Education in the Confucian classics was an important avenue for gaining high social status and political power. However, Confucian doctrine did not accord women equal status with men; women were considered inferior and unworthy or incapable of learning. Nevertheless, Confucian society did honor women as both mothers and mothers-in-law, and with status came power within the family. Ban Zhao/ Pan Chao (45-116 ce) was the sister of famous historian, Ban Gu, and outstanding female Confucian scholar. Zhao's husband died when she was young and she never remarried. Instead, she devoted herself to scholarship. Please read Zhao's Lessons for Women, her most famous work, and answer the following questions:
1) What were the seven womanly virtues she wrote about? What were women's roles and purposes? On what one subject does Ban Zhao insist on the rights of women?
2) Does she hold a romantic view of marriage?
3) Do you believe her work challenged patriarchy? Did it make patriarchy less oppressive for women or not?
4) What does this sketch suggest about the ongoing image of Ban Zhao? Does the image correctly reflect Ban Zhao's own ideas about women?
5) Is this painting designed to illustrate women's inferiority?