China’s Rural-Urban Migration: Structure and Gender Attributes of the Floating Rural Labor Force

This article focuses on Chinese female rural migrant workers. Based on the survey data collected in Anhui and Sichuan provinces of China, the article investigates gender aspects of Chinese rural-urban migrants in the context of the household migration model. Results of the examination indicate that the rapid economic development that China is undergoing makes it possible for rural women to go from traditional villages to modern and post-modern cities and gain employment in urban areas and VTEs (village and township enterprises). The young, unmarried, and well-educated rural women are much more likely to migrate or to get off-farm jobs, and the occupations held by these rural female workers are more varied. There are gender features among the rural-urban migrant workers. The proportion of the returnees among married women is much higher than that of their male counterparts. Income also differs between female and male laborers. While the proportion of women in the lower income group is higher than men, the proportion of female workers in the higher income groups is lower. The lack of social security for rural residents proves to be a highly signifi cant institutional barrier for rural women to access the new opportunities offered by a more open economy and the modernization process. On a more general level, the results of the study suggest that market-oriented economic reform brought about diverse effects on Chinese women in terms of labor market status. Though the institutional barriers put Chinese female rural workers in a position of disadvantage, the performance of female rural-urban migrant workers suggests that they are active beings rather than passive victims merely adapting to the social transformation.