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Rural‐urban migration and gender division of labor in transitional China

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  • C. Cindy Fan

Abstract

Over the last two decades, social and economic changes in transitional economies have produced many new outcomes. In this article, I examine some of the ways in which China's transition has produced gendered outcomes and highlight evidence of these outcomes. I argue that during transition the state has shifted its goals to economic ones, but unlike capitalist economies it still has at its disposal instruments of social control. Peasants are made more vulnerable and must rely on migrant work for survival, but their low institutional status relegates them to outsider status in urban areas. These circumstances, together with socio‐cultural traditions that constrain women's mobility and endorse stratifications, have enabled the development of a labor regime that fosters segmentation and division of labor. Peasant migrants' reliance on social network further reinforces segregation in the urban labor market. Using multiple sources of macro‐level and field surveys, I examine both quantitative and qualitative evidence of gender segregation and division of labor. The findings show that a high degree of gender segregation among rural‐urban migrants exists in the urban labor market, that peasant women's urban work opportunities are short‐lived, and that upon marriage women migrants are relegated back to the village and to the ‘inside’, in part to sustain gender division of labor as a household strategy. Au cours des deux dernières décennies, les gouvernements de transition ont connu des évolutions économiques et sociales aux conséquences nouvelles et variées. Cet article examine comment la transition chinoise a produit des effets différenciés selon le sexe, et en détaille la réalité. Durant la phase transitoire, l'É tat a transposé ses objectifs sur le terrain économique mais, contrairement aux pays capitalistes, il dispose encore d'instruments de régulation sociale. Rendue plus vulnérable, la population rurale doit compter sur les travailleurs migrants pour sa survie; cependant, une fois en ville, leur faible statut institutionnel en fait des travailleurs ‘en marge’. Alliée aux traditions socio‐culturelles qui limitent la mobilité des femmes et nourrissent les stratifications, cette situation a permis la création d'un système d'emploi tendant à la segmentation et la division du travail. La dépendance des migrants ruraux par rapport au réseau social vient renforcer la ségrégation sur le marché du travail urbain. A partir d'études de terrain et de niveau global, l'article explore les éléments quantitatifs et qualitatifs de ségrégation sexuelle et division du travail. D'après les résultats, il existe un degré important de ségrégation selon le sexe parmi les migrants sur le marché de l'emploi urbain, les possibilités de travail en ville sont de courte durée pour les paysannes et, quant au mariage, les migrantes sont ramenées à leur village et à‘l'intérieur’, en partie pour soutenir une stratégie domestique de division sexuée du travail.

Suggested Citation

  • C. Cindy Fan, 2003. "Rural‐urban migration and gender division of labor in transitional China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 24-47, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:27:y:2003:i:1:p:24-47
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.00429
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Barry Reilly, 1999. "The gender pay gap in Russia during the transition, 1992‐96," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(1), pages 245-264, March.
    2. Ulla Grapard, 1997. "Theoretical Issues of Gender in the Transition from Socialist Regimes," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 665-686, September.
    3. Ariane Pailhé, 2000. "Gender Discrimination in Central Europe during the Systemic Transition," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 8(2), pages 505-535, July.
    4. Xin Meng & Junsen Zhang & Pak-Wai Liu, 2000. "Sectoral gender wage differentials and discrimination in the transitional Chinese economy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(2), pages 331-352.
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