The Library of Babel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
libraryofbabel) wrote2021-08-24 08:57 pm
libraryofbabel) wrote2021-08-24 08:57 pm
Influence of Gender Equality Norms on Childhood Aspirations, Late 19th Cen
You’re sitting at a low table in the apartment you share with your mother and baby sister, stretched out across the table with your face stuck in a book.1 There’s a whole stack next to you,2 bookmarked with haphazard scraps of paper.
“Whennnnnnn are they going to hold more of the women’s examinations?3 If I can’t be the first woman zhuangyuan I can at least be the second.”4
Your mother swats you with her broom. “Patience. You’re barely twelve; you can’t take them for years, even if you do read your bible every day. And right now, your mother needs help putting out the laundry to dry.”
A long sigh—but she’s right, you’ve been putting off your chores. You stand, placing a careful bookmark in your place. “When I’m an official I’ll make sure you and ██████5 have all the help you could want. I’ll make sure everyone has what they need.”
She ruffles your hair, fondly, and herds you toward the clothesline. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, dear.”
[1] The preferred Chinese translation of the Holy Bible; the exams in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were in large part based off of knowledge of it.
[2] She had managed to get her hands on a rare copy of a dictionary, for the more difficult words, along with other textbooks brought by missionaries.
[3] The first set of Chinese women's examinations for government officials' positions had been held a few years earlier. There would never be a second set.
[4] A zhuangyuan was the title given to those who placed first in the exams, and they often received special postings. That a woman could do so under Taiping Heavenly Kingdom policies seemed, to her, only natural and right, since she knew herself to be cleverer than many boys her age by far.
[5] Her young sister, at that time about half her age.
“Whennnnnnn are they going to hold more of the women’s examinations?3 If I can’t be the first woman zhuangyuan I can at least be the second.”4
Your mother swats you with her broom. “Patience. You’re barely twelve; you can’t take them for years, even if you do read your bible every day. And right now, your mother needs help putting out the laundry to dry.”
A long sigh—but she’s right, you’ve been putting off your chores. You stand, placing a careful bookmark in your place. “When I’m an official I’ll make sure you and ██████5 have all the help you could want. I’ll make sure everyone has what they need.”
She ruffles your hair, fondly, and herds you toward the clothesline. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, dear.”
[1] The preferred Chinese translation of the Holy Bible; the exams in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were in large part based off of knowledge of it.
[2] She had managed to get her hands on a rare copy of a dictionary, for the more difficult words, along with other textbooks brought by missionaries.
[3] The first set of Chinese women's examinations for government officials' positions had been held a few years earlier. There would never be a second set.
[4] A zhuangyuan was the title given to those who placed first in the exams, and they often received special postings. That a woman could do so under Taiping Heavenly Kingdom policies seemed, to her, only natural and right, since she knew herself to be cleverer than many boys her age by far.
[5] Her young sister, at that time about half her age.