In her chapter entitled “Husband and Wife,” Ban Zhao explored what she saw as the fundamental dynamic that defined the relationship between men and women. In Ban Zhao’s view, the essence of a proper marriage was simple. It was the husband’s duty to control his wife. It was the wife’s duty to serve her husband. Once again, however, as in Ban Zhao’s introduction, a straightforward statement of subservience and humility was a starting point for something more complex. Indeed, Ban Zhao went on from these basic principles to critique the behavior of the men of her day and to call for the education of women. As you read the chapter, pay attention to the meaning Ban Zhao attached to the word “service.” What did it mean for a woman to truly serve her husband? What connection did she make between service and education?
The Way of husband and wife is intimately connected with Yin and Yang, and relates the individual to gods and ancestors. Truly it is the great principle of Heaven and Earth, and the great basis of human relationships. Therefore the “Rites” [The Classic of Rites] honor union of man and woman; and in the “Book of Poetry” [The Classic of Odes] the “First Ode” manifests the principle of marriage. For these reasons the relationships cannot but be an important one.
If a husband be unworthy then he possesses nothing by which to control his wife. If a wife be unworthy, then she possesses nothing with which to serve her husband. If a husband does not control his wife, then the rules of conduct manifesting his authority are abandoned and broken. If a wife does not serve her husband, then the proper relationship between men and women and the natural order of things are neglected and destroyed. As a matter of fact the purpose of these two (the controlling of women by men, and the serving of men by women) is the same.
Now examine the gentlemen of the present age. They only know that wives must be controlled, and that the husband’s rules of conduct manifesting his authority must be established. They therefore teach their boys to read books and study histories. But they do not in the least understand that husbands and masters must also be served, and that the proper relationship and the rites should be maintained.
Yet only to teach men and not to teach women — is that not ignoring the essential relation between them? According to the “Rites,” it is the rule to begin to teach children to read at the age of eight years, and by the age of fifteen years they ought then to be ready for cultural training. Only why should it not be that girls’ education as well as boys’ be according to this principle?
Source: Nancy Lee Swann, trans., Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of China (New York: The Century Co., 1932), pp. 84–
Questions to Consider