DOI: 10.5176/2251-2403_PSSIR13.69
Authors: Yixuan WANG
Abstract:
There are several diverse types of employment discrimination in China's labour market. One of the most significant is differentials in employment opportunity by gender and household registration system (hukou). Thus, female migrant workers are doubly disadvantaged as victims of discrimination against both rural people and women. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in xi'an, China, and using the intersectional theory as theoretical tool, this paper attempts to explore two questions related to this dual disadvantage: First, in the labour market, is there any evidence to demonstrate that gender and hukou interact to shape female migrant workers' employment opportunities? Second, if yes, do female migrant workers experience double (additive assumption), less than double or more than double (intersectional ssumptions) jeopardy in employment opportunities? It is found that Chinese urbanities hostility and intolerance, namely, their unwilling to share social goods, attributes and services with female migrant workers have affected female migrant workers' access to employment opportunities. They mostly have suffered more than double jeopardy with respect to employment opportunities. Both individual obstacles and structural barriers can explain employment against these female migrant workers. Their experiences in urban labour market suggest the social exclusion based on ascribed features (i.e. hukou and gender), meanwhile, reveal the nature of China's transitional economies that involve both institutional and social-cultural barriers to social equality.
Keywords: female migrant workers, gender, hukou, employment discrimination
Updating...