I've noticed an intriguing trend in Chinese TV dramas recently: It seems that more and more male characters are being depicted as wielding less power, while more and more women are depicted as wielding more power.

An example of this is Tiger Mom, a comedic drama series telling the story of a Chinese family. Zhao Wei stars as the mother, Tong Dawei as the father, and Ji Zihan plays the daughter.

 The mother is portrayed as strict and unrelenting in the way she educates their primary school-aged daughter, while the father is presented as the nice peacemaker whenever conflicts arise. While Zhao plays the "tiger mom," Tong is the "pussycat dad."

I quite enjoy watching it. Of course, the target audience for such shows is people like me - women who grew up being taught to be strong, so we could compete with men in school and in the workplace.

Fictional characters are reflections of people in real life. The rise of feminism over the past decades has diminished the rule of patriarchy, which used to dominate social relations in society.

It is also the result of our modern education system. Some have argued that the exam-based education systems adopted around the world over the past decades are more suited to girls. Boys, some argue, have to repress their unruly natures if they want to succeed in getting high scores, which rely on discipline. 

A concern raised in the drama is what kind of role a "pussycat dad" should play in raising children. Should the dad always be the peacemaker?

When I was growing up, I was always scared of my father, who was a stern disciplinarian. When I was learning to play the saxophone, he often scolded me until I was in tears, so I finally dropped it.

But it was also my father who told me girls can do things as well as boys can do. As women become more empowered, the traditional roles played by mothers and fathers are reversing. Fathers are behaving less aggressively than mothers. But in my opinion, a father should never just be a mediator, because this means that he is neglecting his other responsibilities.

In Tiger Mom, the pussycat dad eventually learns how to play a more actively role in the family. Maybe for a lot of young men, raising a child is the final lesson that brings them into maturity.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.