2001/02/01 by Youqin Huang · 83 citations
Social Sciences · #Census #China #China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance #Demographic economics #Demography #Disadvantage #Economic growth #Economics #Educational attainment #Gender studies #Geography #Human capital #Labour economics #Migration and Labor Dynamics #Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy #Occupational mobility #Occupational prestige #Occupational segregation #Political science #Population #Prestige #Socioeconomic status #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1068/a33194
published in Environment and Planning A Economy and Space 33(2), 257-279 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2001/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
In this paper, I argue that the occupational attainment of female migrants in China has to be understood in its unique sociocultural and institutional contexts. In addition to the constraints of human capital, the patriarchal culture and the Household Registration (hukou) System greatly constrain the occupational attainment of female migrants. An empirical study based on a 1% sample of China's 1990 Census shows that female migrants are at a disadvantage in the labour market not only because of their gender but also because of their rural identities and outsider status, as defined by the hukou system. They can only attain jobs with lower prestige than their male counterparts, such as agricultural work and a few gender-stereotyped, family-related urban jobs.