Family and Work Lives of Lesbians in China: Implications for the Adult Worker Model

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which lesbians explore opportunities and navigate constraints in their family and work lives in urban China. It not only reveals Chinese lesbians’ difficulties in gaining equal access to the labour market and developing their desired family lives, but also discusses possible ways of enhancing the applicability of the adult worker model for sexual minority women. Previous research has indicated a shift from the male breadwinner model to the adult worker model, suggesting that both men and women are expected to join the labour market, and that women should not carry all the care responsibilities within the family. However, the model largely overlooks the interplay of gender and sexuality factors in shaping work and family lives. This article adopts a qualitative mixed-methods approach, including interviews with 20 Chinese lesbians and social media analysis, to examine lesbians’ experiences of taking part in the family as adults and in the wider economy as workers. It shows how gender norms, heteronormativity, and policy intersect in generating obstacles for Chinese lesbians to thrive as respectable adult workers. This has important implications for attempts to improve the adult worker model to fit better with people’s diverse work/family needs.

The interplay between intimacy and commodification: Queer agency and vulnerability amid neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics

“…Additionally, the fact that Bo had been pressurised by her parents to move back into her natal home demonstrates the gendered control imposed on unmarried women in China (Ji, 2015; Lo, 2020). It is still common for single Chinese women to be disciplined by traditional gendered norms imposed by parents, who expect their adult daughters to live with them until entry into (opposite-sex) marriage (Lo, 2020; Lo et al, 2022). Echoing Bo, many participants believed that, rather than directly confronting their parents with their non-heterosexual identities and relationships, it was more prudent to create a place for themselves in the labour market in order to gain control over their personal lives, maintain distance from their families of origin, and therefore preserve familial harmony.…”

“…This group of women is worthy of additional attention, given that they are doubly marginalised due to their sexual identity and non-heterosexually married status in China. It is still common for parents to take an active role in their adult children’s personal lives, especially their daughters’ (Ji, 2015; Lo, 2020; Lo et al, 2022). Due to the minimal functioning of the state to support welfare and care work, Chinese parents often arrange matchmaking dates for their adult children, pushing them to marry the opposite sex and have children, who are then expected to care for older family members (Lo, 2022b).…”

Dialectical Family Imaginaries: Navigating Relational Selfhood and Becoming a Parent through Assisted Reproduction in China

“…In fact, my fieldwork has shown that there is a growing number of local private companies providing clients (mainly heterosexual customers but also lalas and gay men) with tailor-made consultation services to gain access to ART abroad. To a large extent, this reflects the neoliberal rhetoric in urban China, where individuals, including lalas and gay men, are encouraged to utilise the market to pursue their self-interest without challenging authoritarian rule (Kam, 2020; Lo et al, 2022). As I further explain with the data, lalas who wish to conceive may travel abroad to seek ART, whereas some may resort to ‘partnerships’ with gay or heterosexual men to have children without sexual intercourse.…”

“…The pressure on adults, especially women, to marry the opposite sex and have children is extraordinarily pronounced in China due to both social norms and state policies favouring the heterosexual family model (Lo, 2020(Lo, , 2022. Lalas are doubly marginalised due to their sexual identity and non-heterosexually married status in China, where coming out remains challenging and same-sex couples are denied access to marriage, civil partnerships, adoption or ART (Engebretsen, 2014;Lo et al, 2022). Drawing on interviews with 33 lalas, I argue that they contemplate whether and how to have children through three types of 'dialectical family imaginaries': imaginaries of bridging, bonding and self-fashioning.…”

Editorial: Health and Well-Being Related to New Family Forms: Perspectives of Adults, Couples, Children, and Professionals

“…Lo et al [ 48 ] focus on lesbian women in urban China, using the adult worker model as a framework to explore the challenges they encounter in their work and family lives. Their findings, based on semi-structured interviews with Chinese lesbian women and social media analysis of articles published on two Chinese online platforms, demonstrate the gender-based and sexual-orientation-based obstacles encountered by lesbian women and their ways of coping with the difficulties of concurrently participating in the family as an adult and in the work economy as a worker in China.…”