Market Transition and Gender Segregation in Urban China

Objectives. This article analyzes the impact of the new form of economic segmentation, which emerged in urban China during the market transition, on gender segregation and earnings differentials. Methods. I compare both over-time and across-city change in gender segregation, and use a series of mult...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science quarterly 2005-12, Vol.86 (s1), p.1299-1323
Main Author: Shu, Xiaoling
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
China
Cities
Discrimination
Earnings
Economic reform
Employers
Employment
Employment Discrimination
Feminization
Gender
Gender pay gap
Gender segregation
Growth industries
Impact analysis
Industrial market
Industrial sectors
Industry
Inequality
Institutions
Labor market
Manufacturing industries
Market economies
Market Economy
Occupational segregation
Occupations
Peoples Republic of China
Real estate industry
Segregation
Sexes
Tax reform
Transitions
Urban areas
Wage differential
Wage differentials
Wages & salaries
Women
Work
Workers
Working Women
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Summary:Objectives. This article analyzes the impact of the new form of economic segmentation, which emerged in urban China during the market transition, on gender segregation and earnings differentials. Methods. I compare both over-time and across-city change in gender segregation, and use a series of multi-level crossclassified models based on data at three levels: a 1995 national sample of individual workers, industry-sector data for 1990 and 1995, and city-level data for 1995. Results. Gender segregation by ownership sector has declined over time now that the state sector has become differentiated and its relative economic advantages wanes. Both earnings differentiation and gender segregation among industries have increased with marketization. In the most marketized cities, the earnings of workers of both sexes in jobs with high rates of female entry are penalized, indicating that marketization exacerbated the negative effect of job feminization on earnings. Conclusions. These findings lend support for the "queuing" perspective that a decline in jobs' relative wages leads to feminization. The making of the Chinese market economy has created a new set of institutional arrangements, which includes that between job feminization and wages.
ISSN:0038-4941
1540-6237
DOI:10.1111/j.0038-4941.2005.00347.x