Gender Bias In America Analysis

Gender Bias and its Impact on Acculturation in America

In many Asian societies, the male holds a dominant role in maintaining family and cultural values. This aspect seems to cause conflicts between the generations of Asian families here in the United States. The US is known for its permissiveness in self-determination amongst its people. Asians who had an American upbringing would strongly disagree with the views of those who are newly immigrated. These generational conflicts were evident by observing the male characters of the following pieces. Mayli Vang and Va Megn Thoj delineated the docile role of Hmong women in relation to their husbands. Due to these clashing views, there was a social conflict between the different generations
Here, the tale was set in an unusual society that challenged the manhood of a Chinese man, Tang Ao. In the tale, Tang Ao was stranded on a land ruled by women, and he became puzzled at the dominance of women in this society. Tang Ao was completely overpowered by the women and was forced to undergo a transformation. During the process, he had no control over himself on whether or not he desired the transformation. Instead, he allowed the group of women to do whatever to him without showing resistance. Kingston’s narration, “They bent his toes so far backward that his arched foot cracked. The old ladies squeezed each foot and broke many tiny bones along the sides,” showed how powerless the man was in the situation (Kingston 312). Moreover, the parable was synonymous to the experiences of young Chinese male immigrants here in the United States. As mentioned by Lim in the beginning of the chapter, “The figure of Tang Ao also suggest the employment history of male Chinese immigrants to the United States, who were restricted by discriminatory laws to traditional ‘women’s’ work in laundries and restaurants, work that produced a public image of Chinese American men as subordinate and effeminate,” which proves that male immigrants often had experiences that were unmanly (Lim 304). This interfered with the acculturation process because adjusting often contradicted their
For instance, the Hmong men, who were accustomed to having the women serve for them, had a hard time accepting the fact that their female counterparts were free and independent. As evident in Va-Megn Thoj’s story between the interaction of two Hmongs, the two identities had contrasting values as the woman enjoyed her freedom and did not sought the authority of a male Hmong. This generational conflict prevented the Hmongs from unifying as a community in America, which made their adjustment more difficult. However, this gender bias between the male and female Hmongs has changed for the better. Helen Zia informed that due to the demands of living in the United States, the men cannot be the only providers. In other words, the women had to work as well. As a result, this altered the traditional roles, which hopefully is helping bridge the various generations of Hmongs. Furthermore, Maxine Hong Kingston’s “On Discovery” was a fictional tale that symbolized some of the experiences that contradicted the social perspectives of the traditional Chinese male. Due to the discriminatory laws that were present at that time, young Chinese men had to resort working in places that were socially considered effeminate. As can be seen, the contradicting views of the different generations may be one of the root causes