Vocational training for Liushou women in rural China: development by design

Abstract

As industrialisation and urbanisation aggressively take hold in China, all possible labour pools are being tapped to meet the market demands. Liushou women, or women who stay behind in rural areas as their spouses join the massive migrant workforce, are one such labour pool. Vocational training has been adopted by the Chinese state as a development strategy for Liushou women. Against this background, this paper explores how the current vocational training policies and programmes have promoted gender equity for Liushou women. Specifically, it conducts an extensive literature and policy review using a mix of analytical tools: women’s empowerment framework and the social relations approach. Not only does it map the changing social relations within which vocational training for the women is embedded, it also addresses women’s equity in the areas of welfare, access, conscientisation, participation and control.

Keywords:

• VET and development
• gender and educational training
• VET and the labour market
• policy issues
• policy analysis