Gender segmentation at work in China's privatized rural industry: some evidence from Shandong and Jiangsu
Dong XiaoYuan; MacPhail, F.; Bowles, P.; Ho, S.P.S.
World Development Oxford 32(6): 979-998
2004
DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2003.10.011Document Number: 262667
This paper argues that labour segmentation exists along gender lines in the newly privatized township and village enterprises in rural China. The results of surveys (conducted in 1999 and 2000) of workers (n=between 872 and 881) and managers of 39 privatized enterprises as well as local officials in Jiangsu and Shandong, indicate that women are segregated into production-type jobs in certain industries, have less control over their work, do not receive a return to experience, and are adversely affected by wage discrimination. There is a clear gender bias in favour of men in share holding, a new and important form of workplace benefit that confers wealth and affects control within the workplace and thus, privatization has contributed to gender segmentation. The results support the general argument that the process of economic transition is not gender-neutral.
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