In China, continuous rural–urban migration on a massive scale disrupts the traditional rural patriarchal society and makes the temporary non-patrilocal way of residence possible. This new residential pattern has brought profound changes to the lives of migrants. Based on participant observation and interviewing, this article intends to explore the exercise of agency and the representation of subjectivity of female migrant workers in intimate relations after migration. By emphasizing the intergenerational relationship and partner relationships of both unmarried and married women, I demonstrate a complicated picture regarding the changing status of rural migrant women and show how these women both conform and challenge the social norm of filial obligations, through which their agency is exerted and subjectivity is crafted.

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This study focuses on urban women who were born in the 1970s and 1980s, and who gave birth during the transformation of China’s family planning policy. We conducted 22 interviews with highly educated women who had given birth to two children each, and who were employed full time. We examined why the respondents had decided to have a second child and how their reproductive choices responded to the policy changes. We found that their reproductive choices were a result of the intersection between state policy interventions and individual choices, and were markers of class distinction. Their reproductive choices were inseparable from their high academic achievements, which was affected by the one-child policy (OCP). Our research enriches understanding of women’s reproductive choices by examining the effects of government-imposed policies on individual choices.

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Since the implementation of the two-child policy in China in 2016, it is unclear how professional women's labor force outcomes and family commitments have changed. Using interviews with 26 professional women with two children in Shanghai, we examined their work-life transitions and labor market outcomes. We found that the overarching constraints the interviewees faced included a lack of institutional childcare support, low paternal participation and increased physical and cognitive childcare labor. The women also experienced different constraining and enabling factors, leading to four types of labor market outcomes: enhancement, rebound, interruption and stagnation. Most of the interviewees who experienced career upward mobility after giving birth to a second child were urban singleton daughters who received tremendous parental support. Some participants experienced career interruption due to a lack of social support. The state should ensure family-friendly work environments and promote paternal participation to reduce women's work-life conflict and address gender inequality.