Ray

My dad was born in a small rural area in Shandong Province, China. After giving birth to three girls, his parents desperately wanted a son. Finally, they had a son, my dad’s oldest brother, him being the youngest out of his five siblings. The reason for this was that sons were expected to take care of their parents when they were older. The girls were expected to marry into a different family and then take care of their parent’s in-laws. For this reason, when girls marry it was called “giving” and boys marrying was called “getting”. Since they would be taking care of the parents, my dad’s parents invested in the boys more. His grandfather went so far as to tell his mother that if necessary, try to keep their eldest son alive and everyone else could die. If there was a lack of resources to support the family, the girls were pulled away from education first, than the boys. As my dad’s education progressed, he noted that the number of girls in his class decreased as girls were pulled away to support their families. Here it is different. With the co-gender public school system and the large number of middle class families, gender bias is little to none. Everybody gets an education and poverty is nonexistent in this town. Resources contributes to gender as much as tradition does, and tradition is what my dad’s family followed.

All telling, NO anecdotes = dull account. Surely there is a story that captures workplace life as your father saw it. Surely there is a second story that captures the change. Don't blame the interviewee here; clearly it's all on the interviewer. --MrC

Maybe more comparisons to present day US, what //you// see, maybe? Alice

Sophie - how about how their childhood affected the way they are with you or their view on the way gender should be today

Juliet- add some comparisons and more of a story. Quotes would be good too.