1, economic reasons:
Men are naturally superior to women in physical strength and logical judgment. In the early stage of human evolution, stronger physical strength and logical judgment meant more food sources and more chances of survival in tribal wars.
Agricultural economy has long occupied a dominant position. However, this intensive mode of production is very intensive to manual labor, so men naturally become the main labor force, occupying a dominant position in the isomorphic social structure of home and country, while women are in a subordinate position.
2, social and political reasons:
In social politics, because the economic base determines the superstructure, women who are economically subordinate to men naturally become subservient to men in political status. Therefore, in the hierarchical patriarchal society, women have no political status at all, and they have become the targets of male discrimination and bullying.
3, the protection of patriarchal clan system:
Since the establishment of paternal system, the principle of calculating father-son relationship and paternal inheritance right have been established. In this way, according to the logic of family blood, only male descendants can continue the clan, while girls are people with physical surnames. "If you marry a woman, spill water." Just having one daughter doesn't mean more. Therefore, in order to continue the clan, there must be male descendants.
4, the protection of ethical system:
Confucian culture "educates" and becomes moralized and ethical. Sun Tzu said, "There are three kinds of filial piety, and the latter is the greatest." This strengthens people's expectation of having a son from the height of "filial piety". The Yin-Yang thought put forward by the Book of Changes is the source of China's traditional thought, which can be said to be the theoretical source of patriarchal clan system. Later, through the deduction and transformation of thinkers of past dynasties, especially Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, this thought was gradually brought to the extreme.
Second, the life customs of son preference:
In some social cultures and customs, there will be a preference for sons over daughters. For example, some rural areas in China stipulate that women who have never given birth to boys cannot attend weddings. In traditional funeral ceremonies in East Asia, the mourning for paternal relatives is more important than maternal relatives of the same generation and the same level. For example, mourning for my uncle is heavier than mourning for my uncle. Even if they are paternal or maternal relatives, the mourning for men will be heavier than that for women. For example, mourning for uncles is heavier than mourning for aunts.
Some languages also show a preference for boys over girls. For example, in Chinese, "women's opinion" refers to the opinions of people without knowledge, and "women's benevolence" refers to kindness that does not take care of the overall situation and contains the meaning of belittling women's intelligence.
Third, change:
In recent years, some positive achievements have been made in promoting gender equality all over the world. In the past two years, 65 countries, mainly developing countries, have formulated as many as 94 reform measures to promote gender equality. In addition, 127 countries have also revised their domestic violence laws. Twenty-five years ago, only seven countries had such laws.
With the process of urbanization, preference for sons over daughters has gradually withdrawn from the mainstream. However, in order to completely change this concept, it is urgent to change people's concept of marriage, such as implementing the AA system of love consumption, implementing equal housing distribution or temporary rental between men and women, abolishing the custom of bride price, and treating family roles correctly, so as to embody the principle of equality and mutual assistance between husband and wife in the new era.