Women in Confucian China had nearly no power to be seen.  Men were the Supreme Being in society and in the family.  The low positions that women held are thought to be from a combination of economic and ideological factors.  One of the largest ideological factors in the way Chinese women were thought of was derived from the teachings of Confucius.  Chinese women although hardly thought of as an influential part of the family played a large role in the household as a daughter, daughter-in-law, wife, concubine, and a mother.  Women in China were also excluded from civil service, which was the main source of income in the ruling class.  A quote from Yang Chen a famous Confucianist of the Han Dynasty says that,

If women are given work that requires contact with the outside, they will sow disorder and confusion throughout the Empire.  Shame and injury will come to the Imperial Court, and the Sun and the Moon (Emperor and Empress) will wither away.  The Book of Documents warns us against the hen who announces dawn in the place of the rooster: the Book of Odes denounces a clever woman who overthrows a State...Women must not be allowed to participate in the affairs of government.

    In addition to to the economic factors were the ideological factors that were primarily brought about from the teachings of confucius.  One of the theories adopted from Confucian philosophers was that the world was created by the interaction of two elements: yin, the female, and yang, the male.  Yin was the earth, moon, depth, darkness, weakness, and passivity.  Yang consisted of heaven, sun, height, light, strength, and activity.  These two halves cannot consist without one another, but they are not considered equal.
    The three obediences demanded of a woman were to obey thy father, to obey thy husband, and if left a widow, to obey thy son.  A woman was to be diligent, quiet, cleanly, submissive, and always very eager to those she was to serve.