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THEME: Diversification of rural women’s productive activities usually results in increased income and status.
The
past 50 years in China have seen a striking increase in rural women’s
productivity and contribution to household income. In the mid-fifties,
women generated about a quarter of the agricultural product value in rural
areas. By the nineties, women’s productive contribution had risen
to 50-60%.
There is variation by provinces, but in the majority, women appear to contribute most of the work in animal husbandry and make a 40-70% contribution to crop production. In some areas, such as Jilin, women also share equally in fishery and in forestry. Women also carry out the bulk of the work in off-farm occupations. An increasing number are establishing small rural processing or handicraft enterprises.
There has been a parallel increase in rural women’s income over the years. In the fifties, it was estimated that women averaged a contribution of about 20% to family earnings. In the nineties, their income was estimated to account for at least 40% of total family income. Some studies have found little difference between men’s and women’s incomes in China. In ‘specialized households’, where women are the chief workers, it is estimated to be as high as 60-70% of family income.
Usually, women’s income tends to rise after about age 30. Before then, their child-care and other domestic responsibilities prevent them from making greater contributions. Because men in China share domestic and child-care tasks, young women whose husbands migrate to work in construction or similar jobs in towns and cities are the most constrained in generating an income.
Data from selected provinces suggests that when women in mountainous areas change from crop cultivation to activities such as livestock-raising, their incomes tend to increase. In the case of women in the plains, shifting from crop production to handicrafts and small-scale processing has a similar result. Surveys by the Women’s Federation show that in many provinces, rural women are undertaking an increasing variety of activities. In general, the rule seems to be that the more diversified rural women’s activities, the greater the women’s income. In areas where women undertake processing, services or other enterprises, often in addition to crop and livestock production, their earnings account for a larger share of family income. But in spite of the diversity of their activities, about 60% of women still grow crops such as rice, wheat, maize, vegetables and fruits, and cash crops such as cotton, sugar cane, rapeseed and peanuts.
The evidence shows that where rural women in China increase their income, their status in the household improves: Their relationships with other family members, and particularly with their husbands, often change. Their say in decisions increases as well.
Diversification of rural Chinese women’s income, with an age focus of between 30 and 40, is an investment in their and their family’s well-being. Both livestock and off-farm enterprises have proven promising. Particularly in certain parts of China, women have time available during the less demanding periods of agriculture. De facto women heads of households may be the most constrained in terms of time.
Adapted from:
IFAD. 1995. The Status of Rural Women in China. Rome: IFAD, January. (Other sources are as cited in this publication.)
