ABSTRACT
This paper explores how religious and ethnic norms and gender relations interact across
the domestic and public spheres of work in rural China’s minority-concentrated regions.
We focus on the roles that childcare and household composition play in the work
decisions of prime-age married individuals of Muslim and non-Muslim ethnicity.
We find
that children generally decrease women’s likelihood of working away from/outside the
home and increase men’s. The gender gap in the probability of off-farm work is larger for
those of Muslim ethnicity. Non-Muslim parents of sons are more likely to migrate for
work than parents of daughters. The presence of women of grandparent age (46 to 70)
universally facilitates labor migration. Men of grandparent age tend to increase only the
probability that non-Muslim parents (male and female) migrate for work. Additional
adult male household members (of any age) reduce the likelihood that women of Muslim
ethnicity work off-farm.
https://genderlibrary.org/a/images/papers/April%202018%20pg77.pdf