Introducing Gender Awareness into Economic Research

Zhu Ling [China Women's News]

Zhu Ling, born in 1951, serves as the deputy director of the Institute of Economics and is a member of the Academic Division of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). In the interview Zhu shares her experiences of introducing gender perspectives into economic research over the past 20 years.

Gaining Gender Consciousness

I began to be aware of gender consciousness in 1994. As a researcher at the Institute of Economic of CASS, I visited the United States that year, where I learned that 40 percent of rural women working at their family farms did not earn salaries. Even if they got paid, the salaries were much less than their male counterparts. I also visited many women's organizations and was deeply inspired. I stated at a dinner party that I would actively contribute to the women's movement after returning to China.

I did not enter the women's issues research field until attending the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 as a member of the delegation of the Chinese government, during which time the series of activities I attended enlightened me in my gender consciousness. From the conference, I learned that 20 percent of the world's population were in absolute poverty, among whom 70 percent were women. Afterwards, I carried out research on gender inequality in less developed rural economies, which was a response to the meeting. Over the past two decades, I traveled to many places and recorded more than 80,000 words through my investigations.

Starting to Show Concern for Chinese Women's Poverty Problems

The Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995 was actually a milestone for gender analysis in terms of entering economic research. Previous research introduced the variable of gender into the analysis of income distribution or in wage changes, instead of focusing on the gender gap, gender inequality and the gender impact of specific policies. The conference not only enlightened Chinese economists as to their gender consciousness but also inspired them to introduce analytical theories and methods of gender differences and apply them to gender studies in China's economic transition.

The message was that there could be no sustainable social economy without women's development. Based on this understanding, I began to show concern for Chinese women's poverty problems. I introduced the gender perspective to all my research projects and postgraduates, especially in the analysis of gender inequality in farmland distribution, basic medical treatment and endowment insurance, using statistics. I traveled to many places and took notes on the status of women in poverty-stricken areas. I accumulated some 80,000 words in total.

During the investigation, I noticed that the market-oriented reforms brought more opportunities as well as increased risks and uncertainties. Rural populations were more vulnerable than urban populations due to a lack of social security. In rural areas, women were more vulnerable than men because of gender inequality. Rural women in less developed areas, suffering from pressure from poverty and gender inequality, were in the most disadvantaged situation. To reduce and even eliminate gender inequality and poverty, women's development problems in less developed rural areas should be specially studied.

Based on the above understanding, I analyzed and assessed the sampling survey data in rural areas of north China's Shanxi Province in 1996. Although gender equality in farmland distribution in China's rural areas is well protected by laws and economic systems, divorced women lack protection of land rights due to the flaws of the systems. Women who migrated after their marriage ended, who missed the opportunities of land adjustment, along with their children, had no farmland temporarily. So it is necessary to add gender perspectives to the current rural land management laws and the regulations on rural land contracts. The article published in the ninth issue of Economic Research in 2000 won the China Rural Development Research Award. It also won the first prize for women's research results from the All-China Women's Federation and China Women's Research Society; and, the second prize of the scientific research results of CASS in 2004.

On the policies of rural migrant workers participating in urban employees' endowment insurance, I published an article in the fourth issue of Comparative Studies in 2009 based on the sampling survey data and case interviews, stating that female migrant workers' pensions accounted for only 55 percent of men's at the same payment level, due to the shorter period of their employment. Accordingly, I advised on factors about promoting employment and reducing gender inequality. I said that poverty among the elderly in terms of pension income distributions should be considered whilst drawing up nationwide policies on migrant workers' endowment insurance.

Striving to Eliminate Women's Health-Related Poverty

In the 1960s and 70s, when I was working in a productive team, I found that women members were worst in their nutritional status and realized the necessity and importance of eliminating women's health-related poverty. So I have been striving my efforts to study this aspect.

From 2006-11, I headed my research group to investigate conditions in farming and pastoral areas in Gansu, Qinghai, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces and Tibet Autonomous Region. I was mainly responsible for studying young and middle-aged married women's health status in Tibetan families. I briefly introduced the risks of infectious diseases, gynecological diseases and lack of maternal healthcare, and analyzed the reasons for under-utilization of relevant health services.

The high risks to women's health in mountainous areas shocked me when I was investigating their pregnancy safety in Lijiang, southwest China's Yunnan Province. Due to this, I realized that providing health assistance to impoverished women and children is just as crucial as the building of roads, and the bringing of electricity and educational investment, in reducing and eliminating poverty. Among the 13 impoverished townships, out of the 24 total in Lijiang, the maternal mortality rate in 2000 was 13.55 per 10,000—far more than the national average index of 5.3 per 10,000.

Maternal and child health is not only an issue measured according to the mortality rate. A more common issue is their daily health and living conditions. I learned through investigations that the two premature deliveries of a woman surnamed Yang in Longshan Township in Lijiang were results of her high labor intensity during pregnancy. Her mother-in-law said that it is the local custom that women work more than men. Yang delivered successfully in her third pregnancy, because her mother-in-law shared her labor.

Based on investigations, I published one article respectively in the 10th issue in 2010 and 12th issue in 2013 of Management World, stressing that proper prenatal care has proved to be a necessary health service to help keep pregnant women, fetuses and newborns healthy. To ensure that pregnant women and their babies in impoverished families have access to these services is helpful for infants from such families to remain healthy at the start of life. Additionally, it also means the battle of reducing poverty is rewound to the time when a life begins. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to take action to promote proper prenatal care.