Filial Daughters? Agency and Subjectivity of Rural Migrant Women in Shanghai

Abstract

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.

Attempting to transgress neoliberal value: Constructing a micro-foundation of social values of working-class youth in vocational schools in China

“…Indeed, it is well recognised that one of the most salient social transformations from China’s marketisation over the last few decades has been the aggressive reconfiguration of the working class (Pun, 2016). Facilitated by the late communist leader Deng Xiaoping in 1978, China’s speedy path to participation in global capitalism is based on the unleashing of rural workers moving to urban areas (Shen, 2016). Millions of rural-to-urban migrants have become the chief labour force, who not only shoulder the impacts of the reform of the Chinese economy, that is, marketisation and privatisation, but also, as the world’s biggest working class, underpin China’s status as the ‘world factory’ (Pun, 2016).…”

Beyond the gender (dis)empowerment dichotomy: The mobile phone as social catalyst for gender transformation in the Global South

“…From a socio-economic perspective, Wallis (2011Wallis ( , 2015 examined whether new social connections created by mobile usage could guarantee them upward social mobility in urban settings. Others noted the use of mobile in women's development of intimate relationships (Shen, 2016) and remote mothering practices (Peng, 2018). It is within this context that our study specifically focuses on examining how the mobile phone can be associated with women's gender struggles with the tension between their agentic pursuit of modern desires and structural forces to impose tradition.…”

“…Simultaneously, or perhaps in reaction to this progressive transformation, prevailing gendered social power structures, both in rural hometowns and urban host societies, exert pressure on migrant women. Family members impose gendered practices, such as urging single migrant women into marriage to fulfill the Confucian definition of “filial daughters” (Xiaonü 孝女) (Shen, 2016: 519), while their married cohorts are expected to fulfill maternal duties regardless of their physical absence in rural families (Peng, 2018). In the workplace, gender bias often limits upward social mobility, subjugating female workers to practices of compliance within the capitalist mode of production (Pun, 2005).…”

Maternal health behaviors during pregnancy in rural Northwestern China

“…International literature suggests that family members such as husbands, mothers and mothers-in-law may influence the health behaviors of pregnant women [ 35 , 36 ]. Because women in rural China traditionally move to their husbands’ homes after marriage [ 37 ], the influence of mothers-in-law may be especially strong. However, no study has yet examined examined the links between the husbands, mothers, or mothers-in-laws of pregnant women and their health behaviors such as exposure to toxins, nutrition, or antenatal care.…”