¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ Zuo Yue Zi Sitting the Month in Taiwan: Implications for Intergenerational Relations

This dissertation attempts to find what factors play a key role in women’s ability to control their own lives by studying women’s postpartum practices, specifically women’s intergenerational relations as these are played out during traditional postpartum practices of ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿, Sitting the Month, in Taiwan using the strength of anthropological methods. Using semi-structures questionnaires and participant observation, three key questions are to be answered by this dissertation: 1) Where and how are women sitting the month currently in Taiwan? How is this different or the same from 15-20 years ago? 2) What are some of the factors enabling or hindering their stated ideals/goals in how they sat the month? 3) How have intergenerational relations between Chinese women in the family changed or remained the same in Taiwan? If there are changes, can they be attributed to economic variables, or are there other factors to be considered?

This study found that sitting the month in Taiwan has becoming increasingly commercialized, extending the business of Chinese women’s postpartum globally into mainland China and in the US. The conclusions from this study seem to point to social relationships and not economics as being key factors in women’s ability to control their own lives. Women sitting the month currently seem to enjoy an increased autonomy if they are separated from their mothers-in-law. Living with their mothers-in-law translates to lesser freedom of choice, regardless of their income or education. Young women’s status has increased so that they are able to make their own decisions regarding their family, their bodies and their lives, but this change in their autonomy is not absolute and varies depending on family circumstances. Variables such as income and education had little to do with women’s satisfaction and decision-making in their day to day lives, but residence patterns were significant in the young women’s power and authority over their own lives. The findings of this study do not attribute this increased women’s autonomy to changes in income or education. The important variable for consideration is social relationships.