The Impact Of Economic Development On Rural Women In China

Land reforms & economic & social changes since 1949 have had substantial impact on the lives of the rural population of China. This publication examines some of the effects of these changes in the lives of women in two areas of the country with different levels of economic development focusing on their education, occupations, marriage & family relations, & attitudes & outlook. From a survey of 900 women, this publication finds evidence both of real differences over time & of the persistence of older patterns.

China's countryside is being transformed by rapid, far-reaching development. This wide-reaching and multidisciplinary book questions whether gender politics are changing in response to this development, and explores how gender politics inform and are reproduced or reconfigured in the languages, knowledge, processes and practices of development in rural China. The contributors - prominent scholars in the fields of political science, sociology, gender, development and Chinese studies - argue that although gender has been elided in recent development policies, women have been singled out as a 'vulnerable group' requiring protection, instruction and 'empowerment' from paternalistic state and NGOs. Nevertheless, development has facilitated the dissemination of gender equality as an ideal and institutional norm, increased the channels through which women can advance claims for equal rights, and expanded the possibilities for agency available to them. Drawing on extensive field research in sites across China, from remote communities in Inner Mongolia and Guizhou to the fringes of expanding cities, the contributors illustrate how different women are bringing their own aspirations for development to bear in the momentous changes occurring in rural China. This compelling and thought-provoking book will be of interest to scholars, students and researchers in the fields of public and social policy, sociology, political economy, anthropology, gender and development.

How far will the current reforms in the Chinese countryside improve the position of peasant women? In this timely analysis, Elizabeth Croll examines China's new rural policies which have boosted agricultural production and radically altered its organisation. The inclusion in one book of an up-to-date analysis of rural developments in China and a detailed examination of the effects of rural development policies on women's production and reproduction between 1 949 and 1 978 provides the reader with a unique opportunity to study the implications of the collectivisation and decollectivisation of ag.

Confronting Discrimination and Inequality in China focuses on the most challenging areas of discrimination and inequality in China, including discrimination faced by HIV/AIDS afflicted individuals, rural populations, migrant workers, women, people with disabilities, and ethnic minorities. The Canadian contributors offer rich regional, national, and international perspectives on how constitutions, laws, policies, and practices, both in Canada and in other parts of the world, battle discrimination and the conflicts that rise out of it. The Chinese contributors include some of the most independent-minded scholars and practitioners in China. Their assessments of the challenges facing China in the areas of discrimination and inequality not only attest to their personal courage and intellectual freedom but also add an important perspective on this emerging superpower.

Based on interviews with rural Chinese women, officials and social scientists, and on Chinese newspapers, journals and academic reports. Analyses the situation of women of Han nationality with rural household registration, most of whom worked in townships and villages, but some of whom worked in cities. Delineates patterns in gender divisions of labour in the context of economic reform.

China's Rural Economy after WTO discusses and analyses China's rural sector problems in detail, including the areas of poverty, income inequality, the gender gap, barriers of rural-urban migration, discrimination against rural workers, poor rural governance and the impact of WTO membership. It also tackles the important subjects of inadequate infrastructure and discriminatory credit services. Strategies to modernize China's rural economy are proposed and the relevant experiences and lessons of other countries are analyzed.

Based on in-depth ethnographic research--and using an approach that seeks to understand how migration is experienced by the migrants themselves--this is a fascinating study of the experiences of women in rural China who joined the vast migration to Beijing and other cities at the end of the twentieth century. It focuses on the experiences of rural-urban migrants, the particular ways in which they talk about those experiences, and how those experiences affect their sense of identity. Through first-hand accounts of actual migrant workers the author provides valuable insights into how rural women negotiate rural/urban experiences; how they respond to migration and life in the city; and how that experience shapes their world view, values, and relations with others. The book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the relationship between gender and social change, and of the ways in which globalization and modernity are experienced at the most personal level.