of the household including finances. It was proposed to be a source of strain on the relationship between a mother and daughter-in-law because it was the only position of power available to a woman in a family. This is off the top of my head from old classes so if someone else wants to step up as a better authority, feel free.

i think traditionally, where the man was still the head-figure and sole bread-winner of the household, he would give the wife a certain amount of money that the household would need, and she was in charge of managing it. so in that sense, the wife would still be subservient to the husband financially because he is not obligated to give the wife all his earnings. (or is he? actually i'm not sure.)

[YuheiCarreau]

i think traditionally, where the man was still the head-figure and sole bread-winner of the household, he would give the wife a certain amount of money that the household would need, and she was in charge of managing it. so in that sense, the wife would still be subservient to the husband financially because he is not obligated to give the wife all his earnings. (or is he? actually i'm not sure.)

In a typical Japanese marriage, the man earns the money and the wife determines how it is spent, up to and including how much pocket money the man has for a given week. I think it varies from family to family which person has the most control in big decisions, such as buying a new car or house, but as a general rule the man has little control over household finances. This speaks to the difference in Japanese society's expectations of men and women; men are expected to be the sole earner, and have very little day-to-day involvement in household activities or the lives of their children, while women are expected to micromanage the home life, yet stay out of the workplace. Of course, this is changing in the younger generation...

[truMp]

I think it would depend on the "degree" of feminism in order for there to be an answer. If this was the "traditional feminist", those who strive to be equals, then it would be an oxymoron.

[applehead]

i think in chinese households, often times housewives actually wear the pants in the family. i heard that this is different in japanese and korean households. yes?

it's funny how in korean culture husbands are seen
as the dominant partner but in areas of finance
the wife has all the control. i just think it's ironic.
typically the husband hands her his paycheck and then
receives a weekly allwance.

situations where the husband begs his wife for extra
allowance money is seen frequently in their media.