Chinese Women's Employment

This article is a departure from the customary focus on urban women's employment; it offers a preliminary description and analysis of Chinese rural women's employment in primary industry since 1980. The author used data collected by the 1982 and 1990 census and a survey on the social status of Chinese women. She did a gender analysis on the number of women employed, their occupational composition, mobility, income, labor protection for women, and the function of women's organizations. The author exposes the lower level of employment of women compared to men and their employment in the transitional period. The findings provide a basis for the improvement of women's employment.