Table Of ContentWomen of China
Economic and Social Transformation
Edited by
Jackie West, Zhao Minghua,
Chang Xiangqun and Cheng Yuan
WOMEN OF CHINA
Women of China
Economic and Social Transformation
Edited by
Jackie West
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
University of Bristol
Zhao Minghua
Senior Research Associate in Sociology
Seafarers International Research Centre
University of Wales Cardiff
Chang Xiangqun
Research Officer
The China Research Unit
City University, London
and
Cheng Yuan
formerly Research Fellow
Policy Studies Institute
London
Foreword by Elisabeth Croll
First published in Great Britain 1999 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-40984-6 ISBN 978-0-333-98384-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780333983843
First published in the United States of America 1999 by
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Women of China : economic and social transformation / edited by Jackie
West … [et al.].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Women—China—History. 2. Women—China—Social conditions.
3. Women—China—Economic conditions. 4. Feminism—China.
I. West, Jackie.
HQ1767.W655 1999
305.4'0951—dc21 99–20111
CIP
Selection and editorial matter ©Jackie West, Zhao Minghua, Chang Xiangqun and
Cheng Yuan 1999
Foreword ©Elisabeth Croll 1999
Chapter 1 ©Zhao Minghua and Jackie West 1999
Chapter 6 ©Zhao Minghua 1999
Chapter 8 ©Chang Xiangqun 1999
Chapters 2–5, 7, 9–11 ©Macmillan Press Ltd 1999
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1999978-0-333-74088-0
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with
written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99
Contents
List of Tables vii
List of Figures ix
Foreword by Elisabeth Croll xi
Preface and Acknowledgements xv
Notes on the Contributors xvii
1 State and Economy in the Making of Women’s Lives:
An Introduction 1
ZHAO Minghua and Jackie WEST
Part 1 Political and Economic Transitions
2 State–Society Relations and Women’s Political
Participation 19
WANG Qi
3 Understanding Changes in Women’s Status in the
Context of the Recent Rural Reform 45
ZHANG Heather Xiaoquan
Part II Gender, Migration and Labour Markets
4 The Role of Women in Labour Migration:
A Case Study in Northern China 69
SONG Lina
5 Divided Gender, Divided Women:
State Policy and the Labour Market 90
HUANG Xiyi
6 From Weaving Stars to Bitter Flowers: Tradition,
Reform and their Implications for Women Textile
Workers 108
ZHAO Minghua
v
vi Contents
Part III Family and Household Relations
7 To Have a Son: The One-Child Family Policy and
Economic Change in Rural China 137
MU Aiping
8 ‘Fat Pigs’ and Women’s Gifts: Agnatic and Non-Agnatic
Social Support in Kaixiangong Village 156
CHANG Xiangqun
9 Rural Privatisation and Women’s Labour:
Property Rights and Gender Concepts in Inner
Mongolia and Xinjiang 175
ZHANG Mei
Part IV Organising for Change
10 Women and the Public Sphere: Education,
NGO Affiliation and Political Participation 195
SHANG Xiaoyuan
11 The Development of Women’s Studies:
From the 1980s to the Present 211
MIN Dongchao
Glossary of Chinese Journals 225
Index 227
List of Tables
4.1 Basic statistics of the sampled villages, the rural
survey 72
4.2 The determinants of migration: logistic model
for probability to migrate 73
4.3 The determinants for households to have more migrants:
OLS regression on ratio of migrants to household
workers 75
4.4 Earnings function of migrants in Handan, 1993 79
4.5 Sectoral distribution of migrants by marital status
and mean income earned in various sectors 80
4.6 Characteristics of men and women migrants 81
4.7 Location of previous job, by gender 84
4.8 Main attitudes towards migration, by gender 86
7.1 Desired number of children, by county and women’s
employment, 1990 140
7.2 Gender preference of only children among those
desiring one child only, by county and women’s
employment, 1990 140
7.3 Average annual expenditure on child rearing,
by county and women’s employment, 1990 143
7.4 Anticipated cost of a son’s or daughter’s marriage,
by county and women’s employment, 1990 144
7.5 Perceived opportunity cost of childbearing, by county
and women’s employment, 1990 144
7.6 The most important reason for childbearing,
by county and women’s employment, 1990 147
A7.1 Parental expectations of children, by women’s
employment and gender of child, Chongqing, 1990 154
A7.2 Parental expectations of children, by women’s
employment and gender of child, Wujiang, 1990 154
9.1 Comparison of annual household expenditure
between rich and poor families, 1991 178
9.2 Comparison of average household size in various
regions 182
10.1 Education and NGO affiliation 201
10.2 Occupation and NGO affiliation 201
vii
viii List of Tables
10.3 Age and NGO affiliation 202
10.4 Women’s interest in mainstream organisations,
by NGO affiliation 204
10.5 Women’s interest in alternative politics, by NGO
affiliation 205
10.6 Women’s interest in political participation, by education 205
List of Figures
8.1 Kinship diagram 157
8.2 A woman’s roles and relationships 169
8.3 Sources of non-agnatic social support by household 172
9.1 Number of people in household, by region, 1993 183
ix
Foreword
Within China the preparatory activities leading up to the UN Fourth
World Conference of Women in Beijing in 1995 drew attention to
and accentuated anew women’s issues. Indeed in retrospect these
preparatory activities are likely to be designated a significant mile-
stone in the history of the Chinese women’s movement. There were
seminars, research investigations and new publications, with organ-
isations looking to and addressing their own gender issues. More
practically, the All-China Women’s Federation, at national and local
levels, used the occasion of the forthcoming conference to initiate
new programmes aimed at helping girl dropouts return to school,
reducing female illiteracy, improving the conditions of female em-
ployment, increasing women’s cadres and protecting women’s rights.
Many women’s societies, professional associations and networks
were established to facilitate their members’ participation in the
accompanying NGO Forum in sessions with titles such as Women
and Education, Women and Health, Women and the Environment,
Women and Industry, Women and the Family, Women and Human
Rights and Women and Violence. Each of these sessions involved
some preparation, with groups of women meeting, sponsoring social
investigations and writing papers for a series of preforum semi-
nars, to which women throughout China were invited to contrib-
ute. Many of these seminars attracted funding for international
participants and more Chinese women than ever before attended
preparatory and other meetings abroad.
One such research seminar, held abroad, was organised by Chinese
women scholars in Britain, who came together for the first time to
present and discuss a wide range of papers on Chinese women in
the economy and society, which are now presented here in a unique
publication. Not only does each chapter provide emic reflections
on a variety of women’s issues in China, but together they reflect
the new interest in China in women’s experiences, rights and studies.
A marked characteristic of post-reform China and of the con-
tributions to this volume is a more open acknowledgment of the
discrepancy between the images and rhetoric of equality and women’s
experience of discrimination and inequality, be it in politics,
employment, education or the family. These multidisciplinary chapters
xi
