Abstract
The spatial restructuring of rural households and the outflow of labor in China have placed left-behind women in situations of livelihood vulnerability. The sustainable livelihood framework provides a critical theoretical tool for examining issues of poverty governance and sustainable development. Building on this framework, and integrating structural poverty theory with feminist economics, this study conducts an in-depth analysis of the characteristics and underlying causes of livelihood capital vulnerability among rural left-behind women in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province. The findings indicate that all five categories of livelihood capital demonstrate significant fragility, manifested in weak natural endowments, fractured social networks, limited human capital, constrained access to financial resources, and imbalances in physical capital allocation. Such vulnerability does not arise from individual choices or contingent factors but rather constitutes a structural outcome shaped by limited livelihood resources, fragmented household structures, exclusionary gender norms, and gender-biased policy arrangements. This situation underscores a central fact that women’s accumulation of livelihood capital has long been embedded within institutionalized inequalities, where both the starting point and the developmental trajectory are constrained by structural barriers. Addressing the livelihood vulnerability of rural left-behind women therefore requires tackling the gendered roots of these constraints and advancing coordinated capital building alongside institutional reform.
Introduction
The family is the fundamental organizational unit of human society and maintains a dynamic, interactive relationship with the modernization process. In contemporary China, where social structures are undergoing rapid disintegration, the family is experiencing a profound transformation from a traditional composite community to a modern nuclear organization. This transition is not only reflected in the visible changes in population structure and residential patterns but also manifests in the implicit reconfiguration of intra-household role divisions (H. Wu & Ye, 2016). According to the findings of the Fourth Survey on the Social Status of Women in China, contemporary Chinese households exhibit a pronounced gendered division of caregiving responsibilities. In terms of the proportion of family caregiving, 76.1%, 67.5%, and 63.6% of children aged 0 to 17 are mainly taken care of by their mothers in daily life care, homework tutoring and commuting, while only 7.5% of families have both parents taking care of their children. In terms of caregiving time, married women spend an average of 136 min per day on childcare, academic supervision, commuting support, and elder care, in addition to 120 min of daily household chores (All-China Women's Federation, 2022). The caregiving burden on women is significantly heavier than that on men, with the gender imbalance being particularly pronounced in rural areas.
With the advancement of new urbanization and rural revitalization strategies, the outflow of rural labor in China has become increasingly pronounced. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China (2024), the total number of migrant workers reached 297.53 million in 2023, with men accounting for 62.7%, and the outflow proportion of young and middle-aged laborers continuing to rise. This pattern of population migration has given rise to a distinct group of “left-behind women,” who, constrained by both traditional and modern norms, are compelled to assume dual responsibilities in sustaining both familial reproduction and broader social reproduction. On the one hand, they must uphold the traditional caregiver role within the family, assuming full responsibility for childcare, elder care, and agricultural production (Fan & Chen, 2020). On the other hand, they must fill the economic void left by the outmigration of male laborers by engaging in traditional employment or micro-entrepreneurship to construct a household livelihood security network. The overlap of these roles not only results in an excessive extension of daily working hours but also leads to a systemic depletion of human capital accumulation and reproductive capacity (Huang, 2018).
Notably, the gendered reconfiguration of household roles is generating multidimensional social effects. At the micro level, rural left-behind women face the compounded predicament of time poverty and capability poverty. At the meso level, rural community sustainability is challenged by the dual issues of social capital depletion and weakened governance efficacy. At the macro level, the implementation of rural revitalization strategies encounters institutional barriers related to gender imbalance. In essence, under the external pressures of industrial transformation and other structural shifts, the left-behind women group has become the final line of defense against social risks in rural areas. Their capacity to maintain livelihoods and withstand economic shocks directly determines the survival and well-being of most rural households.
The emergence of rural left-behind women is a unique byproduct of accelerated urbanization. Scholars have recognized this demographic group and affirmed their positive contributions to economic development, poverty alleviation (Milazzo & Van de Walle, 2017), rural governance (J. F. Wu, 2022), and the maintenance of family and social stability (Fan & Chen, 2020). Consequently, extensive research has been conducted on this population. Current studies on rural left-behind women primarily focus on three aspects. The first area of research examines their living conditions and associated challenges. According to the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index, the status of Chinese women has deteriorated significantly since 2006 relative to other countries. In the long run, the status of women has improved considerably since the founding of China, but the legacy of market logic and patriarchy has taken its toll on women since the opening up of the economy (Walker & Millar, 2020). Ruchi Singh also points out that in the absence of a man at home, rural left-behind women are more susceptible to physical, social, and verbal abuse, and often suffer from insecurity and loneliness (Singh, 2018). It has been measured that left-behind women’s scores on somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity, depression and anxiety, and mental disorder scales are much higher than the national average (Zhu, 2006). In particular, separated marital life makes rural left-behind women more vulnerable and experience a new and deeper form of labor exploitation (H. Wu & Ye, 2016). In addition, some scholars have conducted in-depth analyses of the plight of rural left-behind women in terms of their marital relationships (Ahmed, 2020), social networks, economic profile (Fernández-Sánchez et al., 2020), quality of life and quality of sleep (J. J. Li et al., 2022).
The second major research focus explores the multidimensional factors shaping the well-being of rural left-behind women. Some scholars have pointed out that, due to the influence of informal systems such as the patriarchal concept, the mentality of dependence on the government and the lack of a sense of left-behind identity, rural left-behind women are subject to great constraints on their daily socialization, work, and other personal behaviors (Huang, 2018). Meanwhile, marriage relationship and livelihood strategy, as important components of rural left-behind women’s daily life, are equally important to their subjective well-being, and have different effects (Luo et al., 2017). The vulnerability of this group is further exacerbated by the external shocks brought about by changes in population policy. Especially in the context of China’s current childlessness, the implementation of the “three-child” policy may lead to an increase in the number of left-behind women in rural areas and lead to instability in their marital status (Hu, 2022). In addition, some scholars have analyzed the quality of life and health of left-behind women from a medical perspective, and concluded that the quality of life of this group is affected by many factors, such as literacy, labor pressure, physical health, and the frequency of their husbands’ return home (Miao et al., 2016). Of course, the age of marriage, the number of close friends and family functions are also important factors affecting the emotional expression of left-behind women (L. N. Li et al., 2016).
The third major research area focuses on proposing solutions to address the challenges faced by rural left-behind women. Existing studies have mainly proposed solutions from the three perspectives of technological empowerment, social support and institutional change. At the technological level, building learning platforms for rural left-behind women (Lei & Liao, 2021), enhancing labor skills training (Zheng & Zi, 2024), innovating home-based entrepreneurship models (Chen et al., 2012), and greening livelihood models are common key responses (S. S. Wang & Luo, 2014). At the social level, some scholars point out that the construction of social support networks for left-behind women should be strengthened (Hou et al., 2015). Especially under the condition that the social support network of rural left-behind women is relatively fragile and homogenous, the social work method should play a more effective role (Smyth et al., 2006). At the level of institutional reform, local governments should optimize the allocation of public resources, appropriately direct public resources to rural left-behind women, increase investment in public utilities, and establish a sound and scientific social security system (C. Wang & Tang, 2020).
Generally speaking, there are still some shortcomings in the existing research literature: firstly, domestic academics are far from concerned about the livelihood of rural left-behind women. Although relevant studies have paid attention to the status quo, plight and optimization measures of rural left-behind women, they are still weak in directly exploring the profile, problems and formation mechanisms of their livelihood capital. Secondly, there is an obvious tendency of fragmentation in research perspectives, with most of them focusing on single livelihood capitals such as human capital and social capital, and failing to establish a multidimensional capital interaction model based on a sustainable livelihood analysis framework. This fragmented research paradigm can hardly reveal the overall predicament of the livelihood capital system of rural left-behind women, let alone provide theoretical support for systematic policy intervention. Thirdly, most of the existing studies have explored the internal mechanisms affecting rural left-behind women’s livelihoods from one or two dimensions, such as the natural environment, institutional constraints, cultural habits, and individual initiative, and lacked an integrative analytical framework for the above elements, which makes it difficult to comprehensively reveal the blocking mechanism of the vulnerability of livelihood capital.
In response to these gaps, this study examines the livelihood vulnerability and its structural causes among rural left-behind women in China. Grounded in the sustainable livelihood framework, it seeks to systematically reveal the fragility of livelihood capital across five dimensions—natural, physical, financial, human, and social. Furthermore, it explores the obstacles to capital transformation arising from resource endowments, household structures, cultural norms, and policy institutions, and advances potential pathways to strengthen livelihood capital and reduce vulnerability.
Theoretical Foundation and Analytical Framework
Livelihood capital, as a core component of the livelihood system, encompasses the assets, resources, and capabilities accumulated by individuals or households to sustain their survival and achieve long-term development. It includes multiple dimensions, such as material foundations, social networks, and both tangible and intangible assets (Liu & Li, 2021). Since the 1990s, scholars and development agencies have constructed various analytical frameworks to examine livelihood capital in the context of poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Among these, the sustainable livelihoods framework developed by DFID has gained the most widespread application due to its theoretical robustness and practical applicability. By structurally analyzing natural, physical, financial, human, and social capital, the sustainable livelihoods framework systematically reveals how external factors—such as natural disasters and policy changes—constrain livelihood strategies. It also establishes a “capital-strategy-outcome” feedback loop, which not only diagnoses resource endowment deficiencies among vulnerable groups but also evaluates the long-term effects of different livelihood strategy combinations, thereby providing a theoretical basis for policy interventions.
Within the context of rural household labor division in China, shaped by disparities in labor market returns, the distribution of caregiving responsibilities, and entrenched gender norms, a typical “men migrate outward, women remain at home” pattern has emerged. This structural arrangement confines women to local agricultural production and household caregiving, limiting their economic participation and undermining their capacity to accumulate livelihood capital. In the process of labor migration, such conditions have given rise to the particular group of rural left-behind women (Huang, 2018). As a representative vulnerable group, rural left-behind women are characterized by fragile livelihood capacities, relatively scarce livelihood capital, and insufficient institutional and policy support (Jin et al., 2011). The sustainable livelihoods framework therefore aligns closely with research on their livelihood vulnerability, offering a systematic and holistic theoretical lens for analyzing the sustainability challenges faced by rural left-behind women in China.
Although the sustainable livelihoods framework provides valuable insights into the distribution of resources and capabilities, it remains insufficient in explaining the gendered structural roots underlying the livelihood vulnerabilities of rural left-behind women. Structural poverty theory emphasizes that the emergence and persistence of poverty primarily stem from structural inequalities embedded within social, economic, and political institutions rather than from individual capacities or efforts. The livelihood vulnerability of rural left-behind women is likewise rooted in these structural inequalities (Brady, 2019). Institutional environments such as market logic, family structures, policy arrangements, and cultural norms shape livelihood outcomes (Chant, 2008), yet these environments are inevitably influenced by gendered social structures. Feminist economics highlights that economic systems are not gender-neutral mechanisms of resource allocation, as gendered divisions of labor have long been structurally embedded within both household and market dynamics (Kabeer, 1999). Within this logic, rural men are encouraged by institutional and market incentives to migrate for work due to higher economic returns and mobility benefits, whereas rural women are confined to local agricultural production and caregiving responsibilities, thereby lacking opportunities to accumulate the economic resilience necessary to withstand risks. Meanwhile, the nuclearization of family structures, the enduring regulation of patriarchal systems, and cultural norms such as the expectation that “men work outside while women remain inside” have further entrenched women’s disadvantages in terms of resource ownership, power distribution, and access to opportunities (Walby, 1990). The long-term imbalance of these multidimensional structural factors has rendered rural left-behind women particularly prone to livelihood crises. As Fraser (2009) argues, such inequalities produced by gender-based exclusion cannot be mitigated solely through economic redistribution but must also be addressed through the recognition of social identities and the expansion of political representation. For rural left-behind women, strengthening livelihood capital to enhance economic resilience is crucial, but equally important is the development of gender-sensitive policies across political, social, and cultural domains to improve their social status.
Therefore, an analysis of the livelihood vulnerabilities of rural left-behind women must integrate a gendered structural perspective into the sustainable livelihoods framework, so as to uncover the deeper causes and inform more gender-sensitive intervention pathways. Building on this understanding, the present study revises the sustainable livelihoods framework from a gender perspective and proposes a localized analytical model, as illustrated in Figure 1.
Schematic diagram of the sustainable livelihoods framework.
The framework consists of five interrelated components: vulnerability context, livelihood capital, policies, institutions and processes (PIPs), livelihood strategies, and livelihood outcomes. The vulnerability context refers to the environmental changes and risks faced by individuals, families, and communities in their production and daily lives, which constitute important preconditions for the survival conditions and asset accumulation of rural left-behind women. PIPs, as macro-level institutional arrangements, affect the ownership, transformation, and implementation of different forms of capital strategies, thereby triggering livelihood transitions and transformations. Together, the vulnerability context and PIPs shape the accumulation and utilization of livelihood capital. However, in the specific context of rural left-behind women, the conventional components of the vulnerability context and PIPs are insufficient to capture their gendered predicaments. Therefore, this study, drawing on structural poverty theory and feminist economics, subdivides the vulnerability context into external natural environments and internal household shocks, in order to identify both external ecological disturbances and internal risks arising from household structural changes. Similarly, PIPs are further divided into institutional gender bias and social gender norms, to reveal how institutional arrangements and cultural norms affect resource access and livelihood choices through gendered mechanisms. Such refinement makes it possible to integrate institutional design, socio-cultural structures, livelihood resources, and household dynamics within a single analytical framework, thereby systematically elucidating the gendered generative mechanisms of livelihood vulnerability among rural left-behind women.
Livelihood capital constitutes the core of the sustainable livelihoods framework, as the functioning of all other components relies on the five types of capital available to rural left-behind women. These five forms of capital—human, social, natural, physical, and financial—are interrelated and mutually dependent, together forming a complex livelihood system. Livelihood strategies refer to the series of activities undertaken by rural left-behind women to generate income and improve poverty conditions, based on the resource endowments of their households. Such strategies include both agricultural production and livelihood diversification activities, with non-agricultural employment as the primary form. Livelihood outcomes are the results and outputs of these strategies, encompassing increased income and household welfare, reduced vulnerability, enhanced food security, and the sustainable use of natural resources.
Within this framework, the structure of livelihood capital provides the theoretical foundation for analyzing the current conditions and challenges of rural left behind women. The vulnerability context and PIPs, examined from a gendered perspective, reveal the mechanisms underlying these challenges through four interrelated dimensions: livelihood resources, family structure, social culture, and institutional design. Livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes, together with the other components, form a comprehensive logical chain of condition diagnosis, cause analysis, and policy formulation. This integrated logic offers systematic pathways for addressing the livelihood difficulties of rural left behind women and optimizing their livelihood models.
Research Design
Against the backdrop of gendered division of labor and labor migration in China, the livelihood capital vulnerability of rural left-behind women warrants urgent scholarly attention. To uncover both the characteristics and the underlying mechanisms of this vulnerability, this study conducts a field investigation in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, selected as a representative case area, and addresses three core questions. First, what are the current conditions and specific manifestations of livelihood capital vulnerability among rural left-behind women? Second, what structural factors constrain the accumulation and transformation of their livelihood capital? Third, how can their livelihood capital be further optimized? The overall research design follows a systematic pathway encompassing site selection, case sampling, in-depth interviews, and data organization and analysis.
Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, is both a nationally designated key ecological function zone and a hub of the tourism industry. Geographically, it lies at the intersection of the Wuling Mountains and the Yangtze River ecological barrier, with karst landforms accounting for as much as 76%of its territory, resulting in highly fragmented arable land and significant constraints on agricultural production. Economically, Zhangjiajie recorded a GDP of 61.39 billion yuan in 2023, ranking last in the province and reflecting a relatively weak economic base. Its industrial structure is dominated by tourism, with marked imbalances between the secondary and tertiary sectors and a shortage of local employment opportunities. This has driven large numbers of male laborers to seek work outside the region, leading to a high proportion of women remaining behind. Culturally, Zhangjiajie is a multi-ethnic area, with ethnic minorities accounting for 75.09% of the population. Deeply rooted traditional norms perpetuate a gendered division of labor characterized by men migrating for work while women remain at home. Under the influence of patriarchy, rules of land inheritance and kinship networks further weaken women’s control over resources, reinforcing mechanisms of gender exclusion. These distinctive geographical, economic, and cultural structures make Zhangjiajie a typical field site for examining both the livelihood capital vulnerability of rural left-behind women and the structural factors underpinning it.
In this study, “left-behind women” are defined as married women whose husbands have been engaged in migrant work outside their village for more than 6 consecutive months, while they themselves remain in rural areas undertaking daily productive labor and household caregiving. Given that the study aims to explore in depth the characteristics and structural constraints of livelihood capital vulnerability among typical cases, purposive sampling was adopted for the selection of research participants. Specifically, the sampling strategy proceeded in two stages. First, among the four counties and districts under the jurisdiction of Zhangjiajie City, six townships were selected as research sites by considering variations in size, level of urbanisation, geographical location, and the number of left-behind women, thereby covering rural areas with diverse development levels and spatial characteristics. Second, at the village level, 12 villages were chosen that feature a high proportion of out-migrating laborers, strong dependence on agriculture, a relatively large share of ethnic minority populations, and distinct gendered divisions of labor, so as to ensure that the sample adequately reflects the core characteristics of the research theme.
During the recruitment process, local village cadres assisted in identifying potential participants who met the eligibility criteria. The screening standards included: (a) an age range of 25 to 65 years to ensure respondents’ ability to articulate clearly; (b) representation of different educational levels and occupational types to capture diversity within the group; (c) being married with a husband engaged in migrant work for more than 6 months; and (d) long-term residence in the registered rural village to guarantee the stability of their left-behind status. A total of 36 candidates were initially identified across the six selected townships. Following further screening by the researchers, 24 respondents were ultimately confirmed for in-depth interviews. Details are presented in Table 1.
Basic Information About the Interviewees.
This study conducted interviews with 24 rural left-behind women, whose ages ranged from 31 to 60 years. All were married, with their husbands engaged in migrant work for more than 6 months. The respondents generally had low levels of education, with most completing only primary or junior secondary school, and a small number reaching senior secondary school or above. Their occupational types were diverse, primarily involving agricultural labor and small-scale self-employment. Household sizes typically ranged from three to five members, with a few exceeding six. The respondents’ individual monthly income was generally at a low to middle level, concentrated between 500 and 4,000 CNY, whereas their husbands’ monthly income from migrant work was relatively higher, mostly between 5,000 and 8,000 CNY. This income disparity not only underscores the dominant role of male migrant labor in sustaining household finances but also highlights the disadvantaged position of rural left-behind women in economic and resource distribution, providing an important context for subsequent analysis of their livelihood vulnerability and pathways for improvement.
Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews that covered respondents’ family background, the composition and status of their livelihood capital, the main difficulties they faced, the underlying causes, and coping strategies. To ensure authenticity and depth, interviews were conducted in respondents’ homes without the presence of grassroots officials, thereby reducing external interference. Prior to each interview, the researcher clarified her role as an academic independent from government agencies or policy resources, which encouraged open expression. All participants provided informed consent, and the research protocol received ethical approval. Each interview lasted about 2 hr, after which recordings were transcribed, organized, and analyzed. In processing the data, respondents’ original expressions were preserved as much as possible, with only redundant or irrelevant content omitted. Narratives addressing similar themes were inductively coded and synthesised into coherent case stories, enabling a systematic presentation of the livelihood vulnerabilities and structural constraints faced by rural left-behind women.
Vulnerability of Rural Women’s Livelihood Capital
Natural Capital: Relative Scarcity of Supply
The community’s natural environment is the basis for its residents’ survival, and rural communities are more strongly dependent on their natural capital. For rural women and their families living in rural communities, the impact of climate change on traditional agricultural livelihoods is most prominent. When faced with natural risks such as floods, droughts, pests, storms, etc., rural women and their families are often at a loss as to what to do. Any unfavorable changes in these natural environments will have a direct and serious impact on their family livelihoods. It can be said that declining soil quality, short supply of water resources, imbalance of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, and inefficient management and utilization of individual natural capital are all key elements leading to the insufficient natural capital of rural left-behind women’s families, which is a clear pattern of vulnerability of the livelihood of rural left-behind women and their families. The study showed that 18 interview participants reported that the natural environment in their communities was poor.
Participant 1 remarked, “The river here is filthy and foul-smelling, so we have to use electric pumps to draw irrigation water from a distance, which alone costs seven to eight hundred yuan annually.” With limited education, she relies primarily on farming rice and corn. However, severe water pollution and the depletion of underground wells have rendered agricultural production increasingly difficult. Participant 4 stated, “In the past, we raised chickens and ducks using the corn we grew ourselves, but now we cannot even produce enough feed. The weather is so dry that the corn withers and dies.” Living in a mountainous area, she depends on livestock and poultry farming, yet in recent years feed crops have drastically declined. Frequent landslides not only destroy farmland but also bury or injure livestock, leading to significant livelihood losses. Similarly, Participant 17 observed, “In the past two years, farming has become increasingly unmanageable. Fertilizer is expensive, and water is difficult to access, so we end up losing money each year.” Participant 24 added, “The climate is too unstable. Last year was drought, this year it is pests—I really do not know how much longer we can continue.”
Thus, the natural capital of rural left-behind women in the sample area shows significant vulnerability, which is mainly manifested in the degradation of the community ecological environment, the weakening of the natural resource support function, and the environmental degradation that exacerbates the pressure on the family’s livelihood. As the core labor force of rural families, the livelihood of left-behind women is highly dependent on natural capital. Clean water, fertile soil and wild food resources are the material basis for their livelihood and agricultural production. However, water pollution and soil organic matter loss are common in the sample area, which directly exacerbates household livelihood risks. Of particular concern is the double impact of deteriorating water quality on women left behind. As the main water collectors, they not only need to spend more time and energy to obtain safe water, but also face health risks and reduced quality of life. In addition, drought and land degradation are forcing up the cost of agricultural production, further weakening the economic resilience of households. This imbalance between the degradation of natural capital and the coping capacity of women left behind reveals three key issues. First, the lack of ecological protection mechanisms leads to unsustainable resource utilization. Second, women’s vulnerability to environmental degradation is systematically underestimated. The third is the lack of ecological adaptation to traditional livelihood patterns.
Social Capital: Weak Linkages in Support Networks
According to the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, social capital is a core element of the resilience of the livelihoods of rural women’s families, the essence of which lies in the transformation of social relations into supportive resources that can be mobilized. The strong vernacular networks built by rural communities on the basis of kinship and geography provide a unique foundation of social capital for left-behind women. On the one hand, by forming mutual help and cooperation networks with relatives, friends and neighbors, they are able to share labor resources, diversify production risks and enhance their market adaptability. On the other hand, the organizational elasticity generated by high-density social networks enables the efficient flow of key resources such as information, technology and policies within the circle of acquaintances, which has a significant driving effect on low-income groups in particular. However, there is significant vulnerability in the accumulation and maintenance of social capital. As the burden of family care for left-behind women increases, coupled with the moral requirements of traditional culture on women’s roles, the radius of their social activities is forced to shrink to the domestic sphere. Ten of the survey respondents reported that they were unable to obtain help from others in their daily livelihoods, and 20 said that their social circles were shortened when their husbands went out to work.
Participant 2 stated, “Running the grocery store keeps me constantly busy, yet it is impossible to find anyone to help. My mother-in-law passed away long ago, and my father-in-law is already over ninety and unable to assist. My own family cannot be relied upon either. I am not close with people in the village, and whenever I ask for help, I have to endure their disapproval. Even when I asked a neighbour to bring me a parcel, they were unwilling, so I eventually stopped asking altogether.” Despite living in a society structured around interpersonal ties, she finds herself in a predicament where social relationships exist but cannot be effectively mobilized. Participant 8 remarked, “Two children, a restaurant, and my husband’s parents—all of these responsibilities fall entirely on me. Sometimes I truly cannot manage, yet I feel embarrassed to constantly ask others for help. If I approach men, people will gossip, so I only dare to ask female relatives or neighbours I know well.” Her experience illustrates the implicit constraints that gender norms impose on women’s social interactions. In addition, Participant 19 reported that neighbourhood relations in the past were largely maintained through her husband. Since his departure for migrant work, her attempts to start a business have been met with repeated coldness. Similarly, Participant 21 admitted, “It’s not that there are no people around, but rather that no one is willing to help. They worry about being inconvenienced, or about you profiting while they gain nothing.”
It can be seen that the original mutual assistance and support among family members failed to work as expected when the left-behind women tried to expand their businesses, and the traditional mutual support among neighbors was not enough to help them in their daily lives. The social capital of left-behind women in the sample area is significantly vulnerable. The large-scale migration of the rural population, especially the outflow of male labor, has not only severed traditional social ties, but also led to the breakup of family social networks. At the same time, as profit relations gradually dominate social interaction, the traditional practice of mutual assistance fades, further weakening the foundation of social capital. Although rural left-behind women are in a network of relationships woven by kinship and geography, they are in fact trapped in a predicament of “abundant relationships but scarce capital”. In the long run, this social capital deficit leads to multiple livelihood risks. First, a single channel of information causes families to miss out on industrial support policies. Second, social isolation causes decision-making anxiety and risk aversion among left-behind women. Third, the lack of social trust exacerbates the disadvantage of access to resources. A deeper impact lies in the fact that left-behind women who lack social capital are unable to participate in interest negotiations, and continue to be in a disadvantaged position in terms of resource distribution and protection of rights and interests, resulting in marginalization of their social status.
Human Capital: Limited Stock and Poor Level
According to the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, human capital is the core element of the livelihood system of rural left-behind women’s families. The stock of human capital is an important indicator used to assess the quality of human resources in a country or region. It reflects the sum of knowledge, skills, and physical abilities accumulated through investment in the education, training and health of individual nationals. Therefore, for rural women left behind, their human capital accumulation is mainly reflected in their education level, health status and vocational skills. Once there is a human capital deficit in these areas, they will face more serious livelihood difficulties. However, according to a survey of rural women left behind, 22 of them said that they had not received sufficient education, 15 of them said that they were not in good health, and 17 of them said that they lacked professional skills to keep up with the times.
Participant 12 once followed her husband to Wenzhou for migrant work, but due to chronic bronchitis and asthma, her medical expenses were overwhelming. “At that time, I earned only one to two thousand yuan per month, and half of it went to medication. I could not even afford social insurance.” Two years ago, she was dismissed after a work injury in a textile factory and had to return to farming. Although her family owns five mu of land, she is unable to cultivate it. “My body cannot take it, so I can only grow a little corn and sweet potatoes for our own consumption.” Participant 14 recounted, “I grew up poor and never went to school.” After marrying into her husband’s family, she was unable to plant rice and could only manage dryland crops. Illiteracy and her inability to speak Mandarin have made migrant work nearly impossible, leaving the household dependent on her husband’s earnings. She explained, “To make a little pocket money, I go to a neighbouring village’s livestock farm to do cleaning work, earning twenty to thirty yuan a day.” Participant 16 noted that she learned from television that pig farming could be highly profitable and felt confident because “I had raised a few pigs as a child, so I thought I could start a business.” However, lacking systematic management and disease-prevention knowledge, she encountered swine fever in the very first year and lost nearly all her investment. “That year was a huge loss. Later, the village cadre helped me enrol in a technical training program, which gradually stabilized things.” In addition, Participant 7, herself a village cadre, pointed out that most skill training programs in the village are designed for men, such as carpentry and welding. “Few are accessible to women, and even when they are, the training content is not very practical.”
Thus, it can be seen that the human capital status of rural left-behind women in the sample area shows systematic deficiencies, and their triple deficiencies in education capital, skill capital and health capital constitute the core characterization of human capital vulnerability. In the dimension of education, due to the lack of basic education resources, weak teachers and outdated teaching facilities in rural communities, coupled with the family’s patriarchal ideology, insufficient attention is paid to the education of girls, resulting in a short period of time for them to receive education, and their cultural level is generally low. This low-level education stock not only restricts their possibilities of engaging in skilled occupations, but also constrains the ability to acquire vocational skills twice, creating a negative cycle of intergenerational transmission of human capital. In terms of skills, most of the left-behind women in rural areas have not received systematic vocational skills training, and the empirical labor skills formed under the traditional agricultural production methods can hardly be adapted to the demands of modern industries. Skill poverty causes the value of their labor to remain in the low value-added field for a long time, and the remuneration per unit of labor time is only obviously insufficient. There is a supply gap in the rural vocational skills training system and a mismatch between training content and market demand, further aggravating the predicament of skills capital accumulation. In terms of health, rural medical and health conditions are relatively backward, and the disease prevention system is imperfect, coupled with long-term labor and life pressure, many left-behind women are in poor health, plagued by various types of diseases, and find it difficult to obtain stable employment opportunities. This composite deficiency in the three dimensions of human capital is essentially a figurative manifestation of institutional deficiencies, such as the imbalance in the supply of education in rural communities, the absence of a skills training mechanism, and the insufficiency of basic medical protection. This kind of structural poverty leads left-behind women to fall into the survival trap of “low education, weak skills and poor health,” and the reproduction function of their human capital is basically lost, ultimately forming a rigid constraint on the vulnerability of the family’s livelihood.
Financial Capital: Limited Access to Financing and Credit
As a crucial component of livelihood capital, financial capital serves as a fundamental element for rural left-behind women in sustaining household livelihoods and expanding development opportunities. However, in reality, the financial capital of left-behind women is characterized by significant weakness. Although they can maintain the basic operation of the family through savings accumulation and small loans, when facing external shocks such as market fluctuations and natural disasters, the shortcomings of their financial capital in terms of resilience are immediately apparent. In the survey, 18 respondents said that they have almost no savings at home, 10 respondents said that it is difficult to get monetary help from relatives when they are in difficulties, and 8 respondents said that bank borrowing procedures are cumbersome and interest rates are high.
Participant 18, who has long suffered from poor health, originally planned to open a bakery in the township, estimating that the investment would exceed 60,000 yuan. However, she explained with resignation: “Over the years, our family has only managed to save just over 10,000 yuan, and most of my husband’s earnings have gone to medical expenses and our children’s education.” Constrained by the significant financial gap, she abandoned the plan and instead opted to establish a low-cost sewing shop as a means of subsistence. Participant 22 similarly recounted: “We had saved 200,000 yuan to build a house, but the rapid increase in the price of materials and labor consumed the money before even half was completed.” She was compelled to borrow from relatives, though each could only lend a few thousand yuan. Eventually, she managed to raise 30,000 yuan, which allowed her family to move into an unfinished shell of a house, leaving them with a long-term debt burden. Participant 23 also shared her difficulties: “My family had no savings. I wanted to start a poultry farm, but just the land lease, chicks, and feed would cost 200,000 yuan. I had no choice but to apply for a bank loan, but the procedures were too complicated—they required income certificates and collateral. It took me two months of running around before the loan was finally approved.”
The vulnerability of the financial capital of rural women left behind is essentially a structural dilemma in which the marginalization of the rural economy and the financial exclusion mechanism work together. As shown in the above cases, the weakness of the financial capital of most of the rural left-behind women mainly presents a double dimension. First, there is a serious shortage of family savings assets, which can barely sustain the family’s daily consumption expenses and lack of productive capital reserves. Secondly, it is difficult to obtain loans. Because of the limited income of left-behind women, lack of loan collateral, thin social networks, and insufficient financial knowledge and experience, it is difficult for rural left-behind women to realize effective financing through social networks and bank loans. The assets of interacting groups in the social network are in a similar situation, making it difficult to provide them with financing assistance. This financial exclusion not only stems from technical obstacles such as the lack of collateral and discrimination in credit assessment, but also reflects the imbalance in the gendered financial power structure in rural areas. It can be argued that it is rural women’s disadvantaged position in terms of control over household assets, participation in financial decision-making and social capital mobilization that together shape the systemic barriers to their financial capital accumulation.
Physical Capital: Deficiencies in Infrastructure Provision
The vulnerability of physical capital among rural left-behind women is fundamentally a structural dilemma stemming from the imbalance in urban–rural resource allocation and the fragmentation of rural public service systems. This issue profoundly constrains the sustainable development of their livelihood systems. As a foundational element supporting both production and daily life, physical capital encompasses multiple dimensions, including production tools and equipment, healthcare and educational resources, and public infrastructure. The scarcity of these resources generates multifaceted development challenges. In the production domain, outdated tools and equipment force left-behind women to spend excessive time engaged in rudimentary labor. The lack of mechanization results in stagnant productivity levels, not only crowding out opportunities for skill enhancement and market participation but also leading to long-term stagnation in household income growth. In the realm of daily life, deficiencies in healthcare and educational resources create a dual burden. The absence of basic healthcare services exacerbates their health risks, while limited educational opportunities hinder their human capital accumulation. The urban–rural disparities in medical and educational resources further widen the gap between rural left-behind women and their urban counterparts. Regarding public infrastructure, deficiencies in electricity, transportation, and other facilities exacerbate geographic isolation. In particular, inadequate transportation networks significantly increase agricultural product circulation costs, thereby compressing the economic returns of rural left-behind women. A more profound issue lies in the deprivation of developmental rights due to imbalanced public service provision. The deterioration of infrastructure not only diminishes convenience in daily life but also erects barriers to social participation, locking left-behind women within traditional livelihood systems and preventing them from escaping intergenerational poverty traps. In the survey, 20 respondents acknowledged significant gaps in the public infrastructure and services available in their communities.
Participant 9’s husband, son, and daughter-in-law work away from home year-round, leaving her solely responsible for caring for her grandson. To supplement the household income, she began collecting recyclables and purchased a three-wheeled motorcycle. Yet she lamented: “The road has not been paved into the village, so my vehicle can only stop on the township road. To get into the village, I have to walk, carrying at most 35 kilograms at a time. When there is more, I have to make several trips, and my back feels as if it will break.”Such infrastructural limitations not only increased her physical burden but also significantly constrained her earnings. Participant 10, the mother of two young children, also highlighted mobility challenges. Her elder son attends elementary school in the county, while her younger son is only one year old. She explained:“The township school was closed, so we have to go to the county. The bus is unreliable, and the fare rose from two yuan to five yuan, costing us over 900 yuan per month just on transportation. The bus only leaves when it is full, so my child is often late for school.”
The vulnerability of rural left-behind women’s material capital is essentially the result of a combination of public product supply failures and grassroots governance deficiencies. As shown in the case study, the left-behind women in the study are not only deeply trapped in the plight of inadequate community road facilities, but also face practical difficulties such as long waiting periods for transportation and high travel costs. Infrastructures such as roads and public transportation have non-exclusive and non-competitive characteristics, and their effective supply depends on government-led resource allocation mechanisms. However, under the logic of hierarchy, the grassroots government tends to invest limited resources in the repair of county and township main roads, which is easy to show the political performance, and selectively ignores the maintenance of household roads. The deeper problem is that when public transport is alienated into a profit-making tool, it exposes the conflict between the market-oriented reform of public services and the value of safeguarding people’s livelihoods. Strategies such as fare regulation and frequency reduction essentially transform the positive externalities of public services into sectoral gains, an act that not only violates the essence of publicness, but also exacerbates the social exclusion of left-behind women through spatial deprivation.
Mechanisms Underlying the Vulnerability of Rural Left-Behind Women’s Household Livelihood Capital
Insufficient Livelihood Resource Endowment
In rural China, the vulnerability of the livelihood capital of left-behind women’s households is deeply related to the inadequacy of their livelihood resource endowment. The accelerated process of industrialization and urbanization has led to the continuous degradation of natural resources in rural areas, and problems such as land resource constraints and ecological degradation are constantly emerging, which makes left-behind women’s families face multiple challenges in agricultural production and livelihood maintenance. The limited nature of land resources and the inefficiency of their utilization are the first constraints, and the disconnect between traditional farming methods and modern technology makes it difficult to increase land output. With the loss of the rural population, the abandonment of arable land has been accompanied by sloppy management, and the fragmentation of land has made it more difficult to operate on a large scale. Even though the women left behind have invested a great deal of labor, it is still difficult for them to cover the basic expenses of their families with their agricultural income. At the same time, water scarcity and ecological degradation have further magnified production risks. The lack of natural precipitation in arid and semi-arid areas, coupled with extreme weather conditions caused by climate change, has made traditional irrigation patterns unsustainable. Left-behind women are forced to bear the brunt of fluctuating natural conditions without the support of physical capital such as water facilities. Soil degradation and pollution are also eroding the productivity of farmland, leading to a vicious cycle of reduced crop yields and lower quality. Uncertainty about farm income has increased significantly. Participant 15 said, “
Transformation of Family Structure
Since the reform and opening-up, the structure of rural families in China has undergone a drastic change from extended families to nuclear families and then to discrete families. This process has been accompanied by accelerated population mobility, intergenerational division of labor, and reconfiguration of family functions, resulting in the systematic vulnerability of the livelihood capital of left-behind women. The composite livelihood system supported by the bloodline network under the traditional family model has gradually collapsed, and has been replaced by an overloaded mode of operation in which the left-behind women are the single pillar of the family. This structural tension is pushing rural families to a critical point in their ability to develop sustainably. The break-up of mutual support networks, triggered by the deconstruction of the traditional extended family, is the primary factor affecting the basis of the livelihoods of the women left behind. In a multigenerational family structure, functions such as agricultural production, child rearing and elderly support are naturally shared through intergenerational collaboration. Under the trend of discrete families, left-behind women are forced to take on multiple roles on their own. Not only do they have to complete male-dominated farm work, but they also need to replace their migrant husbands in exercising their parental functions, and at the same time, they also have to fill in the gaps in old-age support after their grandparents have withdrawn from the family. This kind of “de-mutualization” of existence makes the time capital and labor capital of left-behind women excessively divided. In particular, the centralization of responsibilities brought about by the restructuring of intergenerational relations has further exacerbated the intergenerational overdraft of livelihood capital. Under the “4-2-1” or “4-2-3” family structure, rural left-behind women have become the only hub connecting the three generations. Not only do they have to bear the social pressure of their various social roles, but they also have to face the burdens of old-age and child-rearing in terms of financial expenses, living care, daily companionship, and spiritual security. For example, if the cost of raising a child to adulthood is calculated as a multiple of GDP per capita, China’s cost is 6.9 times higher than that of Japan (4.26), the United States (4.11), France (2.24), and Australia (2.08), and is almost the highest in the world (Liang et al., 2022). This intergenerational squeeze effect has led to a continuous diversion of family resources to the old-age and education ends of the spectrum, while left-behind women’s own productive investment and human capital accumulation have stagnated. Participant 6 said during the interview, “
Gender Bias
Based on the gender dimension, the vulnerability of rural left-behind women’s household livelihood capital is a result of gender exclusion by the patriarchal system through the triple mechanism of educational deprivation, social capital segregation, and role consolidation. Traditional patriarchy systematically constructs rural women’s secondary social status through the normative framework of “favoring sons over daughters.” Many rural families have low expectations of girls’ education, believing that girls do not need much education. The neglect of rural families to invest in girls’ education essentially excludes women from the knowledge power system. This deprivation of educational opportunities leads to structural deficiencies in left-behind women’s cognitive abilities, skill acquisition and social adaptability, creating an intergenerational lock-in effect of human capital that forces their livelihood strategies to be confined to the realm of low-skill, low-value-added activities. For example, Participant 5 stated in the interview, “
Deficiencies in Social Policies
Structural deficiencies in the design of social policies are an important causal factor in the vulnerability of the livelihood capital of rural left-behind women’s households. In terms of the land system, although the separation of land contracting rights and management rights provides space for land transfer, in practice, problems such as irregular registration of property rights and complicated transfer procedures make it difficult for left-behind women to realize value-added resources through land transfer, often due to a lack of legal knowledge or a weak social network. In terms of the social security system and the provision of public services, the imbalance in the regional allocation of medical resources has led to the difficulties faced by left-behind women in remote areas, such as difficulties in accessing medical care and insufficient management of chronic diseases. The physical burden of reproductive health superimposed on occupational strain continues to worsen as a result of inadequate medical protection. The low rate of medical reimbursement for urban and rural residents and the weak coverage of old-age insurance have left them without a bottom-up guarantee against the dual risks of illness and ageing. Inequitable allocation of educational resources further forces them to struggle between agricultural production and family care. During the interview, Participant 20 said, “
Conclusion and Discussion
Grounded in the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, structural poverty theory, and feminist economics, this study provides an in-depth examination of the livelihood capital vulnerabilities faced by rural left-behind women and identifies four structural causes underlying these vulnerabilities. The findings indicate that the livelihood capital of rural left-behind households encompasses natural, physical, human, social, and financial capital, yet each dimension exhibits varying degrees of fragility. Importantly, such vulnerabilities are not the outcome of individual choices or accidental circumstances. Instead, they are structurally produced through limited resource endowments, fragmented family structures, exclusionary gender norms, and gender-biased social policies.
First, from the perspective of livelihood capital composition, the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework emphasizes that the synergistic accumulation of natural, physical, human, social, and financial capital is critical for households to cope with external shocks and achieve sustainable development (Jin et al., 2011). However, this study reveals that rural left-behind women face significant deficiencies across all five forms of capital. In terms of natural capital, although access to land, water, and forest resources exists, the overall supply remains insufficient, constraining both production and livelihood stability. With respect to social capital, mutual support mechanisms are increasingly weakened, characterized by loosening kinship ties, fragile community bonds, and diminished neighborly interactions. Regarding human capital, low educational attainment, limited skills, and health constraints are pervasive challenges. In the financial dimension, household savings are meagre, credit channels remain narrow, and the capacity to mobilize resources is weak. Similarly, in terms of physical capital, the accessibility of transportation and other public services is limited, and infrastructure provision is inadequate. More critically, these capital dimensions do not exist in isolation but rather exhibit interdependent constraints. For example, deficiencies in physical capital are not only reflected in the lack of infrastructure but also in the weakened accessibility of public services, which in turn impedes the accumulation of human capital. Inadequate human capital—particularly in terms of education and skills—directly undermines the ability to acquire financial capital and expand social capital. The intersection of limited capital endowments and structural constraints generates a path dependency in which improvements in a single form of capital are insufficient to overcome overall vulnerability, thereby perpetuating cycles of chronic poverty (Carter & Barrett, 2006). Against this backdrop, the coordinated development and integrated enhancement of multiple forms of capital emerge as necessary pathways to improve the livelihoods of rural left-behind women. This finding resonates strongly with Scoones’ (2009) argument that poverty is not simply a matter of resource scarcity but results from imbalances in the interactions among diverse forms of capital.
Second, this study identifies four interrelated factors that deepen the understanding of the structural causes underlying the vulnerability of rural left-behind women’s livelihood capital. As structural poverty theory posits, poverty emerges from the interplay of institutional arrangements, resource distribution, and social norms (Brady, 2019). The vulnerability of rural left-behind women’s livelihoods is likewise shaped by limited livelihood resource endowments, fragmented family structures, entrenched gender norms, and gender biases embedded in social policies. At the level of livelihood resources, scarcity is manifested not only in land fragmentation, ecological degradation, and recurrent disasters but also in the persistent inadequacies of infrastructure and public services under China’s urban–rural dual structure. These structural constraints elevate the minimum threshold for both production and everyday survival, making it difficult for individuals to achieve capital accumulation despite intensive labor inputs (Liu & Li, 2021). This reflects the central tenet of structural poverty theory: poverty does not primarily stem from individual deficiencies but is reproduced through institutionalized resource imbalances that systematically disadvantage marginalized groups (Brady, 2019). At the level of family structure, the fragmentation of households has eroded intergenerational support systems, compelling left-behind women to shoulder overlapping and unpaid responsibilities in agricultural production, childcare, and elder care. Such gendered labor divisions are not merely cultural residues but, as feminist economics highlights, institutionalized arrangements embedded within the economic system (Kabeer, 1999). They render women’s labor economically invisible, depriving it of market returns and policy recognition, thereby weakening women’s capacity to convert time and labor into other forms of capital (Walker & Millar, 2020).
At the level of gender norms, entrenched gender norms further reinforce this structural disadvantage. Constrained by limited educational opportunities, narrow social networks, and male-dominated decision-making patterns, the social capital of left-behind women tends to be closed and characterized by a low rate of conversion (Singh, 2018). This not only diminishes their capacity to mobilize resources but also exemplifies the “social exclusion” mechanism emphasized in structural poverty theory, whereby disadvantaged groups are systematically excluded from high-value social relationships and opportunity structures (Brady, 2019). At the level of social policy, gender bias within policy frameworks exacerbates multidimensional vulnerability. Under the urban–rural dual system, blurred land tenure, inadequate health insurance, imbalanced access to educational resources, and the neglect of women’s needs in financial and training policies collectively marginalize left-behind women in both public services and market mechanisms. Within the framework of feminist economics, such institutional gaps are interpreted as the systemic reproduction of gender inequality, reinforcing the structural foundations of gendered poverty and undermining the long-term effectiveness of isolated interventions in any single dimension of capital (Kabeer, 1999). It is important to note that these four factors are not independent but operate as an interwoven and mutually reinforcing mechanism. The degradation of livelihood resources raises production thresholds; the fragmentation of family structures weakens risk-buffering functions; social prejudice obstructs capital accumulation; and institutional deficiencies entrench developmental barriers. Together, these dynamics generate a compound mechanism that renders the vulnerability of rural left-behind women’s livelihood capital both deep-rooted and persistent.
At a deeper level, both the vulnerability of livelihood capital and the multiple constraints of the fourfold factors ultimately converge on the same core fact: women’s accumulation of livelihood capital has long taken place under institutionalized conditions of inequality, with their starting points and trajectories structurally constrained. Such constraints are not accidental but rather the inevitable outcome of economic and social systems that have historically neglected gender in resource allocation, labor division, and rule-setting (H. Wu & Ye, 2016). Through everyday mechanisms such as household role distribution, market entry barriers, and the allocation of public resources, gendered divisions of labor have been entrenched into a path-dependent structure that is difficult to break (S. S. Wang & Luo, 2014). Within this process, women’s labor value is consistently underestimated, their opportunities for participation systematically restricted, and their efficiency of capital conversion limited (Liu & Li, 2021). More critically, this logic has been deeply embedded in the institutional premises of current rural development strategies. Existing strategies often take economic growth and labor mobility as core assumptions, implicitly naturalizing gendered divisions of labor as a fixed social foundation. This not only normalizes women’s unpaid labor but also deprives it of compensation and incentives in both policy and market frameworks, thereby institutionalizing inequality as part of everyday social reality (Walker & Millar, 2020).
Such a model resonates strongly with international critiques of “gender-blind growth strategies,” which emphasize that the failure to recognize the value of care work and social reproduction in macroeconomic policy deepens gender disparities through unequal labor markets and resource distribution (Kabeer, 2016). As S. S. Wang and Luo (2014) further argue, in low-income and rural contexts, without redistributing responsibilities for social reproduction and institutionalizing supportive measures, women are trapped in a vicious cycle of low capital accumulation, low participation opportunities, and low returns. Therefore, the livelihood vulnerability of rural left-behind women cannot be reduced to deficiencies in a single domain but rather represents the long-term consolidation of intersecting inequalities across multiple spheres. Addressing this requires policy interventions that move beyond “filling individual capital gaps” toward a structural reconfiguration of institutional arrangements, social support systems, and development strategies. Only by weakening the reproduction of gender inequality within capital accumulation and incorporating the socialization and valorization of care work into the core agenda of rural development can sustainable transformation be achieved.
In terms of policy implications, this study suggests that mitigating the livelihood vulnerability of rural left-behind women requires addressing the structural roots of gendered constraints and promoting both multi-capital synergy and systemic reform. With regard to natural capital, gender-sensitive principles should be embedded in ecological compensation, green industry development, and land tenure security to ensure women’s substantive rights in ecological governance, resource utilization, and property distribution. In terms of physical capital, the planning of public infrastructure and service facilities should be aligned with women’s dual needs for production and care, thereby improving accessibility to transportation, childcare, healthcare, and digital facilities. For human capital development, it is necessary to eliminate gender barriers in education and vocational training and to establish lifelong learning and skill-building systems that account for caregiving responsibilities. Flexible curricula and targeted training programs should be designed to enhance women’s competitiveness in the labor market. In cultivating social capital, grassroots platforms such as cooperatives and village committees should be leveraged to expand women’s participatory rights, ensure their effective voice in land transfer and village governance, and strengthen cross-regional and cross-sectoral networks that foster collective action. With respect to financial capital, reforms should be introduced in credit evaluation and insurance mechanisms by incorporating cooperative performance and skill certification into credit scoring systems, thereby lowering women’s access thresholds to finance. Complementary risk-mitigation instruments should also be provided to improve women’s capacity to cope with market volatility.
Overall, this systemic intervention framework must not only correct gender biases in policy resource allocation but also integrate a gender perspective into broader rural revitalization and social governance strategies. Such an approach would enable rural women to transition from passive beneficiaries to active institutional participants and change agents, thereby fundamentally overcoming their structural disadvantages in capital accumulation and fostering both resilience and endogenous development capacity in their livelihood systems.
This study is subject to several limitations. First, the selected cases are concentrated in a specific region, which is characterized by distinctive natural endowments, socio-cultural conditions, and policy environments. This contextual specificity limits the generalizability and cross-regional applicability of the findings. Second, while the analysis responds to gendered constraints within the Chinese context, it has not been situated within a broader framework of Global North–South knowledge exchange. As a result, the potential theoretical contributions of China’s experience to global debates on gender and development, as well as its applicability across diverse developmental contexts, remain underexplored. Third, with the increasing penetration of digital technologies into rural society, their influence on women’s livelihood capital—particularly in terms of information access, market participation, and network building—has become increasingly salient. However, due to the scope of this study, digital factors were not incorporated into the analysis. Future research could expand upon these limitations by adopting a broader geographical and theoretical perspective, integrating cross-regional comparisons, drawing on international experiences, and considering the transformative role of digital technologies. Such approaches would advance the interaction between localized knowledge and global development discourses, thereby enriching both theoretical and practical understandings of gendered livelihood vulnerabilities.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
The authors sincerely thank the editors for their dedication to this paper and extend heartfelt gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable feedback and constructive suggestions, which have greatly enhanced the quality of this work. Appreciation is also extended to all interview respondents in this study for their insightful contributions, which provided essential data for the research.
Ethical Considerations
This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Public Administration, Sichuan University (Approval No. 202408080005).
Consent to Participate
During the data collection process, participants’ full names were not recorded, but only their last names and demographic information were documented in the informed consent form.
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This article is a stage result of a major project of the National Social Science Foundation of China, “Research on the realization path of relative poverty governance in the context of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects,” No. 22&ZD060.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data Availability Statement
The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.