Family Farming Knowledge Platform

Hollow Lives: Women Left Behind in Rural China

This paper explores the situation of women left behind in villages when men out-migrate for work and what it implies for gender relations in rural China. It is based on questionnaire survey data that covers 400 left-behind women and extensive interviews in 10 rural communities. It reveals how the women take on multiple family responsibilities including mainly family care and agricultural production, and how they maintain their marital relationships in the context of a long separation. The discussion argues that even though the women's unpaid work becomes visible due to the absence of men in family life, there is a reaffirmation and reinforcement of gender traditions; women are more solidified in the unpaid and low-paid field of work in this new era of rural social transition in China. Moreover, separated married life has made women more vulnerable. In the end, it points to the fact that rural women are experiencing a new and deeper form of exploitation of their labour. Thus they are among those paying a heavy price for the development in China.

Title of publication: Journal of Agrarian Change
Volume: Volume 16
Issue: Issue 1, January 2016
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Page range: pages 50–69
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Author: Huifang Wu
Other authors: Jingzhong Ye
Organization: College of Humanities and Development Studies (COHD)
Other organizations: China Agricultural University
Year: 2014
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Country/ies: China
Geographical coverage: Asia and the Pacific
Type: Article
Content language: English
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