Blue Star (The End)
The institution of marriage, which is used to determine kinship and property ownership, is precisely this difference that leads to drastically different lives for women.
“The West has a strict monogamous system, although initially Western women did not have the right to inherit property.” Mi paused for a moment. “I’m not quite right to say that. The West has a citizenship system where all citizens enjoy the same rights. But that’s not important. For a long time in the West, daughters did not have the right to inherit property. If a family had no sons, their estate and all their property would be inherited by their nephews, or even nephews who were not even far away.”
"Do Eastern women also have no right to inherit property?"
“No, that’s not it. In the East, if a family only has daughters, the daughters have the right to inherit property.” Mi paused and repeated, “provided that the family has no sons.”
“According to you, it’s clearly Eastern women who have more.” El was completely bewildered.
“In the East, there’s a strange system of marriage called monogamy with multiple concubines. If the wife can’t bear a son, a son born to a concubine can inherit the family property. If one concubine can’t bear a son, another concubine can. You know, children are born to women. For a mother, the only difference is whether a child was born from her own womb or not.” Mi paused, and only continued after seeing El nod. “For a man, as long as it’s his own child, it doesn’t matter which daughter gave birth to it. Monogamy with multiple concubines has made families with only daughters very rare, extremely rare.”
"That is, both the East and the West have a system of male inheritance in terms of property."
“Yes, property is actually in the hands of men.” Mi looked up at Al. “You know how important property is, especially for women who need to bear and give birth to children.”
"You're right, so why did things change later?"
"While a family's wealth is certainly partly inherited from their parents, after a lifetime of hard work, no one wants their wealth to fall into the hands of outsiders. A king wants his children to inherit the throne, and ordinary families, even without a throne, only want their children to inherit their wealth."
"That's true."
"This led to a change in inheritance rights in the West. Even men prefer their daughters to inherit their property rather than some nephew who appears out of nowhere. When a law is resisted by both men and women, it comes to an end." Mi sighed. "Even if women later gained inheritance rights in the West, they lost the right to manage their property once they got married. Their husbands became the actual owners of the property, and it was still inherited by men, only the nephew who appeared out of nowhere was replaced by the son-in-law."
"What about the East?"
“It’s the same in the East,” Mihe chuckled twice. “If a family only has a daughter, the whole village will try to take advantage of her. If a family only has a daughter, the property will be taken by families with sons.”
“It’s really no different,” Al said after a moment’s thought. “It’s still male ownership of property.”
“Yes,” Mi said weakly. “In both the East and the West, sons and daughters are called sons and daughters. But once a marriage is established, the daughter in the East becomes an outsider, the son-in-law is called an outsider, and the child born to the daughter is called an outsider. The daughter has lost her right of inheritance from the paternal line. In the West, the daughter-in-law is the daughter in law, the son-in-law is the son in law, and the child born to the son and daughter is called a grandson and enjoys the same right of inheritance.”
“Even if they are both male, by the time it comes to the grandchildren, the children born to daughters no longer have inheritance rights. In the end, the inheritance rights are lost starting with the daughters.” El asked again, “What if there are only grandsons? Can they also not inherit their grandfather’s estate?”
“Since he is a grandson, then the grandfather also becomes a maternal grandfather.” Mi continued, “Although this situation is very rare, yes, even if the property can be inherited by the grandson, the whole society will assume that the family’s bloodline has been cut off, and the family property is inherited by outsiders rather than his descendants.”
"Aren't kinship ties in the East based on bloodlines?" El hesitated for a moment before asking.
“In the East, kinship is based on bloodline, but specifically on the father’s bloodline. As I mentioned, the East practices a system of one husband with multiple wives and concubines. Children born to these women, as long as they share the same father, will call the father’s wife ‘mother,’ even if these children have no blood relation to the mother.” Mi explained with effort, “What is this called? Half-blood relatives.”
“Women’s bloodline is not recognized,” Al said after a moment of thought, “but in reality, property is still in the hands of men.”
"This is where the disagreement arises. Western marriage is monogamous, and sons and daughters have the same inheritance rights. So, men will definitely choose to marry women from wealthy families, which means that some poor women will not be able to find suitable marriage partners and will have to remain single." Mi stared into the distance for a while before continuing, "In the East, in the secular world, women do not have the option of not marrying. If a woman does not marry, the government will punish her and even force her into marriage against her will."
"Ah, this?" El didn't know what to say. After a long while, she continued, "In the West, I think there are more married women. How did Western women acquire property rights?"
“Well, the fact that Western women can legally be single and legally own property is already the biggest difference,” Mi continued. “In the West, within the same family, with the same pair of sisters, there will be situations where one daughter is married and the other remains single. The married daughter’s property is taken over by her husband, while the single sister lives a carefree life with the property left by her father. You tell me, they are both daughters, and just because they are married or not, such a difference arises. Would the married daughter be content with that?”
“I understand what you mean. These women eventually took back their property from their husbands.”
“You’re really smart.” Mizan gave Al an approving look.
"Do Eastern women not have the legal opportunity to own property?"
“Yes, it’s not just about property, but also about status and position. You know, in human society, property is very important, even the most important resource for survival,” Mi continued. “Eastern women can be said to have nothing, no rights whatsoever.”
"Aren't Eastern men born of women? How can they watch their mothers have nothing?" El didn't understand.
"That's because once the mother owns property, the daughter will also own property. If the daughter takes a share, the son will receive less. People are selfish; a man's first priority is to ensure his property doesn't fall into other hands. Besides, this man's mother may not even be related to him by blood. Have you forgotten the peculiar marriage system in Eastern societies?"
Is the East still like this now?
“Ha, times are changing, and the East is now monogamous. But,” Mi suddenly smiled strangely, “the East has a law that children born in wedlock have the same right to inherit property.”
What does this mean?
“What else could this mean?” Mi said dejectedly. “Marriage is meant to clarify kinship and inheritance rights. Historically, illegitimate children born out of wedlock had no inheritance rights. Now, Eastern law has only prevented men from legally possessing multiple women; otherwise, nothing has changed. A daughter born in marriage is not as valuable as a son born out of wedlock.”
"The marriage system in the East is dying out."
“You’re really smart.” Mi smiled wryly twice. “To solve this problem, the East has introduced a new law, namely the divorce cooling-off period. No matter if a woman is about to be beaten to death or she doesn’t want to live with the man anymore, as long as the man doesn’t want a divorce, the woman still can’t get a divorce.”
"Are fewer and fewer people getting married these days?" Joe asked from the side. "Do women still have to get married?"
“Oh, no, that’s not the case anymore. More and more people are unwilling to get married; after all, nobody’s a fool.” Mi thought for a moment, “The more developed a place is, the more tolerant it is of women. Being single is now a viable option.”
“Eastern women have no rights, but feminists on Earth are very powerful.” El suddenly remembered something and continued, “Aren’t you a feminist?”
“Feminists are very brave, and of course they are pioneers.” Mi raised her head. “I admire them very much, but I am not a feminist.”
"Why?"
"As you said, God did not have gender in the beginning, and gender only came into being due to different ways of reproduction. So I think that people should not be different either. Whether they are men or women, what they should have first and foremost is human rights, not male rights or female rights."
"You think women don't need preferential treatment?" El asked, somewhat puzzled.
“Preferential treatment?” Mi smiled enigmatically again. “In a society that oppresses women, so-called preferential treatment for women is nothing but poison disguised in sugar. I don’t need preferential treatment; I just want to be treated the same as men.”
Why do you say that?
"Take maternity leave for example. A woman who has given birth is entitled to several months of paid leave. Nowadays, there are still calls to extend this leave."
“Isn’t this good?” Joe said from the side. “Women need to recuperate after giving birth.”
"You think it's good?" Mi glanced at her and muttered, "I have nothing to say to an old fogey like you."
“Tell me about it,” El said gently.
“The most disgusting thing about this law is that it deprives women of their right to work. If you were a boss, would you rather hire a man who can work continuously or a woman who takes maternity leave for the same price? Don’t say that the law prohibits employment discrimination. Go to those employers and see how much harder it is for a woman in her twenties to get a job than for a man; how much fewer promotion opportunities does a woman of childbearing age have than a man?” Mi continued, “If a woman takes maternity leave at home, she has to take care of the child, do housework, and may lose her job, and her chances of promotion are even slimmer.”
"Is there no way to change this approach?"
"Of course. In some Western countries, men and women have the same parental leave. That is, once a child is born, the father and mother share the same responsibility and obligation to raise and care for the child."
"This policy is excellent and deserves to be promoted," Qiao nodded in approval.
“Ha, a wise man keeps away from the kitchen, you know?” Mi chuckled. “There’s a saying called ‘absentee parenting.’ Those fathers who bring home the household expenses on time are considered good men. Expecting them to share the responsibility of raising children is like hoping the sun will rise in the west faster.”
"Parenting requires help."
“You’re right. In some countries, to provide childcare assistance, there’s even something called ‘foster families.’ When a mother doesn’t want to continue raising her child, she can choose to have the child stay with a foster family for a while to catch her breath.” Mi shrugged. “Where are the fathers? In modern society, children can drink formula and don’t need their mothers to be around all the time. Fathers can perfectly well take care of a baby as they grow up, just like the Elder. Why do you call the Elder a real man just because he did what any woman would do? Didn’t he just do the most basic thing a person should do?”
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