When we were married we cried because we belonged to another family. We had to cook and to serve others. We used to worry would they like our cooking. If they didn't, your mother-in-law beat you. Now we are worthless. Women today are afraid of their daughters-in-law. They dare not criticize them. If you criticize a daughter-in-law she will run away. Daughters-in-law look at you with ugly faces. (Mrs. Shen, 65-year-old mother-in-law)
Now I don't have to wash clothes and cook. I have time to play. I have a good daughter-in-law. (Mrs. Li, 52-year-old mother-in-law)
Abstract
This paper compares relations between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law at two points of time in a Taiwanese village which has changed over the past 30 years from an economic system based almost entirely on agriculture to one founded predominantly on off-farm employment. Using ethnographic data, it describes how women's intergenerational relations in contemporary Taiwan both refute and support the notion that Chinese women, who are unquestionably treated as inferiors in their younger years, usually are obeyed, respected, and cared for in their later years. The paper discusses the role of income inequality in this difference and argues that development in Taiwan has not only perpetuated old models but also created new forms of generational inequality.
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Gallin, R.S. The intersection of class and age: Mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relations in rural Taiwan. J Cross-Cultural Gerontol 9, 127–140 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00972145
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00972145