Mind your age: Why do Hakka women marry young?
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
Mind Your Age: Why Do Hakka Women Marry Young? |
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Author :
Elena Gregoria Chai |
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Abstract:
Marriage is an important step forward in a woman’s life in the Chinese society. A Chinese woman cannot remain with her parents or natal family forever. She has to marry and only then, will she have a permanent dwelling in her later life and also afterlife. Her natal family’s house will be taken over by her male siblings. If she remains single and stayson in her natal home, she is subordinated to her brothers and sisters-in-law after her parents pass on. Her status in the family is downgraded to the like of a housemaid, helping with house chores and havingno control in all decision-makings. In many instances, these single old women were jeeredat by the sisters-in-law and are topics of gossip by others. One who is not married is sometimes ridiculed as weird, mentally unsound, anti-social and so forth.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Elena Gregoria Chai. (2007). Mind Your Age: Why Do Hakka Women Marry Young? The Sarawak Museum Journal, LXIV (85): 165-182 |
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References
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