Left-behind women: gender exclusion and inequality in rural-urban migration in China^†

† I wish to thank Dr. Shahra Razavi for her highly valuable comments on the original proposal, and the anonymous reviewers for their advice on this manuscript.

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Notes

† I wish to thank Dr. Shahra Razavi for her highly valuable comments on the original proposal, and the anonymous reviewers for their advice on this manuscript.

¹‘Migrant peasant workers’ refers to those who worked outside their towns/townships for more than six months in that year, while ‘in situ peasant workers’ refers to those who worked in non-farm sectors within their towns/townships for more than six months in that year.

²In this term, ‘38’ refers to the 8th of March, for Women’s Day, which applies to left-behind women; ‘61’ refers to the 1st of June, Children’s Day, which refers to the left-behind children; and ‘99’ refers to the 9th of September in the Chinese lunar calendar, which applies to the left-behind elderly.

³The ‘three big mountains’ metaphor comes from Mao Zedong’s well-known argument about the oppression of Chinese people, which referred to feudalism, imperialism and bureaucratic capitalism.

⁴The research team pioneered the first comprehensive research on left-behind children in China in 2004, and has expanded the research to left-behind women and left-behind elderly people since 2006. There are 26 members of the team, including faculty and postgraduate researchers. The team has also conducted interventions towards the target group of left-behind populations in several rural communities in China. The team’s research is leading work on left-behind populations within Chinese academic communities. The team’s work has generated in-depth media coverage, including in international media. Research projects on this theme have been financially supported by Bread for the World – Protestant Development Service, Plan International, World Bank, China Agricultural University ‘985’ program, Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-06-0118, China), and The National Social Science Fund of China (Project No. 13ASH007).

⁵This trilogy won the First Class Award of Humanities and Social Sciences Researches among Universities issued by the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2013.

⁶The names of the interviewees, villages, townships and counties in this collection have all been changed.

⁷One mu equals 1/15 ha.

⁸Yuan is the Chinese currency; 1 yuan is equal to approximately 0.16 USD.

⁹‘Boss’ is the way Chinese farmers address the land contractors.

¹⁰The term ‘fortress besieged’ psychology comes from a French proverb: ‘Marriage is like a fortress besieged: those who are outside want to get in, and those who are inside want to get out’.

¹¹The three aspects – ‘agriculture’ (nongye), ‘countryside’ (nongcun) and ‘peasantry’ (nongmin) – are called ‘sannong’ in Chinese, san meaning ‘three’, and nong meaning ‘agro’. All three words in Chinese begin with nong.

¹² The Women’s Federation is a ‘mass organization’ affiliated with the government and answerable to the Chinese Communist Party. It has line agencies from province to township.

¹³WCCW is the state agency responsible for coordinating and promoting the government departments to implement laws and regulations, policies and measures for women and children. WCCW has line agency co-ordinates with WF from province to county.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jingzhong Ye

Jingzhong Ye is a professor of development studies and Dean at the College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. His research interests include development intervention and rural transformation, rural society and agrarian change, rural-urban migration and the left-behind population, agrarian sociology and land politics, rural education and social problems.

Huifang Wu

Huifang Wu is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. She holds a PhD in development studies, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology. Her research mainly covers gender studies, sociology of agriculture, rural left-behind women, and sociological analysis of rural development interventions. Email: [email protected]

Jing Rao

Jing Rao is an associate professor at the College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. She has a PhD in development studies. Her research focuses on rural politics and sociology studies, covering mainly rural governance and public management, rural environment, rural education and social impact assessment for rural development projects. Email: [email protected]

Baoyin Ding

Baoyin Ding is a lecturer at the College of Humanities, Jilin Agricultural University. His research interests include development intervention and social change, and left-behind populations. Email: [email protected]

Keyun Zhang

Keyun Zhang is a professor of sociology at the College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. Her research mainly focuses on migration and children’s development, and on poverty and rural education policies. Email: [email protected]