Gender, Work, and Family in a Chinese Economic Zone : Laboring in Paradise

"This book examines the dynamics of power within the families of married women who have migrated from rural areas to China's Dalian Economic Zone. Engaging the question of whether waged work gives women power in their families, this ethnographic study finds that women do indeed use their new positions and urban status to negotiate their family status. However, women use these new resources not necessarily to promote their own individual liberation, but rather to strengthen their contribution as wives and, especially, as mothers. Thus, this new modernity provides a space for the re-inscribing of traditional roles, even as it may work to give women new-found power within their families. How and why this process occurs is related to the dual inequalities these women face as rural migrants and as women."--Publisher's website. Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-13 Doing Research in the Dalian Economic Zone....Pages 15-31 Urban as Paradise: Understanding the Urban/Rural Divide....Pages 33-51 “It’s Just Women’s Lot:” The Role of Gender....Pages 53-82 “A Woman has to struggle to get what she wants”: Gender and Power....Pages 83-106 Performing Gender in a Modern Economic Zone....Pages 107-128 Conclusion....Pages 129-138 Back Matter....Pages 139-162