At the edge of the mainstream: social role changes of minority women at a Chinese rural tourism destination

ABSTRACT

Women are the key stakeholder in rural tourism development. This study investigates Chinese Muslim women’s (Hui women) social role changes in rural tourism development in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region with gender analysis tools. A semi-structured in-depth interview is conducted among the local Hui women who are currently running the Happy farmhouse (Nongjiale). According to Longwe’s empowerment framework, the findings reveal Hui women have obtained economic independence, improved self-confidence and developed a new type of family relationship but also exposed problems like unequal division of social and family labor, weak gender consciousness and the sense of self-development. The study also demonstrates how this group of minority Chinese women gained empowerment, experience, and self-transformation through the involvement of the tourism industry. This study also provides evidence that these women's having access to more equal opportunities leads to family harmony, social stability, and tourism development.

妇女是乡村旅游发展的主要利益相关者。这项研究通过对宁夏回族自治区泾源县经营农家乐的回族妇女进行半结构化深入访谈，研究了当地回族妇女参与乡村旅游发展后的社会角色变迁。根据隆威的赋权框架，研究结果表明，她们在参与旅游发展的过程中获得了经济的独立，提高了自信心，还发展了新型的家庭关系，但同时也暴露了社会和家庭劳动分工不平,性别意识薄弱及自我发展意识缺失等等问题。该研究展示了中国少数民族妇女如何通过参与旅游业而获得赋权并经历自我转变过程，这也证明了妇女获得更多平等的机会有助于家庭和谐，社会稳定和旅游业的发展。

KEYWORDS:

• Rural tourism
• Hui women (Chinese Muslim)
• Gender analysis
• Social role changes
• Ningxia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jingjing Dai

Liz JIngjing Dai is a faculty member at Sol International Hotel Management (SIHOM), Sol International School of Woosong University. She completed her Master from the prestigious SHTM, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has authored several international conference papers and published several articles in Chinese journals. Her research interests include gender issues in tourism, wine tourism, tourism marketing and sustainability in tourism.

Sudipta Kiran Sarkar

Dr. Sudipta Kiran Sarkar is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. He completed his Ph.D. from the prestigious SHTM, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr. Sudipta has author and co-authored a number of book chapters and conference papers, in the areas of ecotourism, destination life cycle, social media in tourism, sustainability and technology in tourism and tourism education. His extensive experience involves teaching & learning and scholarly activities in the countries of India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea and currently UK.