Strategic Gender Egalitarianism in Rural China: The Impacts of Husbands’ Migration on Gender Relations

Abstract

When men migrate for work and couples live separately, gender relations may be altered in response. Our research in rural China about husbands’ and wives’ perceptions of household decision making and gender-related attitudes examines hypotheses derived from Connell’s theory of gender structures using the Gansu Survey of Children and Families. Consistent with previous research, we find that both migrant husbands and their wives perceive that women have more decision-making power over household production and consumption. In contrast, the effects of husbands’ migration on gender attitudes are not uniformly positive. Both migrant husbands and their wives are more likely than nonmigrant spouses to agree that women and men can achieve the same given equal opportunities. Moreover, migrant husbands hold more gender egalitarian views toward their children’s education than nonmigrant husbands. However, migrant husbands and their wives are no more likely to question sons’ obligations or men’s and women’s roles in the family than their nonmigrant counterparts. We interpret our findings as strategic gender egalitarianism, that is, gender egalitarianism born of necessity, particularly economic necessity. Strategic gender egalitarianism does not, however, challenge dominant gender structures that define family relationships and allocate power unequally.