Female Supremacy Articles - Page 22

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'Men should listen to their wives'

(China Daily)

2006-07-21

In Shanghai, the women wear the pants, or so the saying goes.

Not that the city's women are particularly masculine or coarse, it is just that their men have an age-old reputation for being, well, a little on the soft side.

The "little men of Shanghai" have been derided for years in folk tales, novels, theatre and, more recently, in films, television dramas and, most mercilessly on the Internet. Invariably, they are depicted as henpecked husbands who willingly subject themselves to a life of servitude at the beck and call of their wives.

Now, Shanghai men are fighting back. No, they are not seeking to overthrow the rule of the wives. They are, instead, trying to teach their fellow countrymen a thing or two about family harmony. The message: Men should listen to their wives.

Hauling two plastic bags full of fresh vegetables and meat from a neighbourhood market, Shao Zhenhua, a 30-something marketing manager for the Shanghai Film Centre, which runs a downtown multiplex, says he "loves" cooking and washing at home. Doing the housework is part of his "family tradition," the young executive said proudly.

Historical reasons