D. Hare, Women's economic status in rural China: Household contributions to male-female disparities in the wage-labor market, WORLD DEV, 27(6), 1999, pp. 1011-1029
Rapid industrial growth in China coupled with economic reforms in the rural
areas has created a growing demand for rural women's labor, though often a
t substantially lower wages than those earned by men employed in the same s
ector. An analysis of data collected in rural Guangdong province suggests t
hat households may contribute to the observed male-female market wage diffe
rential through their influence in the formation of individuals' reservatio
n wages. Under these circumstances, external employment opportunities, whil
e no doubt serving to increase the household's overall level of income, may
, on their own, be a less effective mechanism for raising the economic stat
us of women. On the contrary, market wage signals may serve to reinforce, r
ather than to ameliorate, sex-based differences that arise within the house
hold. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.