Thammasat University students interested in economics, business, gender studies, China, and related subjects may find it useful to participate in a free 20 September Zoom webinar conference on Young and Restless in China: Informal Economy and Gendered Labour.

The event, on Friday, 20 September 2024 at 8:30am Bangkok time, is presented by the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore.

The TU Library collection includes several books about the informal economy in China.

Students are invited to register at this link:

https://nus-sg.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUod-6grzkuHtO7grXApnStdCXH4igchZrV#/registration

The event announcement states:

This seminar examines the increasing prevalence of informal employment in China, particularly among young male workers born in the 1990s who have migrated to major cities like Shenzhen. Professor Hou will present findings from her ethnographic studies of two such communities, shedding light on the experiences of these migrant workers. The talk will explore how these individuals navigate the challenges of rising living costs, economic slowdown, and limited opportunities for social mobility, all while dealing with the growing influence of social media and a consumer-driven, sexualized culture. By understanding both the institutional factors and personal struggles that contribute to this trend, the seminar aims to provide a comprehensive view of the complexities faced by this new generation of rural-to-urban migrant workers.

About the Speaker:

Hou Xiaoshuo is Professor of Sociology and Asian Studies at Skidmore College where she held the inaugural Frances Young Tang ’61 Chair in Chinese Studies and is currently the chair of the department. She is the author of Community Capitalism in China: The State, the Market, and Collectivism (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and Young and Restless in China: Informal Economy, Gender, and the Precariat (Cambridge University Press, 2024). She is also the co-editor of The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism (2016) and The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism (2020).

Books by Professor Hou Xiaoshuo are available to TU students through the TU Library Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service.

Here is the publisher’s description of her book Young and Restless in China: Informal Economy, Gender, and the Precariat

At a time when precarious labor is on the rise on a global scale, Young and Restless in China explores both the institutional and the individual processes that lead to informal employment and the clustering of the ‘great gods’ (dashen) – migrant workers, mostly male and born in the 1990s, who are disappointed by exploitative factories and thus choose short-term employment and day labor – in urban migrant communities. Based on ethnographic studies in two of those communities in China, this book analyzes the gendered and gendering aspects of labor, reveals the different processes of precarization among workers, and discusses the role of the diverse intermediaries who both sustain workers’ livelihoods and reproduce their precarity.

• Provides a close-look of the many conundrums and paradoxes facing young migrant workers
• Provides an understanding of the role of the intermediaries between the state, capital, and workers in the new age of flexible employment and labor exploitation
• Offers insight into the subculture surrounding low-skilled migrant workers who have opted out of formal employment in factories

An article published in Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies investigated How women have fared in the labour market with China’s rise as a global economic power.

Here is the article’s abstract:

Under a centrally planned system, China made significant achievements in gender equality. Half a century later, China has joined the ranks of upper-middle-income countries, and decades of rapid growth have accompanied major structural changes in the economy. We assess the evolution of women’s economic opportunities during the period, focusing on labour force participation, occupational segregation, leadership in business, and the gender wage gap, as well as informal sector employment and migration. We undertake a review of existing research and conduct new empirical analysis using a combination of data sources, including four waves of Chinese population census data through 2010, and province-level migration data. We focus especially on migrant women, a group typically excluded from similar studies. Although investments in human capital have advanced prospects for better-paid jobs for women, we find that rapid economic growth has not alleviated discrimination against women rooted in cultural and social norms and that the implementation of existing laws designed to protect and support women needs to improve.

The article begins:

Mao Zedong’s famous phrase, “Chinese women hold up half of the sky,” symbolizes an official commitment to gender equality dating back several decades. Indeed, in the early 1980s, when China was among one of the poorest countries in the world, its achievements in female human development outcome indicators and gender equality surpassed those in many middle-income countries.

In the early 1980s, female labour force participation in China exceeded that in many developed countries (84% versus 61% in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and the gender wage gap was much smaller (16% to 22% compared with 36% to 38% in the United States at that time). There was also close to gender parity in the share of women and men holding professional jobs (4% versus 6%, respectively) and in completing high school (10% versus 11% of the female and male population, respectively).

These successes are largely attributable to strong government commitments to promoting gender equality. The policy instruments used to promote women’s economic and social status ranged from constitutional and legislative reforms, to ideological and political movements, and to the centrally controlled system in employment and remuneration. A 1954 constitutional amendment declared that women have equal rights with men in all areas of political, economic, cultural, social, and domestic life. Many associated laws were promulgated, including laws allowing women to obtain a divorce, own property, pursue a formal education, and receive equal pay for equal work. The policy of encouraging women’s contributions in the workforce was part of overall national development plans during the period.

Public sector domination of the economy played a key role in implementing gender equality policies when China was a centrally controlled system. The principle of equal pay for equal work was enforced through the centrally regulated wage system that applied to all state-owned and collective work units. The extended provision of social services—such as on-site childcare, nursing rooms for breastfeeding, and paid maternity leave—through work units played an important part in expanding women’s participation in the labour force. Under the centrally planned system, the social costs of reproductive responsibilities were shared among women, employers, and the state. It is, however, important to underline that implementation of these various measures to promote gender parity was largely limited to urban workers. Most women working in rural areas as well as in urban informal sectors were disadvantaged in terms of access to basic social services and equal pay.

Half a century later, China has joined the ranks of upper-middle-income countries, and decades of rapid growth have accompanied major structural changes in the economy. Yet, as we outline below, a number of China’s earlier achievements in gender equality have gradually been eroded. Female labour force participation rates have fallen to levels that are low by international standards, gender gaps in pay have widened, gender discrimination in the labour market is widespread, and there is evidence of a worsening bias in views about women’s right to work and leadership in the workplace. […]

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)