‘Morality class’ for women ordered to close in China

Chinese authorities have shut down a “female morality class” that provoked anger by lecturing women to shut up, accept a second-rate role in society and focus on housework, state media reported today.

In viral video that surfaced on China’s internet, an instructor in the class in the northeastern province of Liaoning tells students that “women should talk less, do more housework and shut their mouths”.

The teacher also said that “women should not strive to move upwards in society, but should always remain at the bottom level”.

“If you order food delivery instead of cooking by yourself, you are disobeying rules for women,” another instructor said.

The class was launched in the city of Fushun by the Fushun Traditional Cultural Research Association, which was established in 2011 with the approval of city authorities.

Its aim was ostensibly to reinforce Confucian values, part of a growing national embrace of traditional teachings, but video of the lectures angered many.

“This is female slavery, not female morality,” wrote one angry user of China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform.

Education authorities in Fushun said the class had been launched without authorisation and would be stopped immediately, the official Xinhua news agency said.

“Female morality classes” are sometimes offered at Chinese schools and teach traditional …read more